The Other Side Of The Deluge: Three Palestinian Books Recommended

 

Perhaps no other current issue paints a clearer, brighter, or more divisive moral line than the hideous war of genocide being waged by the Zionists against the Palestinians. Across the US and parts of the West, a concurrent war is waged against college students and others for the outrageous crime of opposing the murder of an entire nation. Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, previously run out of Israel for his common decency, was harassed by the GAE upon his arrival in Detroit in May 2024. More reporters have been killed by the Zionists during this genocide than in any other conflict in recorded history. The Zionists have banned media outlets. While my circumstances are not nearly as extreme as those others face, I have been warned, more than once, to curtail or halt my support for Palestine and my criticism of the Zionists. The following triple book review is a part of my ardent reply to those warnings: No.

The first two books come from inside Occupied Palestine. One was fully authored by Lutheran Pastor Rev. Munther Isaac of Bethlehem; he is a contributor to the second. At the time of my drafting, at least nineteen million people have watched his interview with Tucker Carlson. If you, dear reader, are not one of them, then please do watch and listen to what might be Tucker’s most profound work ever. Rev. Isaac also maintains a YouTube channel worth paying attention to. Isaac is the Pastor of both the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem and a Church in nearby Beit Sahour. He is also a faculty member at the Bethlehem Bible College. The Bible College operates the Bethlehem Institute of Peace.

Isaac, Rev. Munther, The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2020. 

The wall, of course, refers to the ugly concrete and steel barrier erected by the Zionists to partition, control, and oppress Palestinians in the West Bank. (There is a similar cage-like structure surrounding Gaza.) Isaac begins his book, along with an excellent general history, and a description of his people—very real, very wonderful, and not recently contrived as some lie about them being—with current economic and utility usage information, all of which plainly show the disparity between one side of the wall and the other. Per capita income, for instance, is thirteen times greater on the Zionist side.

Isaac discusses the “post-Holocaust theology” that grips much of the Western Church along with his own personal struggle with and questioning of his place in the Chosen Land of the Bible. He writes, on page 20, that the “Theology from behind the wall is viewing God and the Bible from the perspective of the marginalized and dehumanized.” Too many Christians, especially those in America are completely ignorant of the existence of their Palestinian Brethren. Isaac’s book is a form of education for such unaware people, and with it he hopes to raise awareness of Christians and others on the “wrong” side of the wall and the discrimination they face. It is a daunting challenge for him and all who would make clear the truth. 

Isaac writes of the hostility Palestinian Christians receive, not only from the Zionists but also from fellow Christians abroad. He writes, sadly but stirringly, of Christian forums withdrawing speaking invitations (including his own preemptive dismissals) because the speakers are Palestinians. He covers some of the fantastic myths foisted by Judeo-Christians and Christian Zionists on native Christians, Muslims, and any non-Jewish inhabitants of Palestine. Against these myths, he posits genuine Christian doctrine, some hard questions, and the truth that the New Testament fulfills and exceeds the Old. Isaac calls Christian Zionism an imperial philosophy, not only of Israel but also of the Anglo-Americans. He raises many uncomfortable (for some) truths, such as that Palestine belongs to God, not man, and that Christian Zionists have replaced Jesus with political Israel. Chapter seven deals with Christian-Islamic relations, which are considerably different than those fictions portrayed by the mainstream media and war criminal politicians. Chapter nine concerns a subject the Bible devotes an entire book to, Lament. Lament, Isaac writes, necessarily comes before hope. And, from page 226, he notes, “Hope is not simply waiting for divine intervention; it requires our committed action and work.” The Other Side of the Wall was written four years before the current genocide. Action and work are needed now more than ever.

Isaac, Rev. Munther, et al, Normalize or Resist?: Palestinian Christians Respond to Oppression, Bethlehem: Bethlehem Bible College, 2024.

Normalize or Resist? is essentially a transcription of a symposium conducted on April 28, 2023, by Rev. Isaac in conjunction with Andrew Bush, J. Nelson Kraybill, Salim Munayer, and Mitri Raheb. The authors included an Afterword to update the book reflecting the outbreak of the current atrocity. 

Rev. Isaac’s contributions are his short introductory remarks, page 13, et seq., along with the Afterword, page 82, and a section on the complicity in the genocide by the Western Church, page 84. He sheds more light on a few misconceptions, some of them bordering on blasphemy, and he directly implicates the American Church for its failings. He rightly explains the current conflict did not start on October 7, 2023, being, rather, an extension of the Nakba of 1948. He paints a painful but accurate portrait of Gazan life today under the constant attacks of the Zionists, as supported by the US. He notes, as did Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, that Israel, after 75 years of occupation, still somehow portrays itself as the victim. He notes the cover for this wicked madness given to the Zionists by Western Christians. 

Furthermore, like the ICJ and the ICC and anyone with an IQ above room temperature, he writes, on page 92, “I strongly believe that what is happening in Gaza is genocide effected through war crimes and ethnic cleansing.” In a call for repentance, he writes on page 93, “We’ll remember not those who were against us, but those who were silent.” God may take a similar view. Thus it is important to keep speaking out regardless of the feeble consequences, being ever mindful of Christ’s words in Luke 10:19: “Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall hurt you.” Many people are not daunted and are treading away, the authors of the final book included.

Stern-Weiner, Jamie, et al, Deluge: Gaza and Israel from Crisis to Cataclysm, London: OR Books, 2024. 

Deluge is brand new, published in April 2024. I learned about it from Richard Sanders’s review at the Middle East Eye, a review I encourage all to read. The book is an astounding collection of essays that blast myths about Palestine, Hamas, and the Zionist occupation and genocide to bits. Christian Zionists may squirm, especially considering that several authors are Jews dedicated to the truth. In fact, many of them won’t be able to handle it, as evidenced by an Amazon review left by the curiously-named, “Amazon Customer,” a screed labeled, “DON”T [SIC] READ THIS BOOK.” “Customer” goes on to babble, in totality, “I’VE READ this book and it is garbage. Israel is not comitting genocide. this book should be banned and so many others like it for spreading blood libels.” While I doubt “Customer” has read this book (or any others), his reaction is telling. Such people would happily ban the truth. So much more our need to tread on the serpents.

A word of gentle correction at the outset: Deluge was drafted in pieces during the earlier stages of the current conflict. Hence, there are a few statements or assumptions, murky then, which have since been clarified. This includes a matter mentioned at intervals, in the Foreword and the Introduction, regarding Israeli civilian deaths on or about October 7, 2023. While 1,100 or so Israelis were killed, many of them, perhaps a majority, were combatants. As for the civilians killed, the evidence shows most were killed by the IDF and not Hamas. This point is important because various voices, from Naftali Bennett to Mike Johnson, are still repeating assorted lies about October 7th. 

Deluge, a great credit to all its authors, is packed with truth, historical facts, and horrors to shock the conscience. Every part and paragraph deserves careful consideration. Part III, “Solidarities,” for instance, sheds an honest light on the various college protests and the draconian reactions against the heart and resolve of so many good young people. However, I will concentrate on a particular subject, the truth of which is utterly unknown to most Americans and Westerners, the truth about Hamas. Chapter seven, “Nothing Fails Like Success: Hamas and the Gaza Explosion,” was written by Dr. Khaled AL-Hroub, Professor in Residence of Middle Eastern Studies at Northwestern University, Qatar. He is a Hamas expert, having authored, among other books, Hamas: A Beginners Guide and Hamas: Political Thought and Practice. His chapter is a condensed exposition of a kind I had never read before and which will likely be completely alien to most Western readers.

AL-Hroub begins chapter seven with a brief history of Hamas’s Al-Aqsa Deluge Operation, a retaliatory military strike, not a terrorist attack, and the reactionary product of years of Zionist mistreatment and provocation. On page 143, he quotes UN Secretary-General António Guterres, “The attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum.” His title is an homage to the fact that Hamas was born as a radical faction, one that rejected previous half (if that) measures like the ill-fated Oslo Accords. Perceived as more authentically representing the will and needs of the oppressed masses, Hamas probably even shocked itself by becoming a legitimate governing authority, one tasked with enforcing or abiding by many of the processes it rejected, a political catch-22. Dealing with its new circumstances as best it could, the group transitioned in many ways, including ending the use of terroristic tactics. It very much became a political entity, albeit one with an as-necessary paramilitary wing. (Perhaps like the Likud party and its handy GAE military?)

Hamas’s victories and concessions have generally come with prices, frequently imposed by meddling from the Zionists, the US, and other uneven-handed powers. Still, the organization continued to evolve. AL-Hroub notes the changes Hamas made in 2017 to its original 1988 charter. I have read both, finding the former acceptable under the circumstances, and the latter most reasonable. I encourage the reader to make an independent assessment. All the while, despite these changes, Zionist oppression continued apace, and Palestinian living conditions, especially those in Gaza, continued to deteriorate. On page 153, AL-Hroub explains Hamas’s reaction to an impossible situation: “One million children were fated to rot in Gaza prison camp, with death their only deliverance. And so, on October 7, Hamas rolled the dice.” As the genocidal war continues, all Palestinians understand that Gaza’s fate today will likely become theirs tomorrow. 

The fact that much or all of the foregoing may come as a shock to many Americans and Westerners is a testament to the fact they should turn off the lie machines and begin reading about what is actually happening and what precipitated it all. I fully recommend The Other Side of the Wall, Normalize or Resist?, and Deluge, three excellent works to start (or continue) with. In addition to these three fine books, I also recommend, as part of building a Palestinian library of sorts, The Stone House by Dr. Yara Hawari and The Rape Of Palestine by Dr. Blake Alcott. As someone once said, “It’s time for action.” Let it start with reading the truth.

Lego ergo scio. Deo vindice.