Living between two fires

"Being a Christian in Palestine is like living between two fires: the Israeli occupation and the militant Arabs."
-Hanna Massad

Our second talk in Aman on March 19 was from a pastor of the Gaza Baptist Church, now living in Jordan after conditions and persecution made it necessary for him to leave the Gaza Strip. A few things struck me from this discussion:
-Issues of identity are difficult for Christian Arabs in Gaza
-Gaza Christians try to have grace and forgive the Israelis for taking their homeland, but non-Christians have a harder time with grace
-"I've never been in prison, but I live in one in Gaza."
-Persecution for Gaza Christians began in 2000, from their neighboring Muslims. It got increasingly worse because the police in Gaza do not protect the Christians. Hanna's family evacuated Gaza for Aman because of this intense persecution, and he now pastors a church of Iraqi refugees here in Jordan.
-He requests prayers for safety for Gazan Christians and the population living under Israeli siege--often unable to receive basic humanitarian aid and living in poverty because goods are blocked by the siege.

Hanna also spoke a bit about the Christian Zionist movement, in the United States especially. It's very hard for Gaza Christians who belong to the Baptist Church and are living under occupation from Israel to read that American Baptist Churches support Israel unconditionally. It struck me that as a Christian in America, I usually found that often the church voiced support of Israel on the claim that God gave the Israelis the land. Hanna responded to this: "You are telling me that my Christ wants to take away my home and my land and give it to Jews who do not believe in Him?" Who are the people of God now really, he questioned. Are they still the Jews? Or did the New Testament redefine the promises of God and make the Church in Christ the new People of God?

Food for thought for me as I struggle with these questions and am learning more about the conflict every day.