Children of Abraham: Let us find another way to peace

Is there a solution to the strife in the Middle East? Can there ever be a meaningful reconciliation between Israel and the people of Palestine?

The socio-politico answers must come from better-informed minds than my own, for when I look at Israel and Gaza, all I see is hopelessness upon desperateness upon futility as both Israel and the Hamas terrorists, who seem hell-bent on warring forever, draw ever deeper lines into those sands touched by God, while too many of them are hostages held in relentless captivity and too many are going unfed.

The people in Gaza, particularly the children, must have access to food; they must not go without in this time of war. Their portions must not be detoured or withheld.

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, put it more bluntly: “There can be no future based on captivity, displacement of Palestinians or revenge … It is time to end this nonsense.”

Even President Donald Trump, a stalwart ally of Israel, acknowledged during a visit to Scotland that children in Gaza “look very hungry … we have to get the kids fed.”

These are all good, necessary words, but something has been left unsaid: the principals on both sides of this war must be reminded of who they are beyond self-proclaimed land warriors. They must remember that they are first and foremost children of Abraham.

The Jews trace their lineage to Abraham through Isaac, the Arabs through Ishmael. They are literally “brothers of another mother” and as such they are family — authentic brothers and sisters of ancient common heritage. Their wars are an endless fratricide. When they kill each other, they are indeed killing themselves.

The Children of Abraham must be reminded that from earliest days, a brother killing a brother has grievously offended the Creator, who says “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground” (Gn 4:10). When that blood saturates the earth, there is banishment; there is the wanderer’s endless displacement — a hunger for home and restoration of what has been lost.

As the slaughter of siblings continues, then, reparation remains elusive — nay impossible.

So, these brothers, Arabs and Jews alike, must face the fact that as they spill each other’s blood and destroy their own family they’re perpetuating the age-old curse of rootless dispossession down the decades. They must admit their culpability for miseries, past and present.

And we Christians must do something, too. We claim an entirely spiritual Abrahamic patrimony, one honed by belief (see Gal 3:6-7), and if that means anything then we must help forge some peace in the family through entirely spiritual means.

I believe our supernatural grafting into Abraham’s family leaves us best poised to help promote the development of an incremental peace.

Until the brothers can remember their common blood, that might mean an odd and imperfect peace — a kind of “humanitarian peace” — one whereby warring factions agree to recognize each other as God-created beings, and thus intrinsically valuable.

As such, so-called “enemies” would be pronounced as deserving of adequate food, clean water, livable housing, a means of livelihood, the consolation of family contact — all the simple and true things that acknowledge the inherent dignity of creatures, whether their Creator be called El Elyon or Allah or Lord.

“Humanitarian peace” would be a peace that says: “Our differences are unrelenting but we will nevertheless see and respect each other’s humanity, lest we lose our own.”

This feels like something perhaps the Vatican could do: Make a global invitation to all the Children of Abraham (and all people of good will) to observe a time of prayer and fasting, interceding for a “humanitarian peace” that could potentially become an opening for even broader reconciliation.

We must start somewhere. Words and monies are not bringing peace, and too often it is difficult even to know what is true in headlines coming from that region. But if we work on the small things, perhaps the bigger things will eventually get addressed.

Let us call on all the children of Abraham to pray together, in all their ways, humbly admitting our human limitations while asking for what Solomon (or, Sulayman) sought, “an understanding heart.”

The far-reaching and prayerful supernatural mind must be put to work over all this bloody matter.

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