Building Walls, Creating Awareness

by Kory Plockmeyer

On Wednesday, April 21, Calvin Seminary students entered the Student Center to find a wall dividing the communal space. The wall, decorated with posters of information about the Israel-Palestine conflict, was part of a campaign by Hope Equals to promote peace in the Middle East. Similar events were coordinated at Calvin College and Trinity Western in British Columbia.

The day included the opportunity for students to write letters to local representatives to encourage them to vote for policies that promote peace. Micah Schuurman, the head of CTS’ chapter of Hope Equals, explained the goal of the letters and the wall: “We asked students, faculty and staff to write to the members of Congress who represent Grand Rapids. We encouraged people to encourage their representatives to support a balanced, even-handed approach to solving the Arab-Israeli conflict. As Christians who want to advocate for peace, we need to learn to empathize with both sides. That was the point of the wall and that was the point of the letters.”

Schuurman believes that it is important for church leaders to understand the issues surrounding the conflict in the Middle East: “People are becoming more and more aware of the conflict and my personal hope is that Hope Equals can help familiarize future pastors with the core issues surrounding the conflict. We need pastors who can speak intelligently about the conflict, particularly when it comes to trying to understand what the Bible has to say about these issues.”

The wall created a springboard for discussion about the role of the church in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Schuurman believes that a group of Christians committed to loving relationships with both sides of the issue can create long-term solutions: “While Christians who work for peace and hope cannot stop Palestinians and Israelis from demonizing each other, we can look within ourselves to find ways in which we demonize other people. Once we have done that, we can begin the slow process of forming relationships with both sides, empathizing with both sides, working with both sides and loving both sides. If this happens enough on a small scale, it has the potential to become the sort of movement that can bring genuine peace and reconciliation.”

Hope Equals hopes that this event gave students a small taste of the life of many in the West Bank: “The actual wall in the West Bank makes life difficult for Palestinians by often cutting right through the middle of their communal spaces. Sometimes the wall runs down the middle of a once busy street. If you go to those communities right now, all you can see is boarded up shops. We wanted students to get an idea of what it would be like to have a huge barrier in our communal space.”

Hope Equals plans to host a movie night during the month of May and a Middle Eastern dinner in the fall. If you are interested in getting involved in Hope Equals, contact Micah Schuurman at micah.schuurman@gmail.com.

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