Palestinian Evangelical Writer Details Clash With Christian Zionism

A Palestinian evangelical writer, who was born in Jerusalem and raised in conservative evangelical missionary churches, describes how his confrontation with Christian Zionism began. He says he was taught that God’s love extends to the whole world and that believers should love neighbor and enemy and seek peace, justice and goodness for all. After high school he studied at a Bible college in Switzerland to prepare for church service in Palestine. There he found that fellow students and teachers believed God had promised the land of Palestine to the Jewish people, and that believers should help bring about biblical prophecies about the second coming of Christ by supporting the State of Israel.

In his second year of college, the 1967 war between Israel and the Arabs, known as the Six-Day War, broke out. The writer says fellow students responded with joy and cheers to news of Israel’s victory over Egypt, Jordan and Syria, while he and a Syrian classmate feared for their families, churches, institutions and countries. He writes that their homelands, in whole or in part, were then under Israeli army control. He describes this moment as the beginning of his confrontation with what is now called Christian Zionism.

After he finished his studies in Europe, he says, the Israeli authorities denied his right to return to Bethlehem, where his family lived, and he felt like a “man without a country.” Swiss authorities asked him to leave their territory. He then enrolled at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, in the United States. He writes that Zionist teachings had spread to most evangelical churches and a good number of non-evangelical churches in the United States, moving from houses of worship and college lecture halls into a significant political force. He claims that Christian Zionists played a role in the election of Donald Trump as president and in the move of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The writer lists beliefs he attributes to most evangelical Christians who hold Zionist views. These include the claim that God’s Old Testament promises concerning the land are being fulfilled in the State of Israel, that God intervened miraculously in the 1948 and 1967 wars on Israel’s behalf, and that nations supporting Israel will be blessed while those opposing it will face judgment. He also says these Christians hold that support for Israel should not depend on Jewish faith in Christ, on Israeli moral conduct, or on how Palestinians are treated. In his account, adherents also believe Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims obstruct the fulfillment of prophecy by insisting on Palestinians’ right to remain on the land. He writes that Palestinian evangelicals who reject these teachings soon find themselves at odds with church leadership, and that he and several colleagues at Bethlehem Bible College and its Galilee branch, Nazareth Evangelical College, experienced this.

The writer says his group’s opposition was prompted by events in the West Bank and Gaza, including land confiscation, the building of segregated Jewish settlements, home demolitions, the separation wall, the humiliation of young men and women, and what he describes as the imprisonment of two million people in the Gaza Strip. He writes that Palestinians mourned that Christian Zionist brothers and sisters were among those supporting the people he calls oppressors. He also reports that the number of Zionist evangelicals has grown in the United States, Canada, Britain, the Netherlands, Brazil, South Africa and South Korea. During visits to Palestine, he says, some Christian Zionists have shown open hostility. He recounts a ceremony in Bethlehem where an American Christian Zionist woman said the Lord had given the land to the Jews and that Palestinian Christians should leave for Jordan or other Arab countries, or face curses like those he said would fall on Muslims in Palestine. He adds that Christian Zionists work to keep Palestinian Christians from sharing their stories with audiences who want to hear them (Proverbs 31:8-9).

He names Palestinian and other church leaders who have defended the church against Christian Zionist teaching. They include Anglican Canon Naim Ateek and the Sabeel Center in Jerusalem, Greek Orthodox Archbishop Atallah Hanna, Catholic Patriarch Emeritus Michael Sabah, Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan, and Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb. He writes that Bethlehem Bible College fully supported the Kairos Palestine Document. He also credits international scholars, including Dr. Colin Chapman, Dr. Gary Burge, Rev. Dr. Donald Wagner, Rev. Dr. Stephen Sizer, Dr. Mark Braverman and others, with standing in solidarity with Palestinians and helping him understand the history of the Christian Zionist movement through their writings.

In 2010, according to the writer, Bethlehem Bible College and Nazareth Evangelical College held an international conference titled “Christ at the Checkpoint.” He says hundreds of evangelical, non-evangelical and Christian Zionist participants came to Bethlehem. The conference’s main goal, he writes, was to let Christians see the occupation, the walls, land confiscation, the settlements and other injustices firsthand, and then open the Bible and ask: “What does the Word of God say about these things?”

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