The Philadelphi Corridor

It is a short stretch of land 100 metres wide and 14 kilometres long that guards the border between Israel and Egypt.  And today, it stands as the major obstacle to the peace accord between Israel and Hamas.  Curiously, it is called “The Philadelphi Corridor”, but it is not in the spot of the ancient church at Philadelphia which is located more than 1,000 kilometres from the Corridor across the Mediterranean Sea in modern day Turkey.  Consider how the Philadelphi Corridor came to be.  After years of war, it was established in 2005 during the Philadelphi Accord between Israel and Egypt that created this narrow corridor between the two countries to maintain peace between them, promising never to use that Corridor for the transport of weapons or ammunition, and thus to cease all instruments of warfare.  No one can recall why the Corridor and thus the Accord was named as it was.  The best reports were that “it was a random name” that was chosen.  I assure you that it wasn’t random. It was inspired.  “Philadelphi” was neither in Egyptian nor in Hebrew, the languages of the two signatory nations.  It is in Greek and it means, “The Corridor of Brotherly Love.”

I have pondered much over that name.  The hope for peace and love has ever been deepest morality of humanity not because it is borne out in history, but because it is planted within us by God, our Creator.  We often misread Psalm 76 to think that God chooses to make war.  It starts with the God of Peace: “His abode has been established in peace [Hb. salem], His dwelling place in the dry ground [Hb. zion].  There He broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war.” (Psalm 76:2-3)

Unfortunately, in 2007, just two years after it was established, Hamas took over the Egyptian side of the Philadelphi Corridor, and for 17 years, has used it to transport the very things it was mean to prevent, tunnelling thousands of kilometers of supply lines under the Corridor to supply terrorists with weapons that deal death.  It is this very Corridor that stands in the way of peace today.  I have often been asked how we ought to pray for this widening war in the Middle East.  We are surrounded by war on every side.  In the Middle East, peace accords melt away like snow in the desert heat.  The tonnage of missiles and drones outweighs the lives of each person who lives there.  The fall of the Syria’s government threatens to widen the war even further.  We are all distressed.  My single answer has always been, “Look to God.  Don’t take sides.  Pray for peace. Pray for the God of Peace to reign.”  The Philadelphi Corridor may never serve the purpose that a human accord sought to bring.  But it is God who breaks the arrows, the shields, the sword and the weapons of war.  He is the only Signatory worth considering.