My Story by Chris Price
I moved from the Solway Coast to Lancaster in 2004 but was born in Staffordshire. I was brought up in a nominally Christian household but became a committed evangelical Christian in my early twenties at a time when the Middle East was a hot topic. It was coming up to 40 years (a generation) since the establishment of the modern state of Israel and all eyes were on Jerusalem. I heard and read a great deal about the 6 Day War and Israel's miraculous defence of its promised land but knew almost nothing about Palestine.
The British media pretty well condensed the news to the PLO vs Israel with acts of terror only on the PLO side. I don't remember any conversations beyond the two sides just not getting on and why couldn't they just settle their differences. As a Christian I supported Israel because they are God's chosen people.
By 2012 I was beginning to become conscious of the Palestinian struggle and my questioning of Palestine's status as a nation turned to questioning what I'd been taught about Israel. What I'd learned began to unravel and my conversations with fellow Christians, some of whom I'd known for decades, became strained. Some of those friendships ended abruptly in 2014. I could no longer engage with someone who maintained Israel's position in the light of Operation Protective Edge.
Along with outright denial of Palestinian rights and Israel's justification, those who insisted on me being antisemitic were discarded and other relationships became strained. Along with questioning much of the theology I'd been taught and discarding the Israeli myths, I'd also visited Jewish websites and learned a little of Jewish theology. While the New Testament is supposed to be the fulfilment of the Old it's quite clear that Christian interpretation of the Old Testament is very often reverse engineering of the New Testament which strikes me as disingenuous.
My passion for the Palestinian cause hasn't been a conversion where I've simply switched allegiance. It's been a learning curve with parallel curves in terms of faith, politics and history. During Covid I heard the moving story of how the people of Ireland were paying back a favour from the time of the potato famine when the Choctaw people, who despite their poverty and trauma, managed to send $170 to Ireland.
I see a connection between the Palestinian struggle and that of indigenous communities throughout the world. Palestine represents our common battle with neo-colonialists, corporatists and those who would see the world burn before they relinquish their evil hegemony.