Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) condemns the violence and attacks being reported [in recent] days in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt). We grieve the loss of both Israeli and Palestinian lives and call on the U.S. government to do everything possible to bring an end to the violence. Unless the core causes of the conflict are addressed, violent acts perpetrated by both sides will continue.
I was born in Nazareth, but spent five years of my childhood in Haifa, Israel’s third largest city, where my father was the Anglican priest.
In some ways, living on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea was idyllic. I remember with joy road trips to Nazareth and fishing excursions with my grandfather. But I also remember having to speak my mother tongue, Arabic, in hushed tones on the street, lest we attract unwanted attention from our Jewish Israeli neighbors and always sensing that somehow, we might be seen as different.
The Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is encouraging the American people to rally behind Palestinian refugees by advocating for the restoration of U.S. funding to a vital humanitarian organization.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is one of 17 denominations and faith-based organizations to sign a letter to the incoming Biden administration seeking safety for indigenous Christians living in the Holy Land.
A webinar posted last week by three ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency speaks to the announcement expected Wednesday that Israel will, with the blessing of U.S. government officials, annex about 30 percent of the territory of the West Bank, which would affect about 750,000 Palestinians living in land occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war.
Amid weeks of global preoccupation with the personal, social, economic, and political impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the plight of the Palestinian people bears a growing, striking resemblance to George Floyd’s plea, “I can’t breathe.” Ever since 1967, the knee of Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza has been increasingly and relentlessly pressing down on the Palestinians’ neck.
As the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, and with the anxiety and insecurity as well as the staggering loss of life that it is causing, the fear that this crisis may be used to usurp power or control in certain parts of the world, or worse, to trample upon the human rights of those most vulnerable, is very real.
