On Oct. 7, 2023, the American Airlines flight I was on landed at Tel Aviv Airport at about 5 p.m. local time. I’d slept most of the flight and was completely oblivious to what was happening in the world. Imagine my surprise when the plane landed and I turned on my cell phone to a barrage of frantic text messages.
The irony of that trip to Israel/Palestine was that I was traveling with a group of peacemakers coordinated by Faith Commons and Mejdi Tours. Rather than the typical tourist visit to holy sites, we were instead meeting with Israeli and Palestinian individuals and groups working together toward peace.
In the days following the outbreak of the war, I and the other Americans made our way safely out of the region. The Israelis and Palestinians — even the peacemakers — continue to suffer the cruelties of war.
Mara Bim
The October trip to the region was my second trip in 2023. Earlier in the year I had gone on a pilgrimage following in the footsteps of Jesus from the Church of the Nativity in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank town of Bethlehem to Jacob’s Well in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank city of Nablus and from the Sea of Galilee in Northern Israel to the Western Wall in Israeli-controlled Western Jerusalem.
For those who never have visited the Holy Land, it can be hard to comprehend just how close in proximity each of the various communities are to one another. It’s only 5.5 miles from Bethlehem to the Western Wall; 45 miles from Nablus to the Sea of Galilee. And while the vast majority of Israelis are Jewish and the vast majority of Palestinians are Muslim, there are also Muslim Israelis (like the Negev Bedouin), Israeli and Palestinian Christians and other ethnoreligious groups like the Druze.
As an American Christian, I was allowed to pass seamlessly between Israel and the Palestinian West Bank even though those in the region only cross over to the other side in very rare and controlled circumstances.
Adding to the physical and ethnic complexities of the region are the psychological ones. Generational trauma is evident in so many who live in the region, as is the blinding sense of victimhood and rage that can spring from it. Even so, when I was in the region in January 2023 — nine months before the start of the war — there still was a sense of hope and joy among those whom I encountered in Israel and in the Palestinian West Bank.
Gaza, since Hamas was elected to power in 2006, has been another beast altogether. Although only a fraction of the population alive today voted for the armed terrorist organization, the Palestinians in Gaza (both Muslims and Christians) have been and continue to be held captive by the brutal and autocratic regime.
Over the last year, I’ve read a lot, talked a lot and listened even more. There is real pain on all sides of this conflict. There is real cruelty and inhumanity. And every once in a while there is real compassion acted out in ways big and small.
“I have found the one-year anniversary of my landing in Tel Aviv at the start of the war more emotionally challenging than I anticipated.”
I have found the one-year anniversary of my landing in Tel Aviv at the start of the war more emotionally challenging than I anticipated. There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight and there seem to be no answers to the conflict. All I can offer to myself and to others is a prayer for peace:
Loving Creator of Many Names,
We are broken people in a broken world.
Blinded by fear and anger, we fail to see your image on the faces of those whom we call enemies.
Consumed with sorrow and rage, we fail to be your image for all to see. Open our eyes and break open our hearts. Fill us with your light and your love.
Open, too, the eyes and hearts of the world’s leaders.
Give them the character and the courage to seek a lasting peace not only for their children, but also for the children of their enemies.
We know today children cry out in fear.
We know mothers and fathers live in terror while attempting to comfort the children they love.
We know also, too many have watched helplessly as those whom they love die brutal deaths.
Make your presence known to each and every one of them in whatever language they speak and in whatever faith they practice.
Surround them with your love. Shine a light into the darkness that surrounds them.
In your many holy names we pray. Amen.
Mara Richards Bim serves as a Clemons Fellow with BNG and as program director at Faith Commons. She is a spiritual director and a recent master of divinity degree graduate from Perkins School of Theology at SMU. She also is an award-winning theater artist and founder of the nationally acclaimed Cry Havoc Theater Company which operated in Dallas from 2014 to 2023.