by Isabel Smyth

One of the purposes of interfaith work is that of peace and harmony among religions. It includes not letting wars abroad affect relations here at home.

This is very true when it comes to the conflict in the Middle East and the war between the State of Israel and Hamas. I do not know of any other conflict that polarises discussion quite as much as this one. For those of us involved in interfaith relations it is heartbreaking.

In my experience, the Jewish Community here in Scotland is keen to maintain its good relations with its Muslim neighbours and vice versa. But any talk of the situation in Israel and Gaza shows loyalties that can easily set one group against the other as they defend one position over another. Each group feels so much the suffering of their brothers and sisters in faith.

For Christians I think there is a special dilemma as we recognise the centuries of antisemitism which was the seed bed for the atrocities of the Holocaust and led to the need for a Jewish State where Jews could feel assured of safety. This assurance has been weakened by the Hamas attacks of 7th October 2024.

We are shocked by the situation in Palestine brought about by the Israeli retaliation we have seen daily on our television screens, and the terrible suffering of our Christian and Muslim sisters and brothers.

Implicated

But we also have to be aware of the political colonial manoeuvrings behind the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 on how the Middle East should be divided, and the Balfour Declaration of 1917 supporting the establishment of a ‘national home for the Jewish people’ in Palestine following the fall of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War. Because of our various histories we are all implicated in the tragedy of what is happening in Israel and Gaza today. We carry our own stories as well as the suffering and injustice of it all somewhere in our inherited memory and this can affect how we react to the situation.

Isabel Smyth is a Sister of Notre Dame who has been an interfaith practitioner for many years.  You can follow her reflections on interfaithjourneys.net