Let’s Talk Palestine
May 23, 2024
Every month, Garrett-Evangelical international students host a luncheon, “Let’s Talk Globally,” where they educate the rest of campus (and alumni who watch online) about pressing theological and humanitarian issues in their home country. In the April convening, Rev. Sally Azar—the first woman to be ordained by the Lutheran Church in Palestine—reported on the horrors her people are suffering, and the ways that she and others are working for justice within the West Bank even at a moment when millions of people are suffering under Israeli occupation and apartheid.
“We cannot talk about Palestinians and Palestinian Christians without talking about the war,” she began. “It’s affecting all of our lives, everyone in our congregation, and all our church work.” Even before the past eight months of relentless violence in Gaza, legal repression was a governing force in Palestinians’ daily lives. “I’m from here, but after eight years away and moving back, I’ve seen how much people are used to live by the checkpoints—constantly being searched, held up for your ID, having to ask permission to leave the West Bank,” she said. “You can’t even go from Bethlehem to Ramallah without being searched by the military.” The restriction on internal movement isn’t new (“I’ve never been to Gaza—I’m not allowed to go as a Palestinian living here, which completely isolates us from other Palestinians,” she offers by way of example), and yet the pervasiveness of repression has intensified.
Rev. Azar shared a story about one afternoon when, after working in Jerusalem, she attempted to return home to the West Bank, only to discover the Israeli army had indefinitely closed the border crossing. “I was alone in the street, it was dark and I was about to cry,” she said. “Then I told my friends about it, and they were like, ‘Sally, why are you so frustrated about this? This is normal.’ And I realized how much these laws govern our lives.” And the checkpoints themselves are often moments of intense powerlessness. “If you stand up because you see the police pull a young boy to the side, the police will definitely detain you,” she said gravely. “They’ll ask, ‘Why are you speaking up against us and our mission? What are you doing?’ So you don’t even dare speak up.”
It’s not just in-person harassment that keeps people silenced, either. In recent months, the Israeli government has also begun to arrest people for how they use social media. “Since the war, Israel has been watching what every person posts and what and what you like,” she reported. “They’ll put you in prison because you like a post and that means you’re supporting Hamas. People are losing their jobs. People have been interrogated. Lots of people have closed their social media because of these issues, and that’s why so many don’t speak up.”
Despite the ongoing repression, Rev. Azar and others are still working to pursue a more just society within Palestine, even as they advocate for liberation beyond its borders. One particular focus of her ministry has been amplifying the voices of women who have long been marginalized within patriarchal culture. “Women rarely talk about trauma or sexual assault because they’re scared, wondering, ‘What if people start knowing what’s happening with me at my home?’ So they won’t dare to speak up against their husbands,” she said. “That’s mostly the issue we are seeing in our Gender Desk ministry. With our judge, we’re trying to solve some divorces. We are one of the only churches that are able to divorce people, because it’s not that easily done in other church traditions.” She has noticed that her ordination has made a significant difference in people’s willingness to come forward. “Having a woman pastor within them, a lot of more women are opening up to me than to any other male pastor with these issues,” she observed. “When one woman shares her experience, it helps open up and turn more places into a safe space.” They’ve also collaborated with the World Council of Churches’ Thursdays in Black campaign, which organizes against sexual and gender-based violence. And yet, she asked, how can we do this work without confronting broader reality? “Every day is a Thursday in Black in Gaza,” she noted.
Still, she was moved by the campus protests that have erupted around the U.S. demanding ceasefire. “We’ve heard about the students being arrested,” she said. “It’s been amazing to see so many protests happening because there has been so much silence in the past.” She wishes, however, that more churches would get involved. “As a Christian community and we have heard a lot of Christians who use the Bible to defend the Israeli government,” she recalled. “How can you do that? How can you defend that theologically, to stand for war, guns, and violence? That’s not Christlike.”
In this room, however, we saw an international solidarity between students and Rev. Azar that mirrors the broader international coalition that seeks to end the violence. One student from Zimbabwe said, “The African people have stood with the Palestinians, especially South Africa, and it has been amazing because South Africa is one of the nations in the whole world that that has the youngest democracy.” Despite their own still-fledgling end to apartheid, “South Africa has gone beyond to take this matter to the Hague and I’m just wondering, how do you see the actions of African people?” he asked. In response, Rev. Azar shared what this kind of embodied solidarity means. “They know what is happening, because of their history,” she said. “They’re trying to prevent something worse. I wish more countries would learn from that instead of supporting war, violence and a genocide that is happening in Gaza. We’re very proud and very happy to have so many Africans speak up and stand up for us.”
It’s never too late to do the right thing, however, and she encouraged Americans to continue petitioning our government to fight for ceasefire. “There has to be a push for Congress to act,” she said. “Keep calling Congress and your representatives and demand a ceasefire, push to stop sending the billions of your tax dollars that buy weapons used for the war.” This is a pressing political need, but it has equally pressing theological dimensions. “We have the right to live in a land peacefully, to serve God in his image through the love we share with each other,” Rev. Azar proclaimed. “It’s devastating and ironic to be in the land Jesus came to and from, which is not yet peaceful.”