Jesus was a Palestinian Jew.
He spoke Aramaic,
a language that gave birth
to both Arabic and Hebrew.
Judaism is a religion,
like Islam.
Palestine is a place
where a young Jewish man
called for new rules,
which became known as Christianity.
He asked for peace and mercy,
not expulsion of people
from their ancestral land,
or the construction of
barriers and checkpoints,
manned by armed ‘servants of God.’
Yet today, on Jesus’ birthday,
the city where he was born
is surrounded by an apartheid wall.
In the Palestine of today,
Jesus’ rules for peace
are mere lip service:
broken under the weight of occupation.