“We are only civilians. We’re always the ones to pay the price for every aggression,” lamented Nihal, a young mother who has fled Gaza city to go south with her extended family in response to the Israeli order for civilians to evacuate the northern areas.

You don’t need to be a fully-fledged, liberal anti-Zionist to feel for the plight of the Palestinian Arabs caught up in this war. Our very humanity and Christian faith should be enough to ignite love, compassion and concern. There have been challenges for the Palestinian people going back many decades.

Voluntary uprooting

But few really understand that their suffering comes not, primarily, from Israel – though, unquestionably, some wrongdoings and mistakes have been committed by them – but from the way Palestinians have been used as pawns throughout recent history in attempt to undermine the Jewish state. It is primarily this reality that has led to the cycle of violence and poverty that we have observed.

Both just prior to and during the time surrounding the inception of the state of Israel, and despite being offered the hand of friendship in Israel’s ‘Proclamation of Independence’¹, the vast majority of Arabs fled the land. The reasons were varied, but fear was clearly a major factor, and in a few specific places, such as Lake Hula and Ramle-Lod, they were ordered to leave by the Israelis. Though hotly contested, there is significant evidence to suggest that Arab leaders were instrumental in pushing them to evacuate.

Though hotly contested, there is significant evidence to suggest that Arab leaders were instrumental in pushing them to evacuate.

Golda Meir recalled that she had been sent to Haifa to try to persuade the Arabs to stay, but she was unable to convince them because of their fear of being judged traitors to the Arab cause. In October 1948, The Economist reported of the Arabs of Haifa: “There is but little doubt that the most potent of the factors were the announcements made over the air by the Higher Arab Executive, urging the Arabs to quit....It was clearly intimated that those Arabs who remained in Haifa and accepted Jewish protection would be regarded as renegades.”

They were encouraged to leave to “paralyse Haifa” by “withdrawing Arab workers”.² Essentially, by the launching of war to prevent the establishment of Israel, and by encouraging the Arab population to leave in order to make way for the invading forces, those hostile to Israel’s very existence had already begun the process of using these people as pawns in their plans.

Stateless refugees

From that time on, the Arab nations’ determination to extinguish the new Jewish state overrode all concerns about the Palestinian refugees. In 1949, having passed a law to prevent unlawful occupation of empty properties abandoned by those who had fled, Israel offered to repatriate 100,000 refugees (a substantial percentage of the total), and to pay compensation to others. Unwilling to take any action that might be construed as recognition of Israel, the Arabs rejected all Israeli compromises, refusing to negotiate unless the repatriations and compensations were made first. The result was the confinement of the refugees in camps. Despite that, some were paid cash or given alternative land as compensation.

With only a few exceptions, Arab neighbours refused to resettle the refugees in their lands (though many of those who fled to Jordan were eventually resettled as citizens). This was despite there being plenty of available land and property – not least that left by the hundreds of thousands of Jews expelled from Israel’s neighbouring countries, the majority forced to leave all money and possessions behind.

Many poor Palestinian pawns were forced into a stateless refugee existence in Egyptian-controlled Gaza.

The intention from the very beginning was to create a situation of hostility that could be leveraged to force Israel’s destruction. So, instead of a peaceful post-war settlement allowing peace-seeking Palestinian Arabs to return to their lands with full citizenship, with others resettled in neighbouring Arab countries, many poor Palestinian pawns were forced into a stateless refugee existence in Egyptian-controlled Gaza.

Despite their 1947-49 failure, Arab nations continued to machinate to destroy Israel. In 1964, fiery Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, having already fought one war with Israel in the 1950s as part of his attempts to destroy the Jewish state, helped to set up the Palestinian Liberation Organization (the PLO). This was created by the Arab League, at their first summit in Cairo, with an aim to “liberate Palestine” and throw the Israelis “into the sea”, using violent means. Article 15 of its charter stated that “The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national duty to repulse the Zionist, imperialist invasion from the great Arab homeland, and to purge the Zionist presence from Palestine. Its full responsibilities fall upon the Arab nation, people and government, with the Palestinian Arabs at their head.”

Essentially, Arab nations, led by Egypt in this case, were whipping up nationalism, hate and violence within the Palestinian peoples – whom they had kept for nearly 20 years as refugees through their intransigence – in order to fulfil their aims to destroy Israel.

Six Day War

The Six Day War in 1967 was enormously significant. With troops mobilised in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria and Lebanon - enough to outnumber Israel more than three to one, and with the Soviets aiding Egypt and Syria - Israel struck first. This resulted in them occupying the Old City of Jerusalem, Gaza and the annexed West Bank of Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Syrian Golan Heights.

Once again, the Palestinians’ well-being was sacrificed on the altar of the holy war to destroy Israel.

As the war ceased, Israel had no intention of holding all that additional land, parts of which were inhabited with peoples hostile to them. Capturing the Wailing Wall was deeply profound for many, and the Israelis wanted to hold onto certain strategic locations from which offensives had been launched by their enemy. But offers were made to return much of it, including Gaza and the majority of the West Bank, with the main precondition being the end of the twenty-year jihad against them.

But the defeated Arabs declared in September 1967 that they would not recognise, negotiate or make peace with the “Zionist entity”. Israel was fully willing to enter into a just settlement, in return, essentially, for peace and recognition. With the rejection of all overtures of peace, the Palestinians now faced the reality of being occupied by the country that they were constantly being told was their enemy. Once again, the Palestinians’ well-being was sacrificed on the altar of the holy war to destroy Israel – once more made pawns in a wider war.

Pawns again

Shattered economically by the war, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat sought peace with Israel, regaining the Sinai territory; with the peace agreement also proposing negotiations to grant sovereignty for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. This was rejected outright by the rest of the Arab world, with all nations severing ties with Egypt. Sadat most likely paid for this peace-making with his life, as it was a primary reason for his assassination by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Once more, a potential for sovereignty for Palestine was rejected by Israel-hating neighbours – pawns again.

Terrorism continued from the PLO and associated groups. Occupied Gaza still housed many Palestinians in overcrowded camps. Israel made efforts to improve conditions – despite resistance internationally; the UN, PLO and some Arab countries resisted the improvements, maintaining that Israel was only doing this to lessen the political pressure on them to withdraw from Gaza and the West Bank, meaning that the rehousing was only limited in scale. Once again, Palestinians were being ‘used’ to maintain political pressure – not for the wellbeing of the refugees themselves.

Current times

Fast forward to current times. Gaza has been self-governing in most respects since 2003, when Israel withdrew from the Strip. Its inhabitants initially voted for Hamas – though elections have not been repeated since, despite the passage of twenty years. And since then, Hamas has continued the strategy of using the Palestinian people for their own purposes, that of overthrowing Israel, and holy jihad.

Gaza is in fact built over an aquifer which should be sufficient to supply all their needs.

Since the sudden eruption of hostilities following Hamas’ incursion into Israel on Sat 7th October, fully documented elsewhere, the media has been quick to note Israel’s cutting off of the external water supply that it provided Gaza (though it actually only supplied 6 per cent of this until last week). What is rarely reported is that Gaza is in fact built over an aquifer which should be sufficient to supply all their needs. Yet Hamas is credited with removing water pipes to turn them into rocket launchers.

Children are incessantly indoctrinated at school with messages of hatred towards Israel and the Jews, trained in holy jihad, and taught to use guns. Hamas are known for deliberately hiding within or near civilian buildings such as schools and hospitals, to make any targeted retaliation difficult for the Israelis – for Hamas care less for civilians than they do their own twisted ideology. This of course means that any targeted attacks by Israel inevitably results in the deaths of many more civilians than is necessary – these deaths only serving to augment the propaganda war. And the population is pressured and brainwashed into supporting Hamas’ heinous agenda – to the extent that many of them now support it.

The threat of violence is such that Israel only dares allow Palestinians into Israel under certain conditions. Yet this just serves to exacerbate their poverty – still relying on international food aid more than seventy years after their initial flight.

The Palestinians have been let down again and again by the international community, and occasionally by Israel – who insist they have tried their best whilst defending their own safety. But they have been let down most of all by their Arab brothers, both neighbouring nations and their own leaders.

Bringing peace

Over recent years, the Arab nations have been progressively making peace with Israel (in many cases, ignoring their pawns who have now become a hindrance to them rather than a help). Horrified by these developments, Iran has stepped into the breach, inciting violence, training and funding Hamas (and Hezbollah in Lebanon) in terrorism – all with the satanic aim of destroying Israel. Indeed, it could be said that Hamas themselves are also now pawns of Iran.

Palestinians have been let down most of all by their Arab brothers, both neighbouring nations and their own leaders.

Golda Meir is quoted as saying – “If the Palestinians lay down their weapons, there will be peace. If the Israelis lay down their weapons, there will be a massacre.”

Last week’s pogrom is evidence of the latter part of that statement. A massacre occurred as Israel was lulled into thinking that Hamas was more interested in governing than in terrorism. (Netanyahu had only very recently granted thousands more work visas for Palestinians in recognition of his belief that Hamas was less of a danger.)

What would it take to bring real and lasting peace? First, for outside nations to stop using the Palestinians as pawns to destroy Israel. And then, crucially, the Palestinians in particular need to embrace the Prince of Peace. For Jesus cares for each of these people with a love for each individual. They are not pawns to Him, but His own special creation, who He wants to invite to become sons and daughters of the King.

And, vitally, He wants to bring healing to their lives: healing from trauma, through His love, and thus to enable them to embrace forgiveness and the renouncing of all violence. This would enable Israel to also lay down its arms, embracing the peace which would ensue.

The Palestinians need our prayers and love more than ever. Let us pray for revival in the Holy Land.

Endnotes
1“In the midst of wanton aggression, we yet call upon the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve the ways of peace and play their part in the development of the State, on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its bodies and institutions....We extend our hand in peace and neighbourliness to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all.”
2 The Times, May 3, 1948.