Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, The People, The Bible

by Mitri Raheb

Decolonizing Palestine challenges the weaponization of biblical texts to support the current settler-colonial state of Israel. Raheb argues that some of the most important theological concepts –Israel, the land, election, and chosen people – must be decolonized in a paradigm shift in Christian theological thinking about Palestine. Decolonizing Palestine is a timely book that builds on the latest research in settler-colonialism and human rights to place traditional theological themes within the wider socio-political context of settler colonialism as it is practiced by the modern nation-state of Israel. Written by a native Palestinian Christian theologian who continues to live in the region, Decolonizing Palestine provides an insider’s perspective that disrupts hegemonic and imperialist narratives about the region.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, History, Politics, Christianity, Theology, Audiobook

184 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2023

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having recently read a book that clearly explained the roots of the current Middle East crisis (The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict), I felt it would be helpful, in the interest of self-education beyond news media, to read further on the subject from both the Palestinian and the Israeli perspectives. Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, The People, The Bible by Mitri Raheb is an extraordinarily articulate account of the former. Raheb packs a lot of weighty arguments into a short book, and being born and still living in Bethlehem enables him to provide a valuable insider Palestinian perspective.

Raheb quickly defines “settler colonialism” as follows: “The settler colonialists establish and enforce state sovereignty and juridical control over the indigenous land, ultimately aiming to eliminate the native people. The natives become extraneous while the settlers are cast as natives through different political mechanisms, ideological constructs, and social narratives.” And rather than a completed event in the past, settler colonialism is an ongoing process, more like a constantly turning dial than the flick of a switch.

Raheb also maintains that the Israeli settler colonialism of Palestine is the last example of colonialism in a post-colonial world. But historical examples are not wanting: Australia and the Aborigines, America and native Americans, and South Africa and indigenous Africans. Current Israeli settler colonialism in Palestine is also a profound mismatch with the description of what the Balfour Declaration, crafted by the British, intended it to be, namely, “…the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people…it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine…”

There is plenty of theology in Decolonizing Palestine, but it occurs primarily as Raheb seeks to decouple biblical theology as the justification argument for Israeli presence in Palestine. In this context, I encountered a new word, hermeneutics, which means “the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially scriptural text.” Now, while many interpretations can coalesce around a core truth, they can also differ in nuance, emphasis, and repetition, which can be used to persuade large numbers of people to believe one thing or another.

One philosophical argument Raheb makes is that Palestine has withstood occupation by many countries and empires before now. The occupying countries and empires have always left; Palestinians have remained. “Due to its geopolitical position between powers,” says Raheb, “Palestine has often been an occupied land: occupied by the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans, British, and now by the Israelis.”

Raheb emphasizes this point one final time in the Epilogue as a counter to settler colonialism. “If the name of the game for Israelis is settler colonialism, the name of the game for Palestinians is resilience: sumud. For more than seventy years, Palestinians have faithfully shown a tremendous strength to resist, incredible forms of resilience, and creative ways to survive. The Palestinians are not moving, and they will persist in the face of the Israeli settler colonial project.”

[Note: If anyone has book recommendations on the Palestine-Israeli conflict from a contemporary Israeli perspective, please share.]

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 stars for this excellent book that’s on, well, what it says in the title, decolonizing Palestine. Raheb, a Palestinian Christian theologian, focuses on how we think about who the people of Palestine are, the history of settler colonialism present in Palestine today, and, in particular, interrogating the relationship between Palestine and our understandings of the theological concept of “election”. Highly recommend!

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Growing up as a Christian Zionist it is amazing how many in those churches cannot see the ideas Raheb presents here. I want to tell myself that they don't know the truth of the violence against Palestinians (and other colonized peoples) but currently many do and they still cling to the chosen interpretations of chosen peoples and land. Chosen and colonial are two terms we could stand to eliminate, not those victims involved in these crimes.

[rara ➶ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually can’t believe I’m the first to review this, but what an important read. There are a few aspects I would disagree with but that’s with every book.

Highly recommend to all readers. As a Muslim, it was especially helpful, because it provided an insight on the Bible and how colonial powers have used it to settle in Palestine.

Many more thoughts, maybe rtc

[Logan Crews · Rating 5 out of 5]

so so good

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

very condensed and accessible history of Palestine and the Israeli occupation, definitely recommended reading

[Jamya Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for my Bible and Liberation class and I truly liked it. Very easy to understand and informative. I recommend to anyone who wants a better grasp on the genocide happening in Palestine currently.

[Jonny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book and necessary reading for liberal Christians who try to distance themselves from dispensationalist Christian Zionists.

[Addie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A vital addition to any de-colonial theological exploration. Honored to read and know and learn from Mitri. I’ve learned *so* much from him, but these days I’m paying special attention to his teaching that Christian Zionism is not a fringe belief in extremist Christian communities, but is in fact seeped into the everyday church lives of mainline Christians like myself.

[Drick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Released shortly before the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Jewish citizens, this book provides a critical Palestinian perspective on the current state of affairs in Israel-Palestine. Mitri Raheb, a Palestinian Christian pastor, compares the current state of affairs between the state of Israel and the Palestinian people to the settler colonialism of Europeans toward the indigenous peoples who were living in North America (Turtle Island) when the Europeans arrived and how they used a theological lens of election and chosen-ness to perpetrate genocide and cultural harms to the people they encountered. Raheb convincingly argues Israel is doing the same thing in its systematic carving up, displacement and now violence against the Palestinian people and do so from a combination of Jewish Zionism and Christian Zionism. For anyone who wants to untangle the competing narratives of what is going on and has gone on in that part of the world for decades, this is a critical book to read. A key point of distinction is between the Israel of the Bible and the state of Israel today; Zionists see them as the same; Raheb shows how they are not. He also shows out the concepts of election and chosen-ness are not to be used to justify the political and human atrocities Israel's army is currently engaging in. As Raheb states, "Violations of human rights in the name of "divine rights" should not be tolerated."

[Marcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the premise of this book and its objective. And I imagine Christian readers might learn a great deal from this book. For me, much of the historical portion was a bit too basic and there wasn't enough of the analysis of the Old and New Testaments in relation to the way Israel has operationalized concepts like chosen people. The parts where Raheb engages in that work is the most interesting and useful for me as a reader.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Required reading on Christianity and Palestine.

[Amelia and John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first full book I've read written by a Palestinian Christian leader.

I'm an American evangelical myself, who grew up in Zionist churches that supported and continue to support the State of Israel. The Church in Palestine first gripped my attention when the Church of St. Porphyrius was bombed. Since then, I've been trying to learn all that I can about the history of Palestine and about my fellow Christians there.

Raheb doesn't mention this in the book, but Palestinian Christians are a very small minority in the Holy Land. They make up around 1-2% of the population, both in the Palestinian and Israeli territories. Their population is decreasing, and aside from being a numerical minority, they face many disadvantages as Palestinians, such as not being able to travel through Israeli territories (like from Gaza to the West Bank), not being able to participate in the Israeli political process, having lands taken from them through military court trials, being discriminated against as terrorists, and having their histories erased through the renaming of Palestinian towns.

One of the biggest insights from this book is that evangelical, mainline, and liberal Zionist theologies are not apolitical. They make VERY political claims. By calling Palestine "Israel," and by calling Israelis "God's chosen people," the land of Palestine becomes a "land without a people" and renders Palestinians as either invisible or as threats/inconveniences to be snuffed out to make room for Israeli settlers. Zionist theology is a political theology. It erases Palestinian indigeneity, belonging, identity, and experience.

Decolonizing Christian theology would be to reconsider exactly how we are reading Scripture with regard to the Palestinian context. Will we allow our theology to justify the State of Israel and its apartheid system in which Palestinians are being ethnically cleansed and forced off of their generational lands? Or will we read the Bible in ways that affirm the humanity and dignity of both Palestinians and Israelis? Will we read the Bible with a passion for truth?

Raheb authored an incredible book, and it is timely, too, being published after Hamas's absolutely deadly attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023, and during Israel's near-genocidal bombardment of Palestinians ever since then.

[Kelly Nickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a timely and enlightening read for me and has further confirmed and given words to my support for the Palestinian people. I would strongly encourage the reading of this book to my fellow US citizens, particularly Christians, whose gut-reaction is perhaps to support the State of Israel because they are our ‘democratic allies in the middle east’ and failing to support them would be ‘anti-Semitic’. That is a lie that has been sold to us, and this books provides textual evidence as to why.

The book is separated into 4 sections: (1) defining settler colonialism and explaining how the State of Israel is engaging in it, (2) presenting how different facets of Christian Zionism through the past few centuries have culminated to support and provide conditions that led to the colonization of Palestine, (3) providing information about the land and geography of Palestine from Biblical times to the present-day and presenting several theologians’ work at providing a decolonial theology/reading of the Bible, and (4) challenging the current interpretation of ‘election’ and ‘chosen people’ and how we can have a decolonial understanding of those concepts.

As a US citizen and Christian, I am deeply ashamed at the ways in which many of my country’s politicians and those within my faith umbrella have supported the settler colonization, apartheid, and now genocide in Palestine; Raheb describes this as support via ‘hardware’ (weapons, money, military) and ‘software’ (Zionist and colonial theology as justification for political claim and action), and he spends a great deal of time explaining that we must reject any theology that uses the idea of election/chosenness/God’s favor to justify the mass violation of human rights. He also argues that criticism of the State of Israel (a political power) can NOT be equated to criticism of the entire Jewish faith/anti-semitism - this has been a strategy of those in power to (very effectively) silence those who would otherwise speak out against the human rights violations being committed by those in the State of Israel and aided by US support. My support of the Palestinian people is not anti-Semitic, it is anti-empire.

My key personal takeaway from this book is that Christians must remove the metaphorical theological veil from their eyes to see what is plainly before us: a great injustice to an innocent people that is being done in the name of a Zionist/colonial interpretation of the Bible texts. If we can unlearn what we’ve taught enough to recognize that this interpretation of the Old Testament in no way aligns with the connection, compassion, mercy, and radical love that Christians are called to embody through Jesus’s teachings, then perhaps we can be emboldened to speak up for our Palestinian brothers and sisters and shift our views to a mindset of respect and advocacy for the dignity of others.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This book is an urgent call to decolonize Christian theology regarding the Palestinian land and its people, to understand Israel through a new paradigm of settler colonialism, and to contribute to the struggle for liberation, human dignity, and justice."

This book is not a textbook on how to decolonize Christian theology. It is also not a crash course on Palestine. It's what the quote on the front of my edition says: "Thought-provoking."

Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb introduces/refreshes/reminds you of how settler colonialism came from Christian theology by way of European thinkers and how Zionism is a part of this tradition. This same theology exists today and is used to justify the actions of many states, importantly here the modern State of Israel. He calls for the decolonization of Christian theology so that the liberation of Palestinians and marginalized peoples does not happen regardless of the teachings of the Bible, but is heedful of them.

Raheb is not creating liberation theology, but adding to it. What's novel about this work is its call for Christians--particularly in the West, who are increasingly Christian Zionists, even if they don't recognize it--to grapple not only with the inescapable influence of Christianity on settler colonialism. You can, consequently, apply the learnings here to more than just Palestine. If you are interested in Palestine, though, you're in luck because, as you might've guessed, that's the focus of this work. He addresses the history of settler colonialism in Palestine and Christian influence on it, looks at Christian Zionism as a political project that is founded on a dangerous reading of the Bible, examines the colonial and decolonial interpretation of "The Land", and gives a decolonial interpretation of what divine election looks like today.

None of the chapters go deep into any particular topic, but each is enough to make the point coherently. Think of it as a Wikipedia page, or a Sunday homily.

If you are unfamiliar with the history of Palestine, settler colonialism, the Christian Bible, or theological terms, you might need to (or want to) reference other works while reading, but the explanations he gives should be sufficient enough to follow.

This book was published 30 August 2023.

[Andreia · Rating 4 out of 5]

incredibly informative and illuminating. very necessary to view the occupation of palestine by israel through this theological lens, and attempt to construct a decolonial understanding of bibical scripture as it pertains to palestine.

this definitely provided me with more language to describe and contend with the bastardisation of biblical scripture to manufacture consent and rationale for the colonisation of palestine. i also appreciated the connection raheb made with the settler colonisation of other indigenous peoples/lands and the (mis)use of religion as ratio ale there.

will admit, some of the more theological knowledge did go over my head a bit ! but for the most part, i found this quite engaging and clear to grasp. was expecting it to read a little dry, but it didn't come across that way. i suspect that is due to it's length, but also the audiobook format likely helped.

my only minor (!) critique is that sometimes, it felt a little circular and repetitive. it was already a fairly brief read (although quite focused, which i appreciate as a non-theologian) but perhaps it would have benefited from being slimmed down a bit.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars. Written in English (not his first language)by a Palestinian Christian theologian to explain the Palestinian Christian perspective and to reexamine Jewish biblical claims on the land of Palestine. Much criticism here of how Christianity supports settler colonialism, but it lacks understanding of Jewish theology or even the Jewish Bible. That is to say, there are misinterpretations. Nevertheless, the basic points, that using the Bible as history to deny rights and ghetto-ize Palestinians into an apartheid state is against everything the prophets and Jesus preached. This was a tough read, partly because the prose was awkward and the organization was circular; the author kept reminding the reader of points made over and over. This slim volume needs a good editor to bring the text to under 100 pages and rework the unwieldy parts.

[Lindsay Mak · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those looking to educate themselves on settler colonialism in Palestine and the theological arguments regarding the ongoing systemic oppression, this book is a good starting point. The writing is digestible and thought-provoking, providing sufficient details on the history and current events in Palestine. Something I would have liked more of though were the theological arguments that supported Palestine using Scripture in response to the typical use of the Bible in support of settler colonialism that has been imposed by the Israeli state. Especially for a theological book that seeks to decolonize how we understand the circumstances between Palestine and Israel, Scriptural evidence and analysis is particularly crucial.

[Malcolm Murrell-Byrd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mitri Raheb is a Palestinian Christian who critiques the way religious texts have been manipulated to support colonial agendas specifically in the context of Palestine. He the calls for a re-reading of the Bible that emphasizes justice and reconciliation as well as providing a counter theological narrative. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” is a Bible verse from Matthew 5:5. Zionism is fundamentally not meek, but rather settler colonialism that weaponizes faith and the trauma/guilt of the Holocaust in the effort to de-humanize and ethnically cleanse the native Palestinians. Empires of oppression, brutality, and injustice will come and go.

[Steph Beaudoin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, the People, the Bible by Mitri Raheb
This book is excellent. A must read for Christians in the west. Reverend Mitri Raheb is a gifted theological scholar of our time.

My favorite quotes are
“What we discover says more about us, and what we are searching for as readers, than the bible itself.”

“Today, Empire is bigger than one state, nation, or military power.”

“It remains very costly to side with the weak and oppressed. And the price can be one's career, reputation, and even life.”

“There is no future for this colonial project.”

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written with Raheb’s usual clarity, this book is accessible and relevant for today’s American church. The lasting strength for me in is his treatment liberal Christianity’s subtle settler colonialism, including the assumptions embedded in Walter Brueggemann’s work on “land” in the biblical narrative.

Raheb’s suggestions toward decolonial theology of land and decolonial reading of the Bible are multifaceted and offer many entry points for rigorous and liberatory interpretations of scripture.

[Kate Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed hearing Dr. Raheb speak so I bought this and another of his books to learn more from his research and lived experience. At times it can be a little hard to follow the scholarly concepts, but the thesis is supported. “No one should be allowed to use ‘biblical rights’ to violate human rights”. Also, in the words of George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

[Magen · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are so many books to read about Palestine, but if you only have time for one, this is probably your best option. The length does leave one wanting a deeper conversation in certain areas, but these moments should give the reader pause and resolve to look deeper into those specific areas. Hopefully this doesn't end up being the only book one reads on Palestine.

[Mary Engen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and packed short book describing the history and status of the colonization of Palestine by the government of Israel. It also describes the history of Christian theology leading to a view of Zionism.

[Sikna Bazzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written and does an amazing job at depicting what’s been going on. Also does a great job separating religion and Zionism for those who don’t know the difference.
Great read & published in 2024 so the information is very relevant. Free F@lestin& ❤️

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource!

[Cam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Painful, timely, compelling, incontrovertible.

[KC Cui · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good intro! (I have read books by Naim Ateek & Donald Wagner that were more text and history oriented which is maybe what I thought this would be more about)

[Salty · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who say, including our politicians, that “we stand with Israel ‘no matter what’ “, they need to read this book.

[Collin Kavanaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book only held back by its length, as it repeats ideas only to ensure its readers truly grasp them. A worthy and necessary call for a new hermeneutic, divested of settler colonial predispositions.