As a Palestinian Christian, I still believe in Jesus’ call to peacemaking

Israel is continuing its military operation in Gaza, with the stated aim of eradicating Hamas. But you can't destroy an ideology with bombs, says Lara, a Palestinian Christian. Jesus offers us a better way 

In the days following 7 October our social media feeds were flooded with horrific footages of Hamas’s atrocities. Israeli women and children along with young and elderly men were butchered in cold blood.

In one sense, what we saw was not new. As a Palestinian resident of the West Bank, this is the third war that I have witnessed during my lifetime. The difference this time was the sheer brutality. It was unprecedented.

The way civilians were butchered sent chilling waves of fear, along with confusion and shock among us. However, there were, and still are, some Palestinians who celebrated the “victorious resistance” of the Hamas attack, perceiving it to be the first Palestinian, Muslim militia to hurt and surprisingly attack Israel since the war of October 1973. Some even went as far as celebrating these attacks, and handing out sweets – a traditional Palestinian custom when expressing happiness.