Before I leave for my third trip to Jerusalem and Palestine, I want to bring to your attention an error in the April Journal. Dorothy Maubane ["In behalf of peace"] writes, "The truth is that there are not many minds and powers, but only one Mind, who is God, and whom Jew, Palestinian, and Christian alike all worship." As published, the falsehood is planted that Palestinians are not Christians. These are subtleties, but nevertheless very important to those who are interested in seeing justice done in this land that is precious to so many, including the Palestinian Christians who have been in this land, and in Jerusalem, for 2,000 years. There are insistent attempts—especially with residents of the United States—to separate the Palestinians from Christians and Christianity.
The facts are that the first Christians were Palestinians and Jews and Arabs. True, most Palestinians today are Arabs, and most are Muslims, but there remain thousands of Palestinian Christians who are descendants of those first adherents of the founder of Christianity. And no matter what branch of Christianity they practice, they are probably the most dedicated Christians in the world, because they are working and living in this land with the desire to maintain families and to practice Christianity in order to sustain a living Christian presence there. They are not there just to maintain buildings and sites that people love to visit, but to express the very forgiveness that the writer of the article brings out.
Greenbelt, Maryland
