“Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead”
By: Erin Grimm
Knowing Palestinians in Palestine changes your perspective on how one responds to the decades-long occupation of the West Bank, the war that has unfolded since October 2023, and the continual genocide in Gaza. The book Christians for a Free Palestine was written to encourage readers who might not have had the opportunity to meet Palestinians to be more empathetic to the story, narrative, and experience of Palestinians living in Gaza and other parts of the occupied Palestinian territories.
Palestine is the book’s foundation and crown, but the subtitle is “A Guide to Ethical Living.” Different faith leaders, including rabbis, are featured in the book, and I open the book by engaging Jewish-German theorist Walter Benjamin (1892-1940), who died by suicide while fleeing the Third Reich. I wanted to open with acknowledgement of the Holocaust. The Holocaust and centuries of Jewish oppression at the hands of Western Christendom cannot be neglected as we survey the Middle East crises and genocides.
Historically, it is not uncontroversial to say that the fate of Jews was better under Islamic rule than under the rulers of Christian Europe, with its pogroms, expulsions, and more. I discuss some of these onslaughts in the book. Christians for a Free Palestine offers a Christian ethics perspective that takes seriously the need for justice as a precursor to peace–justice for Jews, Muslims, and Christians – while emphasizing the experience of Palestinian Christians living in the land.
Appeals to peace without addressing the core issues of dispossession from the land (what is called settler colonialism), economic repression, and the strangling subjugation of Gazans as well as Palestinians on the occupied West Bank offer a therapeutic fantasy that contributes bandaids to obscure, however, well-intentioned, the gaping wound of injustices suffered by both Palestinians and Jewish people.
Frameworks for peace in the U.S.-Israeli paradigm prioritize the needs and safety of the more powerful party and obscure the Palestinian experience during the 1948 Nakba, which founded Israel through a massive ethnic cleansing that has left Palestinians waiting to be repatriated for generations since (citation: Chomsky and Pappé, Gaza in Crisis: The U.S.-Israeli War on the Palestinians).
More education and awareness of the multifaceted nature of the conflict will help deepen this paradigm to a more holistic perspective, and education of the Christian public in the United States is a large part of that peace-building process. Reading Christians for a Free Palestine is just one of many possible actions to deepen one’s comprehension of Palestinian perspectives and needs. Often, we think of the conflict as being between Israelis (Jews) versus Palestinians (Muslims) without realizing the outsized role of the United States – and especially American Christians. Christian Zionism plays a far larger role in the United States’ handling of this crisis than Jewish Zionism.
Each chapter of the book features a “going deeper” section that touches on issues such as colonialism, a critique of the “just war” tradition, and thought-provoking questions such as why in popular media are Palestinians who have never been charged called prisoners while Israeli civilians who have been captured are called hostages? At the end of each chapter and “going deeper” section, there is further reading focused on diverse issues like trauma, social justice, nonviolence, and severe mental illness.
In the process of writing this book, I have met Palestinians who work in both Israel and Palestine, partnering with Palestinians and Israelis to design treatments for both populations, given the turbulence of the region. Some have described Israelis committed to a just peace as their brothers and sisters, and at various times, I have been asked to pray for Israelis and Palestinians together. Things like this give me hope, however slight at this harrowing time, that, eventually, justice, peace, and equality will prevail.
All royalties of Christians for a Free Palestine are directed toward the Institute of Peace and Justice at Bethlehem Bible College (https://bipj.org/), toward scholarships for students from the Global South (visit https://bethbc.edu/support-the-college/ and enter “BIPJ Global South scholarships”). Activists like Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac have shared that solidarity, specifically amongst peoples of the Global South, is crucial for Palestinian well-being because their friends in the Global South more fully relate apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide as features of colonialism.
Finally, my husband and I are financially committed to advancing Palestinian-led approaches to trauma therapy at Dar al-Kalima University. If inspired, visit https://www.brightstarsbethlehem.com/ and enter “trauma therapy program” in the memo. A Palestinian friend of ours is a professor who helps with the program. From him, I learned that usually, war trauma is written about in the West in service of helping soldiers and not civilians impacted by trauma. This program is pioneering Palestinian approaches to war trauma suffered by Palestine at the hands of Israel and the United States.
Join me in prayer:
Almighty LORD of heaven and earth,
Bring the peace of Christ,
Which is a peace indivisible from justice,
Upon the Land of Palestine/Israel.
We beg you:
Bring the peace of Christ,
Which is a peace indivisible from justice,
Upon the hearts of Western civilization
That always wants more from the Global South while often giving only suffering in return.
Bring peace and justice to the immigrants in the United States and Europe
When they are vilified
Bring peace and justice to the Jews who fight injustice
May we join them, locking arms with them to fight oppression in all forms, everywhere.
Almighty LORD of heaven and earth,
Bring the peace of Christ,
Which is a peace indivisible from justice,
to the Israelis and Palestinians whose
Suffering I will never understand.
End that suffering, LORD.
As the Buddhists pray, and may we join them now:
May all beings be at peace.
To this, we add: may it be a just peace.
Amen.
About the Author: Erin Grimm is founder and CEO of the Emergent Grace Movement, author of Christians for a Free Palestine, and a member of Christians for a Free Palestine. She holds MAs in German and Comparative Literature and was a Fulbright Scholar at Moscow State University. Visit emergentgrace.com for information about her ministry and publications, and for a free download of Christians for a Free Palestine or the link to its Amazon page.