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in service of the
​common good

Gaza and israel

7/10/2023

18 Comments

 

The Conflict
 
What is playing out on the border of Gaza and Israel is awful.  Loss of civilian life is inexcusable and must be condemned.

Unsurprisingly, and understandably, Biden, Albanese, Trudeau and other Western leaders have condemned the Hamas attack in the strongest possible terms.  But is that all they are going to do  – double down behind Israel in responding to Palestinians as vicious terrorists who need to be taught a lesson, or worse, eliminated?

My question to Biden, Albanese Trudeau and others is what do you want Palestinians to do?  For those who live in the Gaza strip do you want them to be for ever caged animals; living in the most incarcerated and impoverished conditions in the world with no hope for countless generations of what we consider to be normal life? Are they to live forever with no employment for their children?  What do you expect those young adults to do, behave meekly with no anger? 

And those on the West Bank, what do you want them to do?  Do you want them to meekly accept their lot. What is their lot? It is to have their land arbitrarily confiscated to serve illegal settlements of armed migrants with ideological views that exclude Palestinians from ordinary human rights. It is to be corralled into smaller and smaller areas.  It is to be systematically removed from area C, approximately 70 percent of the West Bank.  It is to live forever in a cramped refugee camp called Jenin.  It is to live in Hebron and be daily intimidated by illegal settlers and permanently blocked from the main shopping street.   It is to negotiate endless security checks for no reason other than to be humiliated. It is to access below standard water supplies while illegal settlers water their lawns and wash their cars.  It is to have identity papers that restrict access even to parts of their own Palestinian Territories.  It is to have no access to Jews only roads that crisscross Palestinian Territories.

And if you live in East Jerusalem, it is to be constantly harassed, intimidated and to live under the threat of your home being confiscated.

Biden, Albanese Trudeau and others, you are partly responsible for this outrage of violence by not doing your duty in holding Israel to account.  Peace is never possible while gross injustice prevails. Peace flows from justice, not the other way around. You find it easy to hold Palestinians to account and no doubt you will continue to do so.  But what are you going to do in holding Israel to account?
We can only tremble as we await the dreadful revenge Israel will inflict upon the Palestinian people. It will be swift, and it will be unremittingly merciless.   What will you all do in response to this?

The only redeeming feature possible is that Israel will take direct control of Gaza and in turn the international community will treat the whole area from the river to the sea as a single unit demanding a form of governance that gives equal respect and opportunity to all its citizens in mattes of religion, language, culture, economic opportunity and human rights. If this were to happen, then yes there would be peace.
​
Biden, Albanese and Trudeau, you have the honour of leading nations that were all founded on a Christian tradition of respect, inclusiveness, and a bias towards support and advocacy for the weak and vulnerable. You will negate that tradition if you give unquestioned support to the strong and their suppression of the weak.
 
 
 
18 Comments
Rae Howard-Riley
7/10/2023 11:07:34 pm

Poor tragic people, driven to drastic action. I am glad you are expressing what so many of us feel. Thank you for being so articulate

Reply
Linda Chapman
7/10/2023 11:28:31 pm

Thank you George for your courage in giving voice to what must be unbearable injustice especially for those on the Gaza strip. It is tragic that lives have been lost on both sides of this awful enmity. However, as you say, there will be no peace without justice.

Reply
Ingrid Moses
8/10/2023 12:19:07 am

Thank you, George, for expressing so well our concerns. But will those in power listen?

Reply
Laurel Lloyd-Jones link
8/10/2023 02:36:14 am

Thank you Bishop George,

mine and many other people's hearts are heavy at the news of what is unfolding in Gaza yet again.

Our inhumanity, injustice and heartless refusal to understand, due to the willful ignorance of our governments, to understanding the pitiful plight of the Palestinian people. This has brought us now to seeing the total destruction of peoples lives and leaves us in despair.

Reply
Annette Bourquin
8/10/2023 02:02:52 pm

Thank you George for expressing what so many of us must feel. Having seen the abhorrent way in which the Palestinians are treated I can’t help but be on their side. What I still find difficult to understand is how our (so called) Christian leaders have always backed Netanyahu in his actions. It is hard to find hope or imagine any way of achieving peace where there is so much hatred.

Reply
Ian Riley
8/10/2023 04:20:14 pm

George, I agree with you: western leaders need to be impartial when dealing with Israel and Palestine, but this is tragedy writ large. We can only expect that Israel’s response to innocent Palestinian populations of Gaza and the West Bank will be brutal. Is Hamas relying on the presence of the hostages it has taken to blunt the Israeli response? Deeply disturbing is the suggestion in today’s newspaper that Iran is using Hamas as a proxy in its efforts to isolate Israel within the Middle East. God help them all.

Reply
Greg RIPPON
8/10/2023 05:28:03 pm

Indeed George, what do Western leaders expect those suffering such injustices to do? Generation after generation after generation…it’s truly appalling.

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Phillip FRASER
10/10/2023 03:37:55 am

A great tragedy is that on next Sunday, will any of this get a mention from our Christian leaders?? ... will any priest, minister or bishop dare to provide some balance ... will their be any criticism of our politicians' paltry one sided response & of their resolute support for Israel, our friend... And how to divide the Australian public by lighting up the Opera House? No, the churches will probably remain silent. Our only hope is that when the Gospel is read, the words of our Lord will cut through the silence of our church leaders.
Thank you George for your courage.

Reply
June Cashman
10/10/2023 04:32:41 pm

Another terrible war has - recommenced with many innocent victims: Palestinian and Israelis. But behind this is the unjust killing, hounding and displacement of the Palestinian people for so many years.
I grieve but thank you Bishop George for articulating these tragic situations with the greater knowledge you have of the issue.

Reply
Laurel Lloyd-Jones
10/10/2023 04:45:55 pm

I have woken up
With heart broken again
No smart poetic answers
To the suffering that rages
In places I do not know
No fancy spiritual philosophy
That shields them
When the bombs fall
Just a tiny voice that whispers
The love of peace
Even in the midst of war.
~ Kaviji - Poet

Reply
Martin S.
10/10/2023 08:29:29 pm

Culturally and religiously the so called Palestinians are almost the same as Syrians, Jordanians, and North Arabians. The solution is simple: Palestinians must leave the miserable Gaza strip and West Bank and be absorbed into these other Arab/Sunni states.

Reply
K C Boey (he/him)
11/10/2023 03:27:38 am

Why?
Why not relocate Israel(is)? There are enough hosts to their lobbyists to more than accommodate this prospect. Hosts who without conscience support them in spirit, values, resources, material and materiel - if only to avoid boots on the ground(?).
What happened to the two-state solution?

Reply
OMAR ZOLKIFLI
11/10/2023 05:26:14 am

Well said, George, for coming on strong in pricking, the non or the lack of it, conscience of Western leaders.. will they listen, doubt it if the will..?

Reply
Linda Chapman
11/10/2023 04:16:50 pm

Phillip Fraser I will be speaking to this on Sunday at Moruya.There can be no justification for the atrocities committed by Hamas. I will not defend their actions. However I hope that at least some of us on Sunday will offer an alternative understanding and call to account those politicians here who are not leading the way towards justice for peace. It is very disappointing to see 'one side's colours' hoisted upon what is really a global symbol in the form of the Sydney Opera House. Why couldn't our political leaders work towards bringing the Australian Palestinial and Israeli communites together in solidariy with the suffering of both groups of people.

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A sensitive and complex topic that requires careful discussion. Ensure the focus remains on promoting understanding and peaceful dialogue.

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    ​Author

    ​Bishop George Browning. 
    ​Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn 1993 - 2008.

    ​Inaugural chair Anglican Communion Environment Network

    ​PhD Thesis: Sabbath and the Common Good: An Anglican response to the Environmental Crisis.

    D.Litt. Honoris Causa for contribution to Education

    Centenary Medal 2000 for Service to cmmunity

    ​Patron: Australia Palestine Advocacy Network

    Patron: Palestinian Christians in Australia

    Patron: Sabeel

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