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Mouw agreed that fair outside leadership is vital in the peace talks and praised Bush's "shift from a spokesperson for Israeli policy to a mediating position—although many on both the Jewish and evangelical sides claim he betrayed the cause."

Evangelical leaders of many stripes lament that many lay Christians fail to view both sides with compassion. Abu-Akel said that Arab Christians are often forgotten.

"Palestinian Christians do not exist in the mindset of the American Christian," Abu-Akel said. "How can people in the U.S. look into the eyes of a Palestinian Arab Christian with a church that is 2,000 years old and say, 'You don't have the right to Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and the West Bank?'"

Pentz said that he tries to broaden the perspective of his laity by bringing the reality of Palestinian Christians to the forefront. "When I introduce American evangelicals to Palestinian Christians, the world suddenly becomes very complex," Pentz told CT. "As Christians learn more about the Palestinian side, it is not at the expense of the Israeli side. Nor is there ever support of violence. Instead, [they develop] a nuanced support of Israel and say that Israel needs to recognize the dignity and freedom of the Palestinians."

World Vision's Simmons, said that Palestinian Christians in 1948 made up 25 percent of the population. They now make up only about 1.4 percent. Those that are still there have remained because of a commitment to give witness, he said.

"Western evangelicals do not have a real accurate look at what is happening in the West Bank or Gaza," Simmons told CT. "They need to go to Israel and not do a Holy Land tour, but go into the refuge camps and meet with their Christian counterparts of that indigenous church. Walk in their shoes for a day. Prayer, informing ourselves, and acting for justice instead of eschatological commitments are imperative if we are to follow Jesus."

Todd Hertz is assistant online editor for Christianity Today.

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June (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47