KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime for more than 400 people on a journey to the Holy Land.
Adam Hamilton, senior pastor at Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, said before the ship carrying the group was set to dock they began to hear news of Hamas attacks.
“We were set to dock the night the fighting broke out," Hamilton said. "Really, I’d say the massacre had happened."
The group was redirected twice, but through all the changes, Hamilton says the group's concern hasn't been focused on themselves.
“You know their dream was to come to the Holy Land and walk where Jesus walked," he said. "And so it was disappointing for them, but you know I was really proud of them. They were not concerned for themselves, they were concerned for the people of Israel and Palestine," he said.
It wasn't Pastor Hamilton's first trip to the region and it isn't the first time the highly nuanced conflict between Israel and Palestine has come up.
He says it's actually a focal point during parts of the trip.
"When I take groups to the Holy Land and I’ve done this a lot of times, we always have time where we have a Palestinian Christian and an Israeli Jew speak about the conflict in the land," he said. “We go and pray at the security wall in Bethlehem. It’s a 25-foot wall with barbed wire at the top that separates Israel and Palestine and we pray for peace in both those places.”
Hamilton been spending a lot of time reflecting on the conversations he's had over the years with Palestinians and Israelis.
He believes narrowing the conflict down to "good" versus "evil" is too reductionist, but adds there is true evil in the recent conflict.
“From my vantage point, I’ve spent time with Palestinians understanding their grievances and their pain. I’ve spent time with Israelis to understand their position and where they stand and then Hamas is a whole different animal," he said.
He said the wanton violence by Hamas is not universally supported.
"What Hamas chose to do does not reflect where most Palestinians are,' Pastor Hamilton said. "The vast majority of Palestinians would eschew that kind of violence. There’s an underlying problem that keeps these kinds of things coming to the surface. And that also needs to be understood if ever there’s going to be peace. And I think everybody wants peace, the Israelis and the Palestinians, but there’s got to be a better solution than what we have today.”
