Christians gather for Israel-Palestine conference
Gathering of evangelical Christians who believe in standing up for Palestinian rights as well as Israelis
A British Quaker working in Bethlehem has joined a gathering of evangelical Christians to build links in working for peace and human rights.
‘Christ at the Checkpoint’, a conference organised by Bethlehem Bible College, brought together evangelicals who believe in standing up for the rights of Palestinians as well as Israelis. They are critical of other evangelicals who support Christian Zionism, a movement that takes a hardline pro-Israeli stance.
Among the participants was Hannah Brock, of Isle of Wight Meeting, who is working in Bethlehem as part of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). Attenders included evangelicals from Europe and North America as well as Palestine.
Bethlehem-based theologian Munther Isaac told the conference that Christians should ‘be radical’. He said: ‘The world is in desperate need of radical people like us who preach peace.’
Hannah said: ‘I was left with the feeling that my assumptions about evangelical Christians need some reviewing… here was a group of passionate advocates, willing to risk criticism from within their own churches by going against the grain in terms of views of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.’
