As Resident Aliens: Christian Peacemaker Teams in the West Bank 1995-2005

As the crucifixes drenched with Jewish blood drop from our hands we stand impotent and wordless before this tragedy of Israel and Palestine...In the name of the crucified Messiah we must struggle against the conditions which make history a trail of crucifixions. Only then in solidarity with Jews and Palestinians can we dream of Messianic times of a shalom without victims. With these words theologian Rosemary Radford Reuther laid out the pitfalls for Christians entering the arena of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Nevertheless in 1995 a small cohort of pacifist Christians decided to paddle against the currents of history against the crusades pogroms and colonial enterprises of their co-religionists toward that goal of a shalom without victims. Setting up a project in the West Bank city of Hebron over the next ten years Christian Peacemaker Teams forged relationships with Palestinians Israelis and internationals who were resisting the Israeli military occupation of Palestine. As resident aliens (See Exodus 23:9) they have sojourned in the Holy Land to support Palestinians and Israelis who reject violence as a means of solving the conflict who think that one nation has no right to subjugate and exploit another and who believe all the residents of the region are entitled to the same exactly the same human rights. This book charts the growth of CPT in Palestine how it adapted to changing political conditions spread to locations outside of Hebron and developed networks with activists throughout Palestine and Israel.