AS ISRAELI PRIME Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared this spring to annex significant chunks of the West Bank and further tighten control over Palestinians, with the acquiescence of erstwhile rival Benny Gantz, the blueprint and rationale for his actions has been clear: Donald Trump’s so-called “peace” plan. Since the announcement of the U.S. plan in late January, some have explained why it is harmful to even the most basic requirements for peace—but few have analyzed how the Trump plan dealt with Palestinian Christians.
The architects behind the so-called “Peace to Prosperity” plan prefer the nonexistence of Palestinian Christians. These authors share an ideological bias that is troubled by the fact that Christians are an integral part of the Palestinian people.
The plan mentions Jews and Christians on one side and Muslims on the other, as if to communicate that this is a religious conflict between the Judeo-Christian tradition and Islam. While this may serve the partisan domestic purposes of Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu, this is not our lived reality as Palestinian Christians.
Let us be clear: The vision of Jerusalem the plan’s architects present is one of Israeli hegemony with lip service to Muslim pilgrimage. Christian Palestinians are disappeared. Patronizing language allows that Muslims who “behave well” can visit Jerusalem—but does not mention Arab Christians, as if we have nothing to do with Jerusalem. This plan seeks to transform the Holy Land into a “Zionist fairyland” for the enjoyment of conservative Christians from abroad and Jews, while the local Christian population remains subjugated under Israeli power.
The plan’s map shows the lack of available land for the natural growth of Bethlehem. It gives a green light for Israel to annex ancient Christian sites. Many Palestinian Christian church members will lose the land they lived on and farmed for generations. This is a mortal blow to a dynamic Christian presence in the birthplace of Jesus. The “State of Palestine” would not include an airport or a seaport—making Palestine a permanent autonomous area under Israel’s control.
One of the most significant aspects for Palestinians in general, and Christians in particular, is Israel’s control over the population registry. Thousands of Palestinian Christians, including many who are U.S. citizens, are not allowed to return to their homeland because of Israel’s policies. Our churches constantly receive requests for help in family unification cases or for Palestinians in the diaspora who want to visit their relatives and pray in their holy sites. Israel constantly turns down these requests, in some cases citing “security reasons” that no real democracy would treat as such.
For Palestinian citizens of Israel—including 150,000 Christians in important communities such as Nazareth, Haifa, and Jaffa—the plan holds no guarantees for their future. It only recognizes their “civil rights,” conveniently dismissing any reference to equal political rights, while also opening the door to strip them of citizenship through Netanyahu’s alleged request for forced “population swaps.”
“Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people—and only it,” said Netanyahu in 2019. His intention and that of the plan is that Palestinian people, including Christians, become “foreigners” or second-class citizens in their own country.
Dismissing international law and basic rules of diplomacy does not make peace possible, but instead deepens the roots of oppression and the denial of rights. This direction does not and will not lead to peace. Peacemaking is a blessing from God; oppression is a sin. Some U.S. officials are misusing the Bible to justify policies of colonization and annexation of occupied territory, crimes under international law. People around the world who believe in justice must say “Enough!”
Drastic cuts in U.S. aid under the Trump administration have left hospitals in East Jerusalem and majority-Arab cities within Israel ill-prepared to deal with COVID-19. While Palestine is back in the headlines, let us push for a just and lasting peace where the rights to freedom and independence are honored.
Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac is the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, academic dean at Bethlehem Bible College, and the director of the Christ at the Checkpoint conferences. His latest book is The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope.
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