In the Holy Land: Words Matter

My wife and I recently returned from a tour of a certain Middle-Eastern nation with an ecumenical group. Most people who travel to this land speak of going to Israel. If they never went to Bethlehem, or Jericho, or some of those other biblically notable areas, they may indeed only have gone to Israel. However, if they went to Bethlehem, which most Christian travelers to this area likely do, whether they realized it or not, they also went to Palestine. According to most of the world, that is a state on its own.  It is a divided body though, part in the south, on the Mediterranean coast, referred to as Gaza, or sometimes the Gaza Strip. The other much larger part lies between Israel and the Jordan river, on its west side, and is therefore often referred to as The West Bank.

Now, the Israeli government would be quite happy to have you think you visited only Israel, regardless of where you went between Lebanon, to the North, Syria and Jordan to the East and Egypt to the South. This is because they would rather not have you recognize that there is another state here besides Israel. They certainly do not recognize it. Of course, that is in part because the Arab states, by and large, do not want to recognize Israel. So, Israel will let you use the terms the West Bank and Gaza because that could just mean you and your listeners/readers think you are referring to parts of Israel. Of course, since 1967, when Israel invaded these territories when they pushed back an attack from their Arab neighbours and drove Jordan out of the West Bank and Egypt from the South, they have controlled these lands. Most of the rest of the world though, and the inhabitants of these lands, consider it an illegal situation according to International Law, and refer to Israeli “occupation” of these parts of Palestine. Israel hates that term. If it wasn’t for the rest of the world, they would make all of these lands part of Israel.

Sometimes it is obviously convenient to use the terms West Bank and Gaza when you are referring to either area. However, it might be better to add ‘of Palestine’ after those references to be clear. The more we use the specific terms for the lesser territories, the more the impression is created that these are just regions, somehow linked to Israel, but not part of an independent state.

Now, I am not sure what the Palestinians themselves think about the use of the terms west Bank and Gaza without recognizing at the same time that these are parts of Palestine. However, I am more concerned about what we in The West understand when we use these names. We are already inundated with enough propaganda from Israel about the situation there. The Israeli lobby is extremely powerful when it comes to the media and government. Some say it is the most powerful lobby in Washington. I’m not sure about Ottawa.

In losing, let me also clarify that all of this is not written as part of some action against Jews. I love The Chosen People and pray for their ultimate salvation and recognition of our Messiah. I don’t even object to their being back in the land promised to their ancestors. There is just a lot that the government of that resurrected state does that we, as Christians, really cannot agree with in how un justly they treat their Palestinian neighbours. Indeed, they are not only neighbours, but brothers/sisters. Yes, Abraham had other sons besides Isaac, and Isaac had another son besides Jacob. Who do you think their descendents are???