We are grateful to Colin Chapman for permission to publish the conclusion of the latest edition of his "Whose Promised Land? The Continuing Conflict Over Israel and Palestine" (Lion, 2015).
Colin Chapman has worked with CMS in the Middle East for 18 years and in his last post he was teaching Islamic Studies at the Near East School of Theology. He has taught at Trinity College, Bristol, and was principal of Crowther Hall, the CMS training college in Selly Oak, Bristol. He is now enjoying semi-retirement in Cambridge. His books include Whose Promised Land?, Whose Holy City? Jerusalem and the Israel-Palestinian Conflict, Christianity on Trial (Lion), Cross and Crescent: responding to the challenges of Islam (IVP), and “Islamic Terrorism”: is there a Christian response? (Grove).
In the end, the Christian must view this question from a biblical rather than political point of view. God promised the land to the Jews and confirmed this by the Exodus. Whatever God has done for the church he remains faithful to his promise to Abraham. If God did not mean what he said to Abraham in a language which Abraham understood, we have no reason to trust anything we read in the Bible.