On Tuesday 8 March, the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church USA invited Sabeel Director Omar Haramy to join them in their prayers for peace and justice in Palestine-Israel. The group recited this week’s Sabeel Wave of Prayer.
In 2006, Sabeel started the weekly Wave of Prayer. Sabeel sends the Wave of Prayer as a weekly newsletter to update our friends about what is happening on the ground in Palestine-Israel and we provide them with our theological reflection through prayer requests. The prayers create an opportunity for the audience to learn about Palestine Liberation Theology and how it works.
On Wednesday 2 March, Sabeel met with the staff and new country director of Diakonia Silvia Östberg. The group from Sabeel included board members, staff, and constituency beneficiaries of Sabeel. The purpose of the meeting was for the Sabeel team and the Diakonia director to meet and speak about the new strategy of Diakonia, which focuses on engagement and closer relationships with partners.
On Sunday 13 February, Friends of Sabeel Australia held a board meeting to discuss their plans for 2022. In partnership with Sabeel, Friends of Sabeel Australia is organizing a series of four special online events before Easter.
The first event will be held on Saturday 12 March in partnership with the new organization the Palestinian Christians in Australia (PCiA) which was formed to create a support group for the local community and advocate for justice and peace in Palestine-Israel.
The second event will be held on Saturday 19 March in partnership with Sabeel and feature Violette Khoury. A native of Nazareth, Violette Khoury is a global advocate for peace and reconciliation. After many years as coordinator of Sabeel in Nazareth, she is now the director of Nasijona, a local women’s association in Nazareth. On Palm Sunday, 9 April, Friends of Sabeel Australia, Palestinian Christians in Australia, and the Australian Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network will be holding a workshop.
On Tuesday 1 March, Sabeel held a Kumi Now online session with the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Evangelical Lutheran Church and Sabeel are working on a project to make the church’s laws and court system more in line with gender justice in the Holy Land and Jordan. Many Christian courts in the Holy Land have laws that do not provide equal treatment to women, especially when it comes to inheritance. Ranan Issa spoke about the challenges and successes we are facing in this project.
On Tuesday 1 March, Sabeel attended a meeting in Jerusalem organized by PASSIA (the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs). The purpose of the meeting was to shed light on the attacks on Palestinian Muslim cemeteries. Most of the Muslim cemeteries in Palestine have been confiscated by the Israeli government (over 60% were confiscated in 1948). Since 1948, the Israeli government has restricted the Islamic Waqf’s ability to hold burials in the remaining three cemeteries. Since 1948, the Muslim population in Jerusalem has increased significantly. This has made it very difficult for Muslims who die to be buried. This is an example of how the Israeli government makes life difficult for Palestinians from birth to death.
On March 1st, Sawsan Bitar of Sabeel spoke at the clerical meeting of the Catholic Church about the ecumenical work of Sabeel. Over 200 seminarians and other students (both local and international) attended the meeting. The meeting was part of the Catholic Synod that is taking place in the country, the Middle East region, and the rest of the world. Most of the seminarians in the Holy Land are dogmatic and focus only on their own church traditions. This meeting was an opportunity to open the horizons and eyes of those who will become Christian clergy to accepting people who are different. The meeting was very well received.
On Friday 25 February, Sabeel and 25 Christian organizations and community leaders met with Reverend Mitri Raheb at the Notre Dame Hotel in Jerusalem. During the event, the group discussed the new publication, ‘We Choose Abundant Life’. Co-written by Reverend Raheb and other theologians from different church traditions and countries in the Middle East. It speaks about the role that the church can play today in the region. The group discussed faith, women’s rights, human rights, justice, the challenges faced by the church in the Middle East, and how to move from theory to practice in overcoming challenges.
Reverend Raheb is Founder and President of Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture in Bethlehem.
On Friday 23 February, Sabeel attended an event in Bethlehem to launch the four gospels that have just been handwritten in Aramaic by Father Paul Khanu. A Palestinian Christian priest from the Syrian Orthodox Church, Father Khanu has made it his life ministry to teach and revive Aramaic. Aramaic is the language Jesus spoke, the mother language of Hebrew and Arabic, and a language under threat of extinction. Some Christian communities still use the Aramaic language in villages in Syria. Father Khanu wrote the four gospels in Aramaic over the past two years.
On February 22nd, a group from the health insurance initiative met in Jerusalem with the Latin Patriarchate, one of the partners in the health insurance plan. They discussed the progress of the initiative and the importance of working hand in hand together. The Latin Patriarchate is responsible for over seventeen schools and nine organizations, which are all part of the initiative.
In September, Sabeel and the community launched a new, groundbreaking health insurance program. Previously, Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza did not have access to private health insurance. Sabeel has been bringing people together to solve this problem affecting the community. Churches, non-profit organizations, laypeople, and businesses have been working together, including a Palestinian Christian-owned company that is financially supporting the health insurance plan.
In September and October, the insurance program was open for enrollment to Christian and faith-based organizations, and in November, it was opened to all of the community. At the end of December, enrollment closed, and it will reopen in April. Enrollment will reopen for one month every three months in order to minimize the risk to the project.
The health insurance program provides a collective pool of money that everyone can use as much as they need. Approximately USD $35,000 each month is being used out of the insurance money pool to cover the medical expenses for people with chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure. Previously, many community members were not able to take medication regularly because it was very expensive. Now, they are able to take their medication on a regular basis. Everyone who wished to enroll, including those who are currently in the hospital or are sick, was accepted in the program. Based on Sabeel’s research, this is already the biggest community health insurance initiative that exists. We hope that by the end of 2022 there will be around 8,000 members enrolled.
On Saturday 19 February, Sabeel and many people from the local community and expatriate community in Palestine made a solidarity visit to the Tent of Nations. During the last two years, the Tent of Nations have been under attack several times. Last month, Daoud and Daher Nassar, two brothers in the family that manages the Tent of Nations, were attacked by fifteen people with sticks and knives. After the attack, Daoud and Daher were in the hospital for some time healing from their injuries. The Tent of Nations is located in the hills southwest of Bethlehem on over 400 dunums of land. For years, the Israeli government has been trying to confiscate the land. After the Nassar family won a legal battle against Israel, outlaws have been attacking the family and land. Many believe that the Palestinian Authority has not supported the Nassar family against these multiple attacks by imprisoning the attackers.
