Defining Christian Palestinianism: Words Matter

Western churches have over the last 10-15 years made repeated calls for a just peace in the IsraelPalestine conflict. This includes adoption of measures referred to as BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) and calls to their respective governments to put stronger pressure on Israel to bring an end to the 1967 occupation. Calls to boycott settlement products or divest from companies operating in a settlement, or providing crucial equipment to the Israeli separation barrier — most of it built inside the 1967 borders — have been strongly resented by other Christian actors,1 who believe these churches are deceiving Israel and revitalizing the anti-Judaism that has been a shameful part of the history of Western churches. Many of these actors self-identify with Christian Zionism, which some term Biblical Zionism. The latter term has a broader appeal than “Christian” when engaging Jews. For simplicity, the acronym CZ is used in this article to encompass different forms of Christian Zionism, defined by the leading scholar Robert O. Smith as follows: A politically mobilized strand of Christian fundamentalism committed to preserving Jewish control over all of historic Palestine to ensure the realization of the movement’s own end-time hopes.2