Can There be Peace in the Middle East?

Abraham expels Hagar and Ishmael

How can we understand what's happening in the Middle East? The conflict has raged since the enmity between Sarah and Hagar. Their sons and grandsons, and great grandsons through the centuries continue the conflict from one generation to the next until the horror of today's killing, killing, killing!

I recently began a book by a Muslim man, Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of one of the founders of Hamas.  In Son of Hamas, Mosab describes his upbringing with an ethical father, Hassan Yousef, an Imam, who loved his people and tried to instill the ethical principals of the Qura'an, those that emphasize love and mercy, service to the poor, etc. In 1986 however, he established Hamas, with the express purpose to "awaken, unify, and mobilize the Palestinian people and make them understand their need for independence under the banner of Allah and Islam." The founders of Hamas, including his father, were, as Mosab describes "ready to fight." Ultimately, they looked for provocations to stir up Intifada. Mosab himself was radicalized and sucked into the Hamas mindset, named the Green Prince because of his connection to his father. 

Mosab writes that Islam is like a ladder:

...with prayer and praising Allah the bottom rung. The higher rungs represent helping the poor and needy, establishing schools, and supporting charities. The highest rung is kihad.

The ladder is tall. Few look up to see what is at the top, and progress is usually gradual, almost imperceptible -- like a barn cat stalking a swallow. The swallow never takes its eyes off the cat. It just stands there, watching the cat pace back and forth, back and forth. But the swallow does not judge depth. It does not see that the cat is getting a little bit closer with every pass until, in the blink of an eye, the cats claws are stained with the swallow's blood.

Traditional Muslims stand at the foot of the ladder, living in guilt for not really practicing Islam. At the top are fundamentalists, the ones you see in the news killing women and children for the glory of the god of the Qura'an. Moderates are somewhere in between. 

A moderate muslim is actually more dangerous than a fundamentalist, however because he appears to be harmless, and you can never tell when he has taken that next step toward the top. Most suicide bombers began as moderates.

The kindness and love of Mosab's father toward his people, his desire to find a peaceful solution to the conflict between Jews and Palestinians during his son's formative years greatly impacted Mosab who eventually rejected the violence of Hamas, became an informant of  the Israeli security organization Shin Bet to combat terrorism, and embraced Christianity. Ultimately, he emigrated to the U.S. where he is now a citizen. Later his father disowned him.

In 2019 his younger brother, Suheib Yousef, also rejected Hamas and began to expose its corruption and urge his father to leave as well.

Suheib Yousef said he hoped his father would respect his new political views “as I honored his views for 40 years.”

He also urged him to open his eyes to the reality of what the movement he founded had become. 

“I call on the leaders of Hamas, including my father, to resign from this corrupt Hamas movement,” he said. “I’m sure my father also knows there are many corrupt members.”

The answer to the war in the Middle East is love and forgiveness, recognition that Jew and Muslim are brothers, and a commitment to peace. Is it possible? It doesn't seem so, but this TED exchange between Mosab and Aziz Abu Sarah, illustrates the way. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God." 

A Jewish peacemaker and a Palestinian peacemaker who refuse to embrace hate and revenge, show the path to world peace. Will we ever see it? Perhaps not, unless each of us can build peace in our own lives with those we touch beginning in our own families. Sarah made this wise statement: "We must forgive for the past; we must forgive for the present, but we cannot and should not forgive for the future....We meet in a future that is based on security and safety." Pray for peace not only in the Middle East but in our world. Peace really does begin, as the song says, "with me."

O Jesus, Prince of Peace, have mercy on us.