There is no peace without forgiveness

How can I as a Christian bear witness and choose peace in a land that is at war?
On the evening of October 7th in the small Palestinian village, Ain Arik, where I live with my brothers and sisters, a few kilometers north of Ramallah and about 60 km from Gaza as the crow flies, I was reciting Compline with my community , the concluding prayer of the monastic office.

We sang Psalm 119 (118), which ends with a cry for help
«Like a lost sheep I wander; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments", almost canceled out by the roar of the rockets that Hamas launched towards Tel Aviv. As the earth seemed to explode, I understood perhaps for the first time the truth of the image of the lost sheep. We were and are all of us, without distinction, lost in this night of war that seems to never end. Because war is a loss of humanity that no longer knows where to take refuge. We must recognize three dimensions to peace. The historical one: the Jews have the right to exist, Israel is a state that no one can question, it has experienced a catastrophe that occurred not in the Middle East but in our Europe, that of Christians, of philosophy, of classical music. They are a people with their wounds and their rights. But the Palestinian people also have the right to exist and determine themselves as a state, according to what international law says. Then there is the metahistorical dimension, which is the orientation towards war.
Let us remember the figure of Cain, whose first act is fratricide.
Especially the male gender has been oriented towards war for thousands of years: in my experience as a prison volunteer I was able to see how 88% of murders are committed by men. Finally, there is the mystery of iniquity. Jesus says it clearly in the Gospel of John: Satan is a murderer from the beginning. He is speaking not of Cain, but of a personal spiritual power that operates as an energy of hate in history. In the book of Wisdom it is written that God did not create death and does not want the death of the living, but death entered the world out of envy of the devil. With this I do not want to demonize the warring parties.

In this explosion of violence we are witnessing we see a supra-rational dimension.
The power of hatred that can infiltrate personal relationships risks evolving into major conflicts. This then invites us to prayer and to that great political action which is forgiveness. It is true that there is no peace without justice, but once justice has been done, mutual forgiveness is needed. As the great Desmond Tutu reminds us, there is no true peace without forgiveness. And forgiveness comes from God.

Editorial board
NPFOCUS
NP January 2024