Once again, the United States is involved in Middle East peace talks, and one has to wonder about the futility of such attempts. I recently finished reading Son of Hamas (linked) by Mosab Hassan Yousef, and as the son of one of the seven founders of the Hamas terrorist organization (but now a follower of Christ), Mosab shares his thoughts on the Arab-Israeli conflict:
"Peace in the Middle East has been the holy grail of diplomats, prime ministers, and presidents for more than five decades. Every new face on the world stage thinks he or she is going to be the one to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. And each one fails just as miserably and completely as those who have come before. The fact is, few Westerners can come close to understanding the complexities of the Middle East and its people" (p. xiii).
The author naturally points to the animosity between Sarah and Hagar in Genesis as the real root of the issue, but looks to the aftermath of World War I to understand the current political and cultural realities. As part of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the British government established a national homeland for the Jewish people in the Palestinian territories, and hundreds of thousands of Jews flooded to their new homeland. In 1948, Israel became a state, but the Palestinian territories remained non-sovereign territories, and without a constitution to maintain order, their religious law became the highest authority. "And when everyone is free to interpret and enforce the law as he sees fit, chaos ensues. To the outside world, the Middle Eastern conflict is simply a tug-of-war over a small stretch of land. But the real problem is that one on yet has understood the real problem. And as a result, negotiators from Camp David to Oslo confidently continue to splint the arms and legs of a a cardiac patient" (p. xv).
Describing Islam: "Islamic life is like a ladder, with prayer and praising Allah as the bottom rung. The higher rungs represent helping the poor and needy, establishing schools, and supporting charities. The highest rung is jihad. The ladder is tall. Few look up to see what is at the top. And progress is usually gradual, almost imperceptible...Traditional Muslims stand at the foot of the ladder, living in guilt for not really practicing Islam. At the top are the fundamentalists, the ones you see in the news killing women and children for the glory of the god of the Quar'an" (pp. 11-12).
As Mosab began reading the Bible, he was impressed with the beauty of teachings of Jesus, particularly the command to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. "For years I had struggled to know who my enemy was, and I had looked for enemies outside of Islam and Palestine. But I suddenly realized that the Israelis were not my enemies. Neither was Hamas ... I saw that enemies were not defined by nationality, religion, or color. I understood that we all share the same common enemies: greed, pride, and all the bad ideas and the darkness of the devil that live inside us. That meant I could love anyone. The only real enemy was the enemy inside me (p. 122).
As Mosab's values were being influenced by the Bible, he ached to share his new understanding with his culture, "because I realized that the occupation was not to blame for our suffering. Our problem was much bigger than armies and politics. I asked myself what Palestinians would do if Israel disappeared--if everthing not only went back to the way it was before 1948 but if all the Jewish people abandoned the Holy Land and were scattered again. And for the first time, I knew the answer. We would still fight. Over nothing. Over a girl without a head scarf. Over who was toughest and most important. Over who would make the rules and who would get the best seat (p. 124). Mosab's words reminded me of James 4:1: Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? We are in conflict, whether on a national or personal level, because of our sinful desires, and, as Mosab discovered, freedom from those conflicts is found in the love of Christ.
For those interested, Mosab has a blog where he writes on current events of the Middle East.
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