From the Revd David Willis
Sir, - Your correspondent from Israel (Letters, 27 July)
unwittingly highlights the vast gulf in world-views surrounding the
rights of Palestinian people.
I will leave aside his somewhat confusing use of scripture and
also accept for the sake of this argument (but not as a matter of
fact) his conjecture that there were no Arabs and no Palestine
until "Arabs as a people arrived in the land of Israel in the
seventh century as conquerors and occupiers." He then refers to the
current situation, and says that "The Arab, as a stranger, must be
provided with all human rights and civil liberties and social
freedoms."
I suggest that in this seemingly innocent remark lie the seeds
of the injustices and inequities that we see in present-day Israel
and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
By his own reckoning, the "Arabs" have considered their home as
Palestine for about 1300 years. My own ancestors are reckoned to
have arrived on British shores about the time of William the
Conqueror, a mere 946 years ago. I would be initially amused, but
then, when it became apparent that they were serious, offended and
alarmed if anyone, especially the British Government, considered me
as a "stranger", no matter how many rights, liberties, and freedoms
it bestowed on me in its magnanimity.
Palestinians are not "strangers" in their land (Israel, the West
Bank, and Gaza) any more than I and my family are in this country,
although they have been made strangers for the past 64 years.
Progress will be made only when they are respected as indigenous
and treated as equals in every way with the rest of society.
This, of course includes, but is not exclusive to, the Christian
Palestinians, whom I have had the privilege of meeting, many of
whom can date their own ancestry in the land from the days of
Jesus. They were, and are, truly the living example of both the
disciples' question and Jesus's answer in Acts 1.6-8.
DAVID WILLIS
33 Boystown Place, Eastry
Sandwich, Kent CT13 0DS