Palestinian Liberation theology position towards Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories: Kairos Palestine as a Model رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

This research, entitled "Palestinian Liberation theology position towards Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories: Kairos Palestine as a Model", aims to highlight the identity of Palestinian Christians, and their role during Palestine's contemporary history, especially during the period of the Israeli occupation. The research sheds light on Palestinian Christians in general, but a particular emphasis is placed on Christian religious leaders and ways to confront Zionist myths through Palestinian Christian theology resistant to Zionist theology espoused by some Zionist Christian churches that justify murder, violence and occupation with biblical doctrines. The research reviews the political role of Christian churches, which culminated in the issuance of the Cairo Palestine Document, which was considered a turning point in the Palestinian Christian position, especially in the clergy and churches., against the Israeli occupation and its policy, as well as its contribution to redefining Palestinian Christian identity in conjunction with religious identity. Kairos Palestine worked towards building a political position about the occupation from the context of Palestinian Christian theology and towards ending injustice, achieving justice and ending the occupation through its adoption of non-violent resistance. The researcher used the descriptive and analytical methodology based on definitions and theories of political and international thinkers to apply to Palestinian Christian identity and on a comparison between the world's local theological models and their reflection on the Palestinian situation and their application to the Palestinian Kairos as one of their models. An analysis and reading of the Kairos Palestine Initiative is included in this thesis as well 13 years after its VI publication locally and internationally and interviews with its organizers in order to represent its achievements and impact were conducted. The methodology was used to answer the key questions of the research; how successful is Kairos Palestine as a theological model in the Palestinian context in defending and strengthening Palestinian Christian identity using global liberal Christian discourse? And how much can Palestinians rely on this reference to demonstrate their right to live in peace in their occupied land? The study was presented in four chapters. In the first chapter, the Palestinian reality and the Christian Palestinian reality were presented as well as the reasons for the selection of this research topic, its importance and the objectives. In the second chapter, the Palestinian reality and the Palestinian Christians' conflict and preservation of their identity as "individuals" or "churches" were identified. The theology of liberation and its origin in Latin America and methodology were studied in chapter III. The focus was on the local theology, focusing on its dimensions and what distinguishes this theology and the role of the clergy and the secular believers against the myths and the narratives on which the Zionist movement (to occupy land) and Zionist Christians (to support the occupation) rely. In chapter IV, the previous two chapters were linked through the application of the methodology and the theology to Palestinian clerics belonging to different churches who worked as a team for the publication of the document "Kairos Palestine" which acts as the most important ecumenical act in the world, the impact of their initiative on the Israeli occupation and the future of this initiative at the domestic and international levels. The study found a number of results, the most important of which were: As a result of the Israeli occupation on Palestine, a Palestinian liberation theology arose that demanded an end to the Israeli occupation and the achievement of justice and freedom for the VII Palestinian people, it distinguishes from the Liberation Theology of Latin America and South that Palestinian theology provided a theological interpretation of the Bible with a Palestinian context and vision. Palestinian Christian theology and its stance towards the occupation culminated in the issuance of the Kairos Palestine Document, in which Palestinian Christians demanded an end to the Israeli occupation and the adoption of non-violent resistance. Despite the doctrinal differences between the Christian sects and churches in Palestine, the document contributed to achieving a Palestinian ecclesiastical consensus to be one of the largest ecumenical actions in the world, it also unified the Christian political discourse towards the occupation, and accordingly the international community (Christians in particular) was addressed with its various ideas and beliefs.