Neufeld, Fachbücher, Christian Perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Englisch, Wesley H. Brown Peter F. Penn...

How should Christians respond to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which, for decades, has been the focus of media reports on suicide bombings, wars, billions in military weaponry, and countless diplomatic efforts towards resolution by presidents and prime ministers? Especially since the birth of the State of Israel in 1948, Christians have differed deeply in their understanding of what happened and is happening. Many thousands of Jewish survivors of Nazi concentration camps at last had found a home in the ancient land of their ancestors. Many Christians saw this as a fulfillment of biblical prophecies about a return from exile after almost 2000 years. But at what cost? Palestinian Christians, who had kept the faith since the Church's beginnings, despite persecution and their minority status, viewed Israel's creation as the great "catastrophe". Hundreds of thousands became refugees, losing homes and cherished lands. Is this the justice that the Bible teaches and that God demands, they ask? A group of outstanding Christian leaders met with representative messianic Jews and Christian Palestinians in Prague, the Czech Republic, to listen, to learn, and to pray. They asked probing questions about how the Scriptures were being interpreted and applied to the conflict. Then they endeavored to discern how their churches and institutions might respond with integrity and Christian sensitivity to the present situation. They felt called to support current efforts towards peace with justice, reconciliation, and grassroots ministries which contribute to those biblical values. The "Prague Declaration" which emerged (and is found in this book) was the fruit that they unanimously affirmed.