Introductory Notes
- I could leave writing up my thoughts on this article until I’ve read the new edition of "Chapman (Colin) - Whose Promised Land?" when it comes out in October 2024, but it’s probably best to make some jottings now while they are fresh in my mind and revise them later.
- They are indexed below by Section and page number (the paper is 8 pages long, mostly double-column).
- While the level of comment necessary is rather uneven, for some of the text almost every line requires comment and analysis – and many of the references require following up. I won’t have time for this on a first pass. That I say nothing doesn’t mean I’ve nothing to say.
- To provide a little easy-to-read context, I include the full texts of the Paper’s Summary and Introduction first.
- Relatively little of the text has anything to do with Christianity (or ‘religion’) – it’s more to do with politics, Society1, ethics2 and Narrative Identity3, so I’ve booked most of the time against my Thesis on Personal Identity4, though it also relates to General Culture5, unless it’s specifically looking at Christian or Moslem exegesis or responses.
Summary
- See Colin Chapman - The Israel-Hamas War and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
- Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s response have pushed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the top of the international agenda and created an existential crisis for Israel. This paper attempts to explain the background to these events by surveying the history of Israel’s dealings with Gaza since 1948. After asking whether there should be a distinctively Christian approach to the conflict, it explores the possibilities for a just and peaceful resolution of the conflict.
- Colin Chapman wrote the book "Chapman (Colin) - Whose Promised Land?" while working in Beirut in the early 1980s. It was first published by Lion in 1983, and has been through five revisions, the latest in 2015. SPCK will be publishing a revised, updated edition of the book in October 2024, which will cover all the issues raised in this paper in greater detail.
- Colin Chapman has worked in the Middle East for eighteen years, teaching at seminaries in Cairo, Beirut and Bethlehem. In the UK he has taught at Trinity College, Bristol, and was principal of Crowther Hall, the CMS training college in Selly Oak, Birmingham. His books include Christianity on Trial and "Chapman (Colin) - The Case for Christianity" (Lion), and Cross and Crescent (IVP).
Introduction (Full Text, footnotes omitted)
- Hamas’s brutal attack on 7 October 2023, and Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza have brought the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a head. ‘Gaza,’ writes Tareq Baconi, ‘is one microcosm, one parcel, of the Palestinian experience.’ And the Israeli journalist, Amira Hass, describes Gaza as the embodiment of ‘the entire saga of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.’ Recent events have pushed the conflict to the top of the international agenda, and created what many have described as an existential crisis for Israel.
- But why does this particular conflict arouse so much more passion than most other conflicts in the world today? Western powers played a major role in encouraging Zionism, and have been heavily involved in the region ever since because of their own strategic interests. The Cold War played out there in the 1970s and 1980s, and the ongoing cold war between different powers in the region has almost escalated into open warfare. In 2007, Arno J. Mayer wrote that ‘Israel’s destiny is only partly in its own hands. The country is as much at the mercy of world politics as it was at its creation in 1947–9.’ The fact that the recent events have aroused so much passion in the western media and on university campuses suggests that it has raised major questions for us in the western world – about our colonial past, double standards, generational divides and profound realignments in western culture. One further reason for special interest is that this is the region in which Judaism, Christianity and Islam came into existence and have been interacting with each other over many centuries.
- Christians often disagree with each other over Israel-Palestine, partly because of the different ways in which they understand the significance of the State of Israel in the light of the Bible, and partly because they have different understandings of the history. In this paper I argue that the overriding concern of Christians should be to seek peace and justice between those most closely involved. Focusing on the background to these events in Israel and Gaza – rather than on the conduct of the war since 7 October – offers a way of understanding the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and points to what might be a peaceful and just resolution.
Commentary
- Introduction (p. 1)
- Israel’s ‘existential crisis’ – it really does affect the very existence of Israel (rather than just its self-image; ‘existential crises seem to be ubiquitous in weaker senses these days).
- Is ‘Zionism’ a good, bad, or neutral thing? Is it – in the author’s eyes – a term of abuse?
- Western powers involvement – ‘encouraging’ Zionism … for their own strategic interests. Really? What interests are satisfied? It’s not as though the Western powers stole the Arab oil: while they doubtless made some money out of enabling the Arabs to exploit their resources, this left the West beholden to the Arab States when a more cost-effective approach would have been to expropriate it in a good old colonial way.
- The Cold War: I suspect this – along with the US’s rivalry with the old colonial powers – led to the Middle East being ‘unstably stable’ – ie. the Middle Eastern nations were left to mismanage their own affairs, admittedly with a lot of meddling by both sides in the Cold War.
- ‘… major questions for us in the western world – about our colonial past, double standards, generational divides and profound realignments in western culture. ’ This requires unpacking. Are these implied criticisms justified?
- Christian disagreement over Israel-Palestine:
→ State of Israel & Biblical interpretation, and
→ Different understandings of history
- The present State of Israel has nothing necessarily to do with Biblical interpretation. Any ‘future for Israel’ may be millennia away (for all we know). ‘The Land’ is not to be equated with the present State and its geography.
- History: it depends where you want to start – the Jews (at least ‘religiously conservative’ ones) would want to start 3,000 years ago. History didn’t start with the Zionist movement and the Balfour Declaration. No-one thinks it started with the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks. Agreed, the Palestinians have genuine and serious grievances – but then so do ‘the Jews’.
- We all would like a peaceful and just resolution to the conflict, but what might one look like? I suspect it has to be a bottom-up change of heart rather than something imposed from above.
- What happened on 7 October 2023, and what followed? (p. 2)
- On 7th October 2023: FN4 - ‘Reports by Al Jazeera and Haaretz have raised questions about the widely accepted versions of what actually happened on the day’. This claim is repeated later: FN30 – ‘Jonathan Cook6, 20 March 2024: Jonathan Cook: How the Western media helped build the case for genocide. In many of his pieces Cook has drawn attention to Israelis who have questioned the reliability of accounts of what happened on 7 October put out by the IDF. ’. This needs following up. Holocaust-deniers7 make a case, but it doesn’t mean we should take them seriously. This sounds like a conspiracy theory. Just how distorted is the IDF (and ‘Western’) take on the events supposed to be? You can’t just throw in remarks or suggestions like this. Who are the ‘Israelis’ who make these claims? What’s the reference for Haaretz?
- ….
- What is the background to these events? (pp. 2-4)
- The map is useful as it shows the absurdity of a 2-state solution, given the topological disconnection between Gaza, the West bank and the Golan Heights.
- Should there be anything distinctive about a Christian approach to the conflict? (pp. 4 - 5)
- What might be ‘the things that make for peace’? (pp. 5-8)
- Challenging reductionist responses (p. 5)
- Recognising that the status quo cannot continue indefinitely (p. 6)
- Outside pressure, impartial mediators, and inclusive negotiations (p. 6)
- Ensuring that international law takes precedence over religious claims and realpolitik (p. 7)
- Giving serious consideration to the two-state and the one-state solutions (p. 7)
- Involving activists on both sides who believe in a peaceful solution (p. 7)
- Addressing the scourge of antisemitism (p. 7)
- Listening to Palestinian Christians (p. 8)
- Conclusion (p. 8)
Comment:
In-Page Footnotes
Footnote 6: Footnote 7:
- Jonathan Cook’s Blog is full of comments by Holocaust deniers.
Text Colour Conventions (see disclaimer)
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2025
- Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)