On Tuesday, May 24, 2011, over 120 women from Nazareth and Jerusalem paid a visit to the Northern area of our Palestinian countryside. The visit started at the center of Jenin City at the Latin Church, where Father Veto, the Catholic priest, led us to the villages of Kufur-qud and Burqiin. Father Veto introduced us to the small Christian community of Kufur-qud, which is only a few kilometers away from the city of Jenin. Nine Palestinian Christian women joined us at the village’s new church for prayers and biblical reflections lead by Father Veto. This was followed with general information about the village, the challenges the women face as a religious minority in the area and how they maintained their Christian identity. Our next stop was the village of Burqiin, where Jesus performed the miracle of the healing of the ten lepers. Father Veto reflected over the text Luke 17:11-19:
“11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ 14When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean. 15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ 19Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”
The local Christians of Burqiin joined us for a visit to the old Orthodox Church, which dates back to the 4th century AD. They narrated the history of the church, showing us details such as the hole through which food was lowered down to lepers, and also gave feedback and information about their life as a minority Christian community of not over sixty people in a Muslim population of 1200.
At noon we headed to Zababdeh village, where we were greeted at the Latin School hall by Zababdeh Mayor Mr. Victor Issayed, Catholic priest Father Nidal Kanzoaa and Melkite priest Father Firas Diab. Later the Rev. Nael Abu Rahmoun from the Anglican Church joined the rest of the Zababdeh Clergy for ecumenical greetings. Afterwards forty women from different denominations joined for a Women’s Panel that was lead by Jacline Daoud retired head mistress. She explained the different roles, activities and challenges for Zababdeh women, emphasizing the high percentage of educated women and low percentage of available job vacancies that has lead to internal immigration to Ramallah to seek work and improve their own and their families’ living conditions. Finally the day ended with a local tour in the village and short prayers in the four churches of Zababdeh—Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Melkite and Anglican—accompanied by the clergy and Zababdeh women. Overall this time of fellowship and learning from each other really helped to build closer relationships among these different Palestinian Christian communities.

“41 As {Jesus} came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” (Luke 19: 41-42)
During this World Week for Peace in Palestine-Israel convened by the world Council of Churches as a joint action for a just peace, we, Palestinian Christians want to send a message to all our brothers and sisters in the world that focuses on Jerusalem:
Due to its significance for the whole land, the city of Jerusalem has come to encapsulate the hopes, desires, and dreams of millions of people that are concerned for its well-being and the well-being of all its inhabitants. Jerusalem has been a symbol, model, and paradigm par excellence of peace throughout its history. And today, what happens in and to Jerusalem is an omen for the whole country. It can be an omen for good or bad, for conflict and disaster or for peace and neighborliness.
In its present situation, Jerusalem cannot, in any way, stand for or represent the dreams that its citizens wish for it. Today’s picture of Jerusalem continues to be one of occupation by Israel, discrimination against and oppression of its Palestinian inhabitants and the denial of their human and political rights. Today’s Jerusalem cannot even come close to the hopes, desires, and dreams that its people long for. What the Israeli government is doing through its policies of Judaizing the city and displacing its Palestinian citizens and replacing them with Jewish settlers is a recipe for disaster. Read More

Get the Statement in Arabic

We Also invite you to visit the websites of World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel (www.worldweekforpeace.org) and the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (pief.oikoumene.org) for additional resources, the latest list of international activities being planned, and other information.

Sabeel’s monthly Community “Open Forum” Program continued this month on Tuesday, May 10, 2011, with reflections on the resurrection day of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thirty-two Palestinian Christians joined Sabeel Jerusalem for a lecture titled “Pesach or Resurrection day?” by Rev. Naim Ateek. The program started with the great seasonal hymn of “Al Masih kam,” or “Christ is risen,” followed by bible verses from 1 Corinthians, Hebrews, Mark and Romans that reflect Christ’s unconditional love for us.
(Romans 5:8) But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
(Hebrews 10: 11-12) And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, ‘he sat down at the right hand of God’.
Rev. Naim reflected on these verses, noting how the Arabic, Aramaic and Hebrew words for Easter Sunday derive from the Hebrew word for Passover. Similarly, the name of the church that commemorates Jesus’ death and resurrection is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, or tomb. Both the name of the holiday and of the church focus on Jesus’ death rather than on his resurrection. As Christians, our focus should be on Christ’s conquering of death with the resurrection, and so it would be more true to our faith to celebrate “Resurrection Day” in the “Church of the Resurrection.” Rev. Naim ended with the encouraging words to celebrate Christ’s resurrection every day by living through Christ, with Christ and by Christ.

Sabeel’s fourth joint Community and Clergy Lenten program was a visit of thirty two Sabeel community and clergy members to the Daughters of Charity St. Vincent home for girls. Sister Ursula briefly introduced the home and the services they provide for the children, who come from different parts of the West Bank, Jerusalem and Israel. In a home-like atmosphere, the children are provided with good living conditions as well as the opportunity to attend school. The Orthodox priest, Father Farah Badour, conducted biblical reflections on the importance of fasting and prayers at the home’s beautiful Church. The Lenten litanies were jointly read by a member of Sabeel’s young adult group and Sister Ursula. As the 5th of April is also Palestinian Children’s Day, Sabeel highlighted the importance of the day for the children and their right to celebrate and live as children. Towards the end of the program, Father Bolus from the Assyrian Church challenged the children with a couple of spiritual games that helped them understand the teachings and words of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally, before leaving the twenty six girls to finish their homework, everyone enjoyed the delicious cakes that were brought by one of our community members. It was a sweet ending for a meaningful gathering with those lovely children in a good home.

Taybeh, known biblically as Ephraim or Ofra, is an ancient Palestinian village located in the occupied West Bank. On Tuesday, March 29, 2011, a joint Clergy and Community Sabeel program visited Taybeh for Lenten reflections and a day- long tour given by Melkite Father Jack Nobel. The day started with a visit to Taybeh’s municipality where the twenty-nine participants met with Dr. Daoud Khoury, the Mayor of Taybeh. Dr. Khoury outlined the different issues facing the village in recent years, including the emigration of young residents because of the difficulties caused by Israeli military closures and restriction of movement. Sabeel participants were inspired by the projects carried out to encourage residents to stay in Taybeh and to bring more visitors to learn about this modest village with such a rich Christian history.
The second stop was the Taybeh Cooperation for Rural Development, a day center for Taybeh senior citizens. Mrs. Abeer Khoury, the head of the acting committee of the cooperation, gave a brief description with a short PowerPoint presentation. Forty local senior women, who usually meet every Tuesday at the center for social gatherings and activities, welcomed the Sabeel participants and later enjoyed a social lunch together. The third visit was to the Beit Ephraim nursing home, where the Lenten litany was recited hymns sung together with the sisters and residents of the home. In the afternoon, Father Jack led a Biblical reflection about Taybeh, or Ephraim, followed by a delicious Lenten meal cooked with the expertise and warmth of Taybeh’s women.
After the meal, participants visited the local ceramic workshop, where the fourteen employees make Taybeh’s famous “Peace Lamps,” ceramic lamps in the shape of a dove. Father Jack then guided a walking tour through the old village of Taybeh, explaining the history through its architectural designs and vintage houses that has witnessed numerous eras and generations. The day ended at the ruins of St. George’s Church, which date back to the Byzantine period of the sixth century. There, Father Jack described the flourishing of Christianity in Taybeh’s past and present. Overall, it was a moving experience for all involved to see such an old Christian town and to build relationships with its Christian community.

For a moment the sound of prayers and chanting coming from the church of Notre Dame Douleurs rose higher than the eight-meter tall Separation Wall around Abu Dis, a suburb of East Jerusalem. On Tuesday, March 22, 2011, twenty Palestinian Christians paid a Lenten visit to their brothers and sisters in the Notre Dame Douleurs home for the elderly as part of the joint Sabeel Community and Clergy Lenten Program. Assyrian Orthodox Father Bolus Khano’s brief reflection on the meaning and importance of prayer corresponded perfectly with the series of Lenten litanies led by Melkite Archimandrite Joseph Saghbeni and the Lenten hymns accompanied by Rev. Naim Ateek on the accordion. After the service the Sabeel participants and the residents of the home came together for a social gathering, building relationships across age and areas.

Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure you use will be the measure you receive.

“How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” 1 John 3:17-18 NRSV

Forty Christian Palestinians gathered at Sabeel’s humble office for prayers and reflections, opening Sabeel’s first Lenten program. Rev Naim led the prayers and the reflections on Mathew 6:1-6, 16-18 and Isaiah 58:6-7. After the gathering, participants brought home empty money boxes that will hopefully be filled at the end of this blessed season for our brothers and sisters in need.

This Lenten season Sabeel is focusing on charity, prayers and fasting through verses 1 John 3:17-18, with a program that includes weekly visits to nursing homes and orphanages in the Jerusalem area and the West Bank. Participants will also walk the “ Contemporary Way of the Cross” on the 12th of April 2011.

To Our Friends and All People of Conscience

As the margins of Empire began to crumble in the Arab world, Sabeel’s Eighth International Conference convened in Bethlehem inside the prison walls of imperial rule. We, the participants,300 people from 15 countries, met from 23rd to 28th February, 2011, to discuss “Challenging Empire: God, Faithfulness and Resistance,” surrounded by the unavoidable and cruel effects of empire’s rule on the Palestinian people and their land.

We heard how Jesus resisted the arrogance, violence and repression of Empire and became a model for us when he drove out the money changers and confirmed the people’s independence from Caesar. Jesus helps us overcome fear and stand in solidarity against Empire. We must follow his example and pray for his courage to resist imperial power, aligning ourselves with the poorest and most oppressed.

We met the victims of Empire in refugee camps, at check-points and in their homes, where they courageously persist in the face of unrelenting oppression. We saw them resist the theft of their homes, fields and water, challenging us to confront Empire in our own countries and in the Holy Land.

We support the Kairos Palestine document and encourage all Christians to read it and act on it. Confronting the root causes of the conflict, this document urges all Christians and people of conscience to help end the military occupation that deprives Palestinians of their rights and condemns both peoples, Israelis and Palestinians, to a distortion of their humanity. We see boycott and divestment as non-violent tools for justice, peace and security for all. We say to the churches: come and see. You will know the facts and the people of this land, Palestinians and Israelis alike.

Our word to the international community is to stop the double standards, and insist on the enforcement of international law and U.N. resolutions regarding the Palestine-Israel conflict.

As we depart this conference we hold the United States responsible for the obstacles it has placed in the path of peace, including its veto of a U.N. resolution that condemned Israeli settlement building in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, contrary to U.S. policy stating that settlements are illegal.

We will carry all that we have seen and learned here to our homes and families, our churches and governments, along with the challenges we have accepted for ourselves and our communities.

Bethlehem, Palestine
28 February, 2011

www.kairospalestine.ps

GOD IS LOVE, NOT EMPIRE,
NAIM ATEEK TELLS SABEEL CONFERENCE

Bethlehem, West Bank — “Empires have always used religion and theology to their advantage,” Naim Ateek told the Eighth International Sabeel Conference. “Israel is an integral part of American empire; in its hegemony over Palestinians it acts and governs as empire.” Ateek is the founder and director of Sabeel, the ecumenical liberation theology center based in Jerusalem.

Participants heard from Afif Safieh, who has served as Palestinian Ambassador in three world capitals: London, Washington, and until 2009, Moscow. More than 300 participants are attending the event in Bethlehem, 23-28 February, 2011.

“The United States acted as empire last week with its veto in the U.N. Security Council, overpowering the votes of 14 other nations,” Ateek said. The veto defeated a resolution that condemned Israeli settlement building in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, contrary to U.S. policy stating that settlements are illegal.”

“The establishment of Israel was a relapse to the most primitive concepts of an exclusive, tribal God. At its core is the way some secular Zionists interpreted the Holocaust,” Ateek said. “For some, the only authentic response to the Holocaust, religious or secular, Jewish or not, must be total commitment to the security and wellbeing of Israel,” he said.

Ateek told the conference that “Israel has adopted a new god, one named Betahone, meaning security. This god is nourished continually by the American empire with the most up-to-date military technology.” Israel’s export of arms is fourth in the world, he said.

“The God that I have seen in Jesus Christ not the god of armies, not the violent god found in certain biblical texts,” Ateek said. “It is the vulnerable God of love in Jesus Christ who was nailed to the cross. God is not the god of empire but the nonviolent God who is found the refugee camps, suffering with the families while the Israeli army carries out its incursions,” he said.

“The power of God is not expressed in war, violence or assassination, not in oppression, checkpoints and Apartheid walls, in lies and injustice,” Ateek said.” The biblical God is full of truth and justice, love and mercy and compassion. This is not the god of `Christendom’ or `Israel-dom.’ The biblical God expresses power through forgiveness, peace and reconciliation,” he said.

“I believe God’s power could be seen in the nonviolence of the recent Egyptian revolution,” Ateek said.

“When we chose this conference theme, `Challenging Empire,’ we did not anticipate revolutions in the Middle East, people striving for justice and freedom. Our people too are hungering for freedom and respect for their human rights,” Ateek said.Sabeel welcomed Bethlehem’s local community to an evening session where Safieh told the conference that, while the Israeli lobby is still very powerful in the United States, the “battle for Washington” is winnable for Palestinians.

Safieh spoke of “an `Israeli America’ where the administration adopts the regional strategy of Israel and integrates it in their global approach.” He said, “ I believe in the power and existence and the reality of the Israeli lobby in Washington, and it is this particular lobby that has confiscated American foreign policy in the Middle East so that to us the remaining superpower looks like a sub-contractor in the Israeli strategy.”

“This is what we witnessed last week in American sabotage and torpedoing of a [U.N.] resolution that was deliberately worded with their own proclaimed position from 1967 until now, which is astounding,” Safieh said.

“We can win the battle for Washington,” Safieh said. “I believe it is winnable.”
“The Palestinians are the test for American credibility, respectability, believably, love-ability,” Safieh said. “Can you imagine the love, if America were to become the locomotive for change in Palestine? That is a sea change that unfortunately has not occurred,” he said.

Safieh said, “Is Israel still a strategic asset or is it a burden and a liability? Is there an identity of interest among Israelis and Americans or is there a bifurcation and divergence of interest? We got the message: America is committed to Israel’s existence. But is America committed to Israel’s expansion? In Israel there is a vibrant debate about the desirability of keeping the hilltops of the West Bank. What is America’s interest in Israel keeping the hilltops of the West Bank?”

He said, “Does America need or wish to be perceived to be in collusion with Israel and its Territorial appetite resulting in its being on a collision course with the Arab or Islamic world or not?”

“I believe that in leading circles of America there is this awareness that Israel has become a liability,” Safieh said. “We need to win our political battle of persuasion,” he said.

26 February 2011
GOD IS LOVE, NOT EMPIRE, NAIM ATEEK
TELLS SABEEL CONFERENCE

Bethlehem, West Bank — “Empires have always used religion and theology to their advantage,” Naim Ateek told the Eighth International Sabeel Conference. “Israel is an integral part of American empire; in its hegemony over Palestinians it acts and governs as empire.” Ateek is the founder and director of Sabeel, the ecumenical liberation theology center based in Jerusalem.

Participants heard from Afif Safieh, who has served as Palestinian Ambassador in three world capitals: London, Washington, and until 2009, Moscow. More than 300 participants are attending the event in Bethlehem, 23-28 February, 2011.

“The United States acted as empire last week with its veto in the U.N. Security Council, overpowering the votes of 14 other nations,” Ateek said. The veto defeated a resolution that condemned Israeli settlement building in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, contrary to U.S. policy stating that settlements are illegal.”

Ateek told the conference that “Israel has adopted a new god, one named Betahone, meaning security. This god is nourished continually by the American empire with the most up-to-date military technology.” Israel’s export of arms is fourth in the world, he said.

“The God that I have seen in Jesus Christ not the god of armies, not the violent god found in certain biblical texts,” Ateek said. “It is the vulnerable God of love in Jesus Christ who was nailed to the cross. God is not the god of empire but the nonviolent God who is found the refugee camps, suffering with the families while the Israeli army carries out its incursions,” he said.

Safieh spoke of “an `Israeli America’ where the administration adopts the regional strategy of Israel and integrates it in their global approach.” He said, “ I believe in the power and existence and the reality of the Israeli lobby in Washington, and it is this particular lobby that has confiscated American foreign policy in the Middle East so that to us the remaining superpower looks like a sub-contractor in the Israeli strategy.”

“This is what we witnessed last week in American sabotage and torpedoing of a [U.N.] resolution that was deliberately worded with their own proclaimed position from 1967 until now, which is astounding,” Safieh said.