Weekly Action - 23 October 2023 - Israel/Gaza Crisis

Israel/Gaza crisis

It is now more than two weeks since the horrific incursion by Hamas from Gaza into Israel, which left more than 1,300 innocent Israeli civilians (men, women and children) dead, 4,562 injured and more than 200 taken as hostages into Gaza. Israel has retaliated, closing the borders and shutting off the flow of all electricity, fuel, food, goods and water supplies into Gaza. They have also conducted hundreds of airstrikes against Hamas in Gaza, which are also causing widespread suffering to innocent Palestinian civilians (men, women and children), since Hamas sites are intricately embedded in civilian areas. More than 4,200 Palestinians have been killed and over 12,000 injured. Over a million people, half the population of Gaza, is on the move heading towards the south of the territory in response to Israeli warnings ahead of an imminent ground offensive. Only extremely limited humanitarian access has been allowed through Gaza’s border with Egypt. There is huge risk of the conflict escalating, not just in Gaza, but also with the Palestinian population of the West Bank, and with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. There is unspeakable suffering on all sides. “No place is safe in Gaza, as you see they hit everywhere” said Ala Abu Tair, a Palestinian man who has been forced to flee his home near the border.^[1] Whilst Keren Schem, the mother of one of the Israeli hostages, told reporters “I'm begging the world to bring my baby back home. She only went to a party, to a festival party, to have some fun, and now she is in Gaza.” ^[2]

Urgent need for peace

Like any nation, Israel should be able to use limited and proportionate force to protect its citizens. Arise’s weekly blog in the last two weeks has explored this and other issues around this tragic conflict in more detail. However, what we are now witnessing goes well beyond a proportionate and restrained response. It is now time for an immediate ceasefire by all parties; for the release of all hostages; for full humanitarian access; for basic essentials like electricity, fuel, food and water to be allowed in; and for an urgent return to peace talks. As the Bible tells us, “a future awaits those who seek peace” (Psalm 37: 37). At the moment Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is driving more and more Palestinians into the arms of Hamas. There is no military solution for either side that will end the cycle of violence and lead to a lasting peace. There is no way Hamas can be isolated, contained and shut down through the limited and proportionate use of force, unless there is also a significant parallel track to rebuild progress towards peace with the Palestinian people, and gradually begin to peel their support away from Hamas.

A crucial part of this process must be meeting the legitimate concerns of the Palestinian people, which are a significant part of the background context to the current violence. This includes ending Israeli settlement in the West Bank; ending the restrictions Israel imposes on goods coming in and out of the occupied territories; ending Israeli restrictions on where ordinary Palestinians can live, build, work and travel; ending the harassment of ordinary Palestinians; and ultimately an end to the occupation. Another crucial element must be the reconvening of a truly democratic representative government for the Palestinian people of Gaza and the West Bank, which genuinely wants peace and can restrain and ultimately shut down extremist groups like Hamas, which is not democratic and believes in the complete destruction of Israel. Supporting bottom-up Reform Movements (and the Christians that are so often at the heart of them) that are seeking to bring about truly democratic governments that respect human rights in countries all around the world is one of three key focus campaigns for Arise. There are few places where this is needed more urgently than in Gaza, as an essential element for a lasting peace.

This week will you take action as part of Arise’s Reform Movements campaign, to call for an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian access, democratic reform and the urgent resumption of peace talks in Israel and Gaza?

Take Action

Speak out in advocacy

Write urgently to the Israeli ambassador to the UK in your own words.

Express condolences and sympathy for the tragic losses in Israel following the violent incursion by Hamas on Saturday 7 October.
Show your understanding that Israel must act in a limited and proportionate way to protect its citizens.
But argue that there can be no military solution to this crisis, without a corresponding peace process, otherwise the bombing and invasion of Gaza simply creates more support for Hamas amongst the Palestinian people, and there can be no long-term security for Israel.
Urge a ceasefire now.
Urge complete humanitarian access into Gaza.
Urge the resumption of the flow of basic essentials like electricity, fuel, food and water back into Gaza.
Urge the resumption of urgent peace talks with legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people, who can in time side-line Hamas, and urge making compromises to demonstrate a willingness for peace.
As part of this process ensure Israel does all it can to help reconstitute a truly democratic and human rights respecting authority of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.

You can write to her at:

Mrs Tzipi Hotovely
Ambassador of Israel to the UK
Embassy of Israel
2 Palace Green
London
W8 4QB

Pray

Pray for the people of Israel and Gaza. Pray for a ceasefire on all sides, the protection of all civilians on all sides, release of all hostages, for all those who are injured and have lost loved ones, for humanitarian access to Gaza, for basic essentials like food and water to get in, and for a real peace process to re-start again, even in these darkest days. Pray for democratic and human rights reform in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.

Give

Give to Christian organisations like Christian Aid, Cafod, Tearfund or World Vision who have launched urgent appeals to support the people of Gaza who have been impacted by the fighting.

Practical Action

Reach out to friends and neighbours in your community with roots and family in Israel and Gaza. How have they and their families been affected? How can you and your church support them?

Encourage us and others by letting us know what actions you have taken – message us at info@ariseuk.org, or via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

Find out more

It’s great to take this action as individual Christians, but even better to come together with others to pray, discuss, worship, learn, have fun and take action together. Contact Arise if you are interested in joining or starting a local Arise group in your church or area. If you are already in an Arise group, take this action to your wider church, and get them all to do it too.

Find out more in the Arise Manifesto, Arise’s big picture, researched, Biblical, holistic and practical vision for a better world. It looks at what the Bible says, and what we can learn from the best data and the world’s leading experts on the five major areas of evangelism, discipleship, social justice, development and the environment. It then draws these lessons together into a practical road map for the changes we need to see in our world, which the Arise movement campaigns to achieve.

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[1] Israel pulverizes Gaza after Hamas attack as it collects its dead, Reuters, (10 Oct 2023), https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-threatens-kill-captives-if-israel-strikes-civilians-2023-10-09/

[2] Family of Franco-Israeli woman held in Gaza begs for her return, Reuters, (17 Oct 2023), https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-releases-hostage-video-franco-israeli-woman-2023-10-16/