Letters from “Apartheid Street”: A Christian Peacemaker in Occupied Palestine

Michael T. McRay

Apr 2013 · Wipf and Stock Publishers

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In 1984, Ron Sider challenged that until Christians are ready to risk everything in pursuit of peace, "we dare never whisper another word about pacifism . . . Unless we are ready to die developing new nonviolent attempts to reduce conflict, we should confess that we never really meant that the cross was an alternative to the sword." From this challenge, Christian Peacemaker Teams was born. Nearly thirty years later, Michael McRay too explored Sider's challenge, interning with CPT in the West Bank city of Hebron. Alongside local and international peacemakers, McRay learned how to resist the violence of occupation, sharing in the stories of a suffering people as he struggled to embody the peaceable spirit of the rabbi from Nazareth. This book tells those stories. Drawing on his personal experience with the land and its history, McRay's raw letters home tackle critical issues relevant to peacemakers everywhere: What is really happening in Palestine that mainstream media fails to report? How are Palestinians' lives being affected? How can one be peaceable amidst such violence and oppression? How should Christian discipleship influence one's pursuits of peacemaking and reconciliation? McRay's letters illustrate both the challenge and promise of the cross in today's world.

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Michael T. McRay received his BA in History from Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, earning regional and national awards for his senior thesis comparing European colonialism and the Israeli occupation. In addition to his internship with Christian Peacemaker Teams, Michael has worked and traveled extensively in the West Bank in various capacities. He is currently pursuing graduate studies in conflict transformation and reconciliation with the Irish School of Ecumenics (Trinity College Dublin) in Belfast, Northern Ireland.