Chris Lucas in Palestine
(Christian Peacemaker Team, Summer 2003)

Writings by Chris Lucas

Pictures by Chris Lucas

Biography of Chris Lucas

My name is Chris Lucas. I'm 27 years old. Originally from West Virginia. Went to undergrad at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia (history), am finish my MA in history at VCU (fall '03). I live in Lakeside/Richmond.

Right now I'm in the Old City of Jerusalem. I came here to work with CPT (Christian Peacemaker Teams). Originally, I wanted to come and work with ISM, but thought that CPT would be a better match b/c of the training they offer. One year ago, I was not pro-Palestinian. Like many or most Americans (at least those from a conservative Republican background), I was comfortable in my ignorance of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After all, it was pretty simple: Israel is right, they are our "ally," and Palestinians are troublemakers, many of them "terrorists." What began my exploration of the issue, what caused me to question my previous stance was an article in _Mother Jones_ published later summer/early fall of '02 on Israeli "refuseniks"--IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers who refused to serve inside the Green Line.

Reading about Israeli Jews who refused to do tours inside of Palestine Green Line areas on the grounds that what they were doing was either unjust or antithetical to true Israeli security, or both, made me think about Israeli policy towards the Occupation. If Israelis questioned their government's motives and/or tactics, perhaps something is amiss. Although I'm a history student, I am virtually ignorant of Near/Middle East history (medieval Western European is my focus). VCU's Free Palestine now, and a decent bit of research on my own brought me to the conclusion that the situations in which Palestinians find themselves is unfair, unjust, and host of other adjectives that can be boiled down to one word--wrong.

For the love of God, in the 21st century, how is it possible that the world is uncaring, the US government is diplomatically and financially responsible for, and the US public is amazingly ignorant of what it being done to Palestinians by the State of Israel? As someone who studies history, this is only one more example of our inability or unwillingness to learn from history--what makes it worse and more frustrating is that the history which should so easily instruct and enlighten us on this conflict is modern history, not ancient or medieval. Two imperfect, but general, parallels which should make us question the situation of Palestinians are the treatment of blacks in America from colonial times until the Civil Rights Movement (and to a lesser degree, even to today) and the South African Apartheid system (which is not at all a closed chapter).

Enough about history--onto humanity. I'm a Christian, an Episcopalian to be exact, and I believe it is entirely my responsibility as someone who tries to live out a Christian morality to get in the way, to agitate, to cry out against injustice. Christianity (and Buddhist philosophy) are only a framework through which I interpret what I believe is, or should be, a universal morality that is really quite simple, albeit romantic: all people, every people can be and should be compassionate towards everyone. I am probably going to seminary in the next year or two to be some kind of non-evangelical, anti-fundamentalist, interfaith-oriented "it's all good" priest who will, in old age, be standing on a street corner shouting against my perception of man's inhumanity to man, and earnestly believing that my one, often incoherent, rambling voice (of which you now have evidence) can actually make a difference.

Pax Christi (& Salam Alaykum) from Jerusalem,

Chris