Gaza October 2023 – Hundreds of Palestinians of all faiths were sheltering in Saint Porphyrius church when Israel bombed part of the complex, killing 16 people
Last night I had a conversation with activist, journalist and Arab/Lebanese Christian Myriam Charabaty who has definitely educated me on the identity of Christians in the Middle East (West Asia). She writes regularly for Al Mayadeen English, so you can follow her work there.
I was discussing our conversation with Myriam just now and I will share a few of her perspectives with you as a ‘trailer’:
I am a very objective, analytical thinker. I might perhaps offer an answer that is not commonly heard. I will delve more into the socio-political understanding of the grounding of many illusions in the Crusader ideology established historically and then reaffirmed by Europeans and Westerners generally and then explain the betrayal of Arabs by some Christian factions. Christians and Muslims are not two coexisting entities. We are one people with a diversity of religious identities but a shared collective identity.
We [Christians] stand for exactly the same thing as the Resistance, not because we seek protection as a minority – because this means if someone else offers protection we would take it – no, because this is our duty, our right, our identity and our role within the current demographic.
Taken from Myriam’s recent article – Looking for Christ in a televised genocide and a call to the Holy See:
This is not about blame but a call for justice, urging the Church to invoke the Just War Doctrine against the ongoing genocide in Palestine and aggression in the Arab world, aligning with the belief that Christ would stand with the oppressed.
The West often accuses true Islamists—those who have taken up arms as freedom fighters defending all Arabs, regardless of religion or ethnicity—of being a threat to Christianity. Yet, where have Christians been throughout this struggle? Has the global Christian community turned its back on us, Arab Christians? And for what? To defend US imperial influence and Israeli occupation? Is this the point where the pursuit of justice is twisted into support for an unjust global order?
In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II stood at the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and made a historic apology, described by The Guardian as an effort to “purify the soul of the Roman Catholic Church” for 2,000 years of “violence, persecution, and blunders.”
Today, the Church has a new opportunity to address another historical injustice by invoking the Just War Doctrine in defense of the oppressed and persecuted in the Arab world. Such a declaration could, in my view, not only offer a chance for the Church to atone for its past mistakes in this region but also foster stronger Christian-Muslim ties.
As the world transitions towards a potential new order, grounded in what could be described as a God-centered value system, this stance would reaffirm that the Church of Jesus Christ has not abandoned those most in need, not only for the people of the Arab World but for all the people of the Global South.
This conversation was fascinating for me and I hope you find it as illuminating and inspiring as I did.
The Wall Will Fall 