Around 30 women, mostly from Jerusalem, joined Sabeel for its annual ecumenical 2-day spiritual retreat in Haifa. The theme of the retreat was inspired by Matthew 28:10, when Mary Magdalene and Mary went to Jesus’ tomb: “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’”

The retreat took place at the beautiful Stella Maris Monastery, a 19th century monastery located on the slopes of Mount Carmel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Father Suheil Khoury, a Melkite priest originally from the depopulated and destroyed Palestinian village of Iqrit, led the first session of the day, connecting the theme of the retreat to the parable of the sower (Matthew: 13 1-8).The women were then divided into 3 groups, each with the task to discuss and reflect on a question using the parable’s metaphor of sower, seeds and soil. Father Khoury spoke of the importance of parable in the Bible, explaining that sometimes they are real and sometimes they are just stories. What is important, he said, is that sometimes you have to go beyond the literal meaning of the story. Father Khoury then joined the women for lunch where they continued their enthusiastic discussion.

In the second session, Sabeel co-founder Cedar Duaybishighlighted the2012 Church of Scotland Report, “The Inheritance of Abraham,” where the Church of Scotland rejects any premise that scripture offers any people a divine right to territory. The theme of her session was Hebrews 1: 1-2: “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son.” At the end of the session, the women were happy to hear that the Arabic translation of the Church of Scotland report will be launched in the near future. In the afternoon, the women took a break at the seaside and later enjoyed dinner at the hotel. During the evening debriefing session, the women reflected on the day’s topics, and found the day to be very powerful.

The next day after breakfast, one of the participants, Lily Said, gave a session about the crucifixion of Jesus and linked it to the Palestinians held captive in Israeli prisons. Then Cedar Duaybis spoke about the role of women during Jesus’s time, and discussed how like a painting, we must go deeper into the painting, to see beyond it. Likewise, when we go deeper inside ourselves, the spirit inside us also grows. Mrs. Duaybis emphasized the story of Mary and Martha and provided examples of how Jesus related to women and also revealed his divine nature and gave messages to women to spread the word of God.

After lunch, the Sabeel women went to the Baha’i World Centre to visit the shrines and gardens in the spiritual heart of the Baha’i faith, one of the world’s more recent religions (since 1844). The founder of this faith had a message of unity, “teaching that there is only one God, one human race, and that all of the world’s religions have been progressive stages in the revelation of God’s will and purpose for humanity.”

The Sabeel women enjoyed free time in Haifa before they returned to Jerusalem. The retreat, which included the singing of hymns throughout, regenerated their spirits, reminding them to be steadfast, especially during the recent increased collective punishment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

After the visit of His Holiness Pope Francis during the weekend, we have witnessed his popularity and the love amongst the people of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, even some of the Muslims, celebrated his visit.
Unfortunately, his visit to Jerusalem was not as smooth as the visit to Bethlehem. It was a disappointment for the Christian community in Jerusalem not to see the Pope and welcome him properly. Although the community was ready and eager to meet him—the Arab Catholic Scouts performed and the community all joyfully came out to greet him—the police and military were already there, preventing people from going closer.There were also arguments and riots caused by individuals and the military forces.
For that reason, we had a forum to gather the community together to share and reflect on this visit. Rev. Naim Ateek was the main speaker and facilitator.We started with a short Bible study and reflection on the texts, and a couple of hymns to get into the spirit.We then started the discussion of our impressions of the Pope’s visit, how important it was, how could we have done things differently, and what the role of the church should be.
It was a chance for the community to speak up, ask questions, and hear answers. It was important to get together, for the Christian community to shares their ideas and opinions.The attendees asked for more events and gatherings like these;they enjoyed the opportunity to sit together, where they could spiritually recharge and have their ideas heard.

Worldwide Appeal to Pope Francis:

Help End the Kidnapping and Imprisonment of Palestinian Childrenand Youth

Nearly 6000 people world wide have signed an appeal asking the Holy Father to raise with Israeli officials the widespread abuse of Palestinian children, some as young as twelve years of age. On the eve of Hisvisit to the Holy Land, the appeals have been delivered to the Vatican this week, asking His Holiness to raise this serious problem when he meets with Israeli officials next week.

The initiative began on Ash Wednesday, 2014,with an Open Letter signed bymore than 200 religious leaders from the three Abrahamic faiths, including 24 bishops, members of religious orders,Christian clergy, Rabbis,and Imams. Among those signing the initial appeal were His BeatitudeMichel Sabbah, Latin (Roman Catholic) Patriarch of Jerusalem and Palestine (Emeritus), Archbishop Theodosios Atallah Hanna of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. Friends of Sabeel-North America and the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center -Jerusalem (“a Palestinian Christian voice”) coordinatedthe project with significant support from churches, religious communities andpeace movements primarily in North America and Europe.Israel’s brutal practices against Palestinian children are not new and have been monitored by several international human rights organizations through the years, including Save the Children International, UNICEF, Detention of Children International,Addameer, Military Court Watch, and the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem.UNICEF’s recentreportChildren in Israeli Military Detention, focused on the treatment of hundreds of Palestinian children prosecuted in Israeli military courts each year. Based on over 400 sworn testimonies, UNICEF concluded that the “ill-treatment of children who come in contact with the system appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalized throughout the process.” The treatment documented by UNICEF includes terrifying nighttime arrests, blindfolding, shackling, and routine physical and mental abuse of children as young as 12 years old.UNICEFconcluded that: “in no other country are children systematically tried by juvenile military courts that, by definition, fall short of providing the necessary guarantees to ensure respect for their rights.”

Many of the children detained for extended sentences have their education disrupted and undergo severe trauma. The right of children and youth to education, including those who are imprisoned, is enshrined in international human rights law, specifically Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 94 of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention. Since the beginning of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip in 1967, prisoners and detainees’ right to education has been severely constricted, if not prohibited. These restrictions are imposed on children and youth, of whom the Israeli military arrests an average of 700 annually. The Palestinian human rights agency Addameer concludes that Israel’s “goal” is to “un-educate” Palestinians, especially those aged 16-18 who “constitute the pillar of community development” and future hope for their families.

As the Holy Father visits historic Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and other holy sites, we hope He will have compassion on the children. As he follows in the contemporary “Via Dolorosa” of these children, may he address their suffering when he meets with Israeli officials and insist that they end these brutal practices. “Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for such is the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:16)

Rev. Naim Ateek, Director ofthe Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center – Jerusalem

Rev. Don Wagner, Program Director of Friends of Sabeel—North America

On the commemorating day of the Nakba, twenty participants of our young adults from Jerusalem and Ramallah joined us to visit a village originally named EinHod that was destroyed and evacuated, and is now known as the Artists’ Village.
To start our day we went to House of Grace where they rehabilitate prisoners on Christian values.This organization, founded in 1982 by Kamil and Agnes Shehadeh, was the first ever half way house for released prisoners in Israel. Their son, Jamal, spoke to us about the history of the organization and why his parents started it, believing in chances and that God would never leave them. Itis located on the grounds of the Greek Catholic church.While there, we had the chance to see inside the church and also tour around the facilities. The participants were astonished and positively surprised that there is such an organization and asked for more information to understand the situation more.They all asked questions and found hope and motivation in their own lives and in helping others.
Afterwards, we left EidHod and ate lunch at a restaurant on top of the hill with an amazing view of the mountains.This part of the village is called among locals, “Arab Ein Hod,”remembering that the Jewish village was built on the ruins of the Arab village in 1948.” Devotion was prepared and shared by one of our participants, leaving the group spiritually recharged and connected to this place.
Ziad, who was the owner of the restaurant, was also a guide; he took us on a tour of the village, walking through the “Arab” part to the “Jewish” part.He explained the history of the village and gave his personal story about what his family experienced during 1948. Ziad was from Ein Hod, and his parents’ house was still visible in the “Artists’Village.” He explained that he passed by it almost every day. He shared his story with us and we had a good conversation. The participants were interested in knowing more about the village, considering that some of them hadn’t heard about it before

Sabeel took 17 of its young adult participants to the depopulated village of Ikrith on Saturday, April 5, for an overnight educational trip. Ikrith, a Palestinian Christian village located in the Upper Galilee, was seized and its residents evictedby the Israeli militaryafter the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. After their forcible removal, many of the villagers fled to Lebanon, with others settling in nearby Palestinian towns.The Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the villagers could return to Ikrith with military permission, but the military has so far refused to grant it, citing security concerns. Despite repeated evictions by the Israeli army, activists and descendants from Ikrith maintain a presence in the town’s church, the only building still standing.
On the Sabeel trip to Ikrith, we got to participate in the church service the villagers held in the morning, and were introduced to Fr. Suheil Khoury, who helped us organize the program.We met people from the community then went out for a nature tour with Mr. Milad Khayat. He took us to a park where we talked and got to know each other, and listened to Fr. Suheil share about Ikrith and expand on his sermon from the morning.We enjoyed a homemade lunch from Mr. Milad’s wife; we met her later during our trip and had the chance to thank her. After lunch, we started walking on afour hour hike into a valley called “Bassa” or “Karkar,” referring to the sound of the water that was found.
After the long hike, we were all tired, but Mr. Milad took us to another beautiful site near the village. Then we were able to go to the house where the young womenwould sleep for the night, in a village called Yaara, now a Jewish kibbutz.
In Yaara, we ate dinner,talked, and also met some of the youth from Ikrith. After dinner we went back to the church in Ikrith to enjoy the music of an artist from a nearby village called Tarshiha.The artist played the oud (an Arabic instrument) and entertained us with patriotic songs as well as classical Arabic songs; we sang along and drank coffee.
That evening, the boys slept in the church in Ikrith and the girls went to the house in Yaara.We met again the next day to have breakfast.
We left the house and went to the cemetery in Ikrithto do voluntary work with the youth of Ikrith, cleaning as much as we could. Then we hiked back up to the church where we had lunch all together, and explored the village more.
We said our thanks and goodbyes, and left for Tiberius where we had free time and a boat ride before heading home that evening.
We had new participants along on the trip and they greatly enjoyed it; they are eager to join us in our future events.

On May 15, 2014, around 10 young women gathered together for a tour in the Old City,to walk and visit some of the buildings that were designed by women throughout history.For many of the women, it never occurred to them that women were in this role of empowerment many years ago, and they also realized how important these buildings are in our time today.
Our tour started in the Holy Sepulchre; Saint Helena was the first woman to design any kind of architecture, and the church was the first one.Seeing this gave our women the motivation and strength that they can be an influence on their communities and societies, and this makes them look forward filled with hope.
The tour lasted around one and a half hours,and after wards the group went for a light dinner at Versave Restaurant in the Old City.Here they got the chance to discuss and reflect what they heard and saw during their walk inside the ancient city walls, and recommended more tours like these in the near future.

Last School Session of the Year

On May 8th 2014,Sabeel held its last session at Terra Santa School in Jerusalem for this school year before students had their final exams.
We gave them a session on “Friendship,” its importance and effect in our community, and shared a few games with them.We asked those questions and discussed their answers, splitting them into 2 groups and reflecting on their own friendships in the community and how such friendships are an important element in a person’s life.
The students reflected on their personal experiences on how a friend should and shouldn’t be.They discussed together their own friendships and hardships, reflecting on how to solve conflicts with friends and looking back on how there were good qualities in a friend that they argued with.They talked about how forgiveness is an important asset in order for us to move forward in a healthy way.
The last game we played was called “Fishing for compliments,” where each student wrote his name on a paper and that paper rotated amongst the other classmates. Each classmate was instructed to write a positive quality about the person on the paper.At the end of the activity, each student got back his paper filled with compliments and good qualities that his friends see in him.
After the short session on friendship and community, the students had the chance to play basketball, which all owed them to go over again what they learned about teamwork through their previous sessions in the semester.
They reflected the project:what we have done with them paid off, by the words they use, their behavior and the positive feedback they gave us.The students asked us when we will be starting again and were eager to participate in upcoming activities together, in addition to keeping up on Facebook

On Thursday, April 10, we were eager to start our new session with the school that focused on listening and building trust with our surroundings, especially our friends.
We began with a game that we played at our previous session at Tent of Nations; then we did a small workshop and combined a game with a discussion. The game is called “broken phone line.”The group stands in a circle, comes up with a sentence, then passes the sentence around the circle until it reaches the last person.That person says it outloud and we see the difference fromhow it started and how it ended.This reflects our daily lives and how we should be cautious in spreading news, but also how trust is related to the person from whom you heard the news, because not everyone is alike.
Therefore, we used two sentences in this game, one a piece of positive feedback and the other a piece of negative feedback from their day out at the Tent of Nations. The person who beganused their own personal opinion, which also gave the students the opportunity to discuss that opinion afterwards and exchange experiences and ideas. It boosted their confidence in speaking up and expressing their feelings, helping them understand that there is no such thing as right or wrong answers when it comes to personal opinions.
Afterwards, we divided them into two groups, and one group started with basketball while the other started with recycling.After an hour or so, they switched.
In the recycling session, they madepicture frames and garbage cans out of old magazines and newspapers.The students loved their work; some of them took it home to show to their parents and even planned to put a picture in the frame.
The basketball session taught the students to listen, observe their surroundings, and communicate.It also helped build teamwork.After the first game, the coaches gave them another game for fun and connected this game to leadership development.
After we finished our day with them, they were very grateful and positive. They are looking forward to their session in May, which will be the last for this semester! More students also registered after hearing the positive feedback of their fellow students.

In preparation for Easter, Sabeel Nazareth focused mainly on spiritual events:

April 2:
Towards the end of Lent and in preparation for Easter, the young adults had a special evening of reading,reflecting and sharing. The group of 10 people met at the Sabeel Nazareth office, divided in groups of two, and read and reflected on different verses of the Bible. Then they all shared a time of prayer together.

April 11:
Sabeel Nazareth had a community event at the Carmelite Sisters Church, with about 100 people attendingthis spiritual evening called, “Mary Facing Death.” The event included songs from the different churches, readings, testimonies, reflections and prayers. The nuns also shared a special hymn. The beautifully decorated church and the choir added a lot to the spiritual content of the event.

April 29:
Sabeel Nazareth had its first women’s meeting for its “Generation Bridging Program,” which followed a new approach and gave an opportunity to the Sabeel women’s group to meet those of the younger generation and shareits history. The program was held at St. Joseph Seminary High School in Nazareth with 12 women and 12 students (ninth grade) participating. The group will meet once a month over the next year.

April 30:
Sabeel Nazareth women held another meeting with MachsomWatch in Haifa to discuss further activities together.

April 1- 30:
Sabeel Nazareth hosted five international groups from France and Sweden, totaling 159 people.

“Christ has risen… He has risen indeed!”
This year, all church denominations celebrated Easter on the same day, so Sabeel developed an ecumenical idea to bring all the members of the community together: an Easter Dinner.
From our Jerusalemite community, 140 people attended the dinner, coming to a beautifully decorated hall and enjoying music from a local band named “Siwan.” After all were seated, the staff welcomed them, and one of Sabeel’s young adult volunteers, Shatha Bannoura, worked as the Master of Ceremony.
Following the introduction and welcome, Rev. Naim Ateek gave a speech about Easter and the importance of using the word resurrection instead of any other terminology we use.
The community had a wonderful and relaxing time, hearing live music and hymns, eating dinner, seeing friends, and also reminding one another the importance of Sabeel and its theology.
This year all the churches celebrated together, which made it easier for Sabeel to host this first annual Easter event.Everyone enjoyed it and their feedback was very positive;people are looking forward to the next time the churches celebrate Easter together so they can attend the ecumenical Easter Dinner.