In the second chapter, Nick tells a story about his encounter with a Palestinian Christian leader, four years after the Conference on Palestinian issue. The year would have been 1982. Raised in West Bank, Father Iliya Khoury has now been expelled from his birthplace by Israel and so he now lives in Jordan. Fr. Khoury tells that he felt abandoned by the Christians in the West. The Christians are supporting Zionists, but why are they doing so at the expense of the Christian brother and sister Palestinians? The Palestian Christians are caught between Israelis and Muslims. The Muslims see Christian West supporting Israel and so they don't see Christian Palestinians in good terms. And the Israelis are trying hard to expel the Palestinians; what the Palestinian Christians supposed to do? They are willing to be martyred, but the Western Christians would be forcing them to be martyr for an unworthy cause.
Christians in the West are not gaining Muslim converts. Well, as Palestinian Christians they live with the Muslims. They know the Muslims. With the kind of attitude and actions of the Western Christians, they will not be successful in the evangelistic effort. The Muslims need to see first that they can live with the Christians. And Palestinians can show that Israelis, Christians and Muslims can live together. But for that to happen Western church needs to change first.
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