It’s the season of renewal.
A year ends. Another one begins.
At the turn of the calendar, it is customary for columnists like me to make predictions about what may or may not happen or, alternatively, to offer discouraged readers reasons for hope amid all the pain and grief.
I have to admit that as a writer I have always been reluctant to commit to any of these tasks. The first seems to me to be a meaningless enterprise since playing the soothsayer is a foolish act of pride. The second is even more problematic, especially when the ever-elusive “glimmer of hope” appears so out of reach that it has vanished and no longer has any relevance.
This year, like the previous one, we will remember having to watch – destitute and powerless – as Palestinians continued to be the victims of a genocide organized by an apartheid regime seized by an insatiable thirst to kill and rendered possible by hypocrites who insist that they are steadfast apostles of peace. human rights and international law.
Day after day, Palestinians suffered the cruel consequences of this miserable ruse. The number of dead and injured Palestinians defies belief. The manner in which they died also defies belief.
Day after day, Palestinians imprisoned in their own fractured lands face two fates: They will die sudden and violent deaths – victims of Israeli drones, bombs and snipers. Or they will die slowly and painfully – victims of famine, disease, cold and rain.
Hope, in this inhuman context, is a far-fetched fantasy. At least that’s what I thought.
Then I came across a Christmas sermon delivered by Palestinian Christian pastor and theologian Rev. Munther Isaac to his congregation in Bethlehem.
Reverend Isaac’s 20-minute speech was both a brutal indictment of the architects of genocide and an eloquent call not to abandon hope – no matter how frayed it may be.
As I listened, my mind and heart wavered between belief and disbelief.
I’m not a man of prayer, so I tended to dismiss Rev. Isaac’s pleas—despite their piercing force and obvious conviction—as unrealistic, bordering on the fantastical.
I was skeptical.
As Reverend Isaac’s sermon reached its sanguine crescendo, I had a revelation. If a grieving Palestinian can create a burst of light despite the surrounding darkness, then so can I.
I think Reverend Isaac’s intention was to assure the rest of us – believers or not – that hope exists and persists; it cannot be extinguished by the purveyors of death and destruction.
Resistance can take many forms. Yet for resistance to succeed, it must be motivated by the hope that a future free of want and oppression is not only possible, but, as history confirms, inevitable.
So what did Reverend Isaac say that took me from a brooding pessimist to a cautious optimist?
He began with this poignant reminder. “Christ,” said Reverend Isaac, “is still in the rubble.”
The pastor was referring to a nativity scene he had erected in his church a year earlier, depicting a newborn Christ swaddled in a keffiyeh and engulfed by the debris of Israel’s relentless genocide.
The symbolism is unmistakable. Christ and the Palestinians are one. They share the same circumstances and the same providence. Just as Christ suffered at the hands of the vindictive potentates who sentenced him to death, so have the Palestinians.
“(Donald) Trump said that if the hostages are not released in January, there will be ‘hell to pay.’ It’s already hell. What is he talking about? » said Reverend Isaac. “It is indeed difficult to believe that another Christmas has come and that the genocide has not stopped. »
Despite all the grief, loss and hardship, the humanity of the Palestinians remained intact, Rev. Isaac said.
“It has also been 440 days of resilience and even beauty,” he said. “Yes. I think of all the heroes of Gaza. The doctors. The medics. The nurses. The first responders. The volunteers. Those who sacrifice everything for their fellow human beings.
Reverend Isaac also praised teachers and musicians who teach and play music for “bringing smiles” to traumatized Palestinian children in the destroyed remains of Gaza.
“Yes, the loss is enormous,” Reverend Isaac said. “But we have not lost our faith and our collective humanity. This is the beauty I’m talking about.
Rev. Isaac implored each of us not to succumb to resignation, apathy or despair, because “numbness is a betrayal of humanity.”
Instead, he said, “We must not rest nor grow weary. To do so is not only to abandon the people of Gaza, but also to abandon our own humanity. This is why we must continue to talk about Gaza…and the systematic oppression and massacres until it stops. »
The complicit “war criminals” and their co-conspirators responsible for the horrors perpetrated against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank “must,” Rev. Isaac said, “be held accountable.”
“Rather than being judged, they are welcomed (applause) in the corridors of Congress and defended by European parliaments,” he said. “And they still dare to give us lessons on human rights and international law. »
Reverend Isaac is, of course, right on both of these shameful points.
“The genocide will end one day,” he added. “But history will remember the position of the people. History will remember what they said. They can’t pretend they didn’t know.
Once again, Reverend Isaac is right. We will remember.
In the meantime, Reverend Isaac is convinced that: “From the midst of the rubble a plant of life will arise, promising a new dawn. The assurance of a harvest where justice and restoration will flourish. And the vine will bear fruit that will feed generations to come.
It will require a lot of work and patience, but, I agree, the coming harvest will indeed flourish and the vine of “righteousness and restoration” will, when the time comes, bear ripe and abundant fruit.
“We have not lost hope and we will not lose hope,” Rev. Isaac said. “Yes, it’s 76 years of the ongoing Nakba, but it’s also 76 years of the Palestinian war. sumud (firmness), clinging to our rights and the justice of our cause.
Rev. Isaac ended his sermon with this warning drawn from Scripture and confirmed, among other places, in South Africa, where another racist apartheid state was finally defeated.
“Every Herod will disappear, every Caesar will disappear, for empires have an expiration date…and let us remember that according to Jesus, it is the meek, not the mighty, who inherit the land. »
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune.