On Friday 17^th o December,  Sabeel held its annual Christmas dinner, its first since the outbreak of the pandemic. Sabeel has been holding a Christmas dinner each year, but it was not able to gather last year due to the pandemic. This year, the dinner was at the Christmas Hotel in Jerusalem. 32 clergy members and 172 members of the community gathered for this year’s dinner.

There are three different Christian calendars in Palestine, and the various Palestinian Christian communities celebrate Christmas at different times. Every year, Sabeel begins the Christmas celebrations to accommodate each of the Christian calendars so that all of the parishes, clergy, and communities can celebrate together.

This year’s festivities included many speakers, performances, and special foods. Sandra Khoury, the first female head of the Sabeel Board, welcomed the attendees and provided words of encouragement. She spoke about how we are still able to celebrate despite the challenges of the pandemic and the political situation. Bishop Atallah Hanna read the Nativity story and chanted from the Gospel. The Syrian Orthodox Priest of Jerusalem Father Paul Khanu read the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic. The Armenian choir presented three Christmas hymns in Armenian. Throughout the dinner, two young Palestinian artists Lina Sleibi and Jerius Bulatta performed Christmas music. Sister Ghada Nimeh, from the Rosary sisters,  gave a Christmas message about the Catholic Church’s Synod process. Through the  synod process, the Church, clergy and community, is trying to figure out together how the Church should function and what should be its responsibilities. This is a very important opportunity for laypeople, especially women and young people, to influence and change how the Church looks today. The evening ended with St. Barbara’s Feast, which is traditionally held on Friday December 17. The feast includes the special dessert of St. Barbara, which is made from dried fruits and wheat. The feast is very important because of its interfaith emphasis. It has become a custom of Christians to provide the feast for neighbors regardless of their religion. St. Barbara lived in a small Palestinian village close to Ramallah called Aboud. It is one of a few feasts that all of the community in Palestine celebrates regardless of their religion.

On Wednesday 15 December, Sabeel presented for its partner Bilda Swedish Christian Study Centre (SCSC) a bible study exploring the story of Christmas from a Palestinian Liberation Theology perspective. About 60 people from Sweden attended the bible study. The group was a diverse group including Christians, Jews, Muslims, and those who do not belong to any faith tradition.

On Saturday 11 December, Sabeel in partnership with the Pontifical Mission and the Jerusalem Research Institute held a conference in Ramallah about Palestinian history from a Christian perspective. Fifteen scholars presented their research, and over 120 academics attended the conference.

Recent studies about the Palestinian curriculum found that there is no reference to the history of Palestine from the 1st century to the 7th century, until the arrival of Islam. This period of Palestinian history has been also neglected by history textbooks used by Israeli public schools. Israeli textbooks cover the history of the Kingdom of David and then jump to the history of Zionism.

We hope that the research papers will be available to research centers and that students and others will benefit from them. Sabeel, the Pontifical Mission, and the Jerusalem Research Institute will be organizing a series of conferences and meetings to see how the community uses the research.

On Thursday 09 December, Sabeel presented at the General Annual Meeting of the Australian Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network. Sabeel provided an update about the situation in the Holy Land, including the most recent developments in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem. In Sheikh Jarrah, many families’ homes have been occupied by settlers, have been demolished, or are under demolition orders. Sheikh Jarrah mirrors the situation in East Jerusalem, a city that is far from peace.

On Wednesday 08 December, Sabeel held a one-day training workshop for the Palestinian tour guides who have been developing twelve new and creative itineraries for when tourists and pilgrims begin visiting Jerusalem and the West Bank again. The workshop will allow the tour guides to develop their skills in writing new itineraries.

 The itineraries range from: visiting communities in Jerusalem who are an integral part of the social fabric of the city, presenting the unique stories of communities behind each of the gates of the Old City of Jerusalem, visiting natural reserves in the West Bank, and to presenting cities and towns from the perspective of women.

In partnership with the German organization Deutscher Verein vom Heiligen Lande (DVHL), Sabeel has been creating a brochure to assist tour guides in developing itineraries that will help pilgrims and tourists learn about Palestine and Palestinian history. Close to 300 Palestinian guides from Jerusalem and the West Bank have already followed the itineraries in the last few months. After finalizing the brochure, Sabeel will promote it with travel agencies and group tourist leaders.

On Wednesday 08 December, Sabeel held its last weekly service and Bible study discussion in Arabic about Liberation Theology. The weekly services and discussions are led by Reverend Naim Ateek and held virtually for all Palestinians living in historic Palestine. The online sessions, also held on a weekly basis in English, aim to encourage Christians to connect their faith with their context, especially when it comes to the Holy Land. For many years, church sermons avoided addressing the challenges our people face, keeping religion separated from reality. Religion is being used as a tool to disconnect people from reality and divert attention from the earthly concerns of people, but this is not the view of Palestinian Liberation Theology. Sabeel aims to equip people with faith to work for justice, peace and reconciliation. The Kingdom of God is on earth as it is in heaven.

On Monday and Tuesday, 22-23 November, Sabeel held a meeting in Jericho for 42 clergy and their spouses from different church traditions in Palestine and Israel. The first in-person meeting for clergy in an ecumenical setting since the pandemic started. The two day event included a debriefing on the clergy’s experiences during the pandemic and the struggle they and their parishioners faced. In some cases, parishes were asking the clergy to re-open the churches and in other cases, parishes insisted the church remain closed. Clergy noticed a growing need for community and support, as parishioners struggled due to uncertainty and depression, especially as tourism and pilgrimage stopped and businesses lost income. This situation burdened and exhausted the clergy, as they had to find new ways to help families in need.

During the meeting, the clergy also reflected on how the church in both Palestine and Israel can be more transparent and cultivate a closer relationship with the community, particularly women in the community. Churches recognized that women are generally not part of decision making processes, though women form the majority of those who come to worship. In most church councils, women have no or little representation. Realizing how important women’s contributions are in their churches and communities, the clergy admited to the sin of not having women more involved in the leadership of the church. This was truly revolutionary, because in the past, clergy usually defended how the church was operating. This admission and desire for change could be a result of a combination of factors, including the burden clergy have been facing during the pandemic, the informal leadership women held during the pandemic, and an accumulation of efforts made in the past to create more formal leadership roles for women in society and the church. 

The meeting also focused on the churches’ desire for greater collaboration with churches throughout the Middle East and North Africa region. The clergy discussed three recent developments in the region.

1) The Catholic Church, by the request from the Pope, is organizing for a special Synod. The purpose of the Synod is to create a forum for Catholics around the world to listen to and talk with each other. Also to hold discussion within their parishes, churches, regions as well as internationally. The Synod deliberations will also help churches understand their role in the world, provide feedback, and encourage people to contribute and build bridges and work together.

2) Theologians from different church traditions and countries in the Middle East published a document entitled, ‘We Choose Abundant Life’, which proposes a vision for Christian churches in the Middle East for the future.

3) During the meeting, the clergy also studied a theological document published by the Council of Catholic Patriarchs of the East in 2019. It didn’t receive much attention due to the pandemic. Written towards the end of 2018, the document was born during the time of the civil wars in the Middle East, when ISIS was powerful, and when Donald Trump was President of the United States. The Catholic church leaders spoke openly and prophetically about what people felt and wanted to hear.    

Sabeel will follow up in early 2022 on the recommendations made by the clergy. In addition, Sabeel and the Church of Sweden, which has regional projects in the Middle East, have been partnering to help facilitate the expansion of Sabeel’s work in other countries in the region.