The above Flag Map of Gaza is from Wikimedia Commons and the author is DrRandomFactor
“In our pain, anguish, and lament, we have searched for God,
and found Him under the rubble of Gaza”
Rev. Munther Isaac
Dear Friends,
This week we are talking about Gaza. The ongoing war, and the humanitarian disaster that is occurring is right under our noses, and yet nothing seems to be done about it. People have been asking us what they can do to help, and have wanted to understand more about the situation.
With help from Pat Devlin, who spent some time as an Ecumenical
Accompanier, and from our friends at Pax Christi, we have put together a few articles which we hope will explain more about what is going on, and where it all stemmed from – and may even make you want to do more.
Regards and blessings to you all,
Sharon
Action of the Week
An open Letter to our Christian Faith leaders.
The unthinkable violence in the Holy Land has shaken us. The horrific brutality of the Hamas assault on 7 October has been met with months of unrelenting bombardment causing unthinkable death, injury, and destruction. With the denial of the essentials of life
– water, food, shelter, medicine – and a litany of dehumanising and incendiary rhetoric, we’ve watched the worst impulses of revenge and rage take hold.
As we approach Holy Week, Pax Christi International, an organisation dedicated to nonviolence as the only path to a sustainable peace, implores you to speak out forcefully
and often calling for an end to this carnage. Not one more life should be sacrificed. In sermons and parish messages, in pastoral letters and statements you have the unique power to awaken the hearts and minds of the faithful.
We beg you to use it. Call for an immediate bi-lateral ceasefire, the release of all hostages and those held in Israeli detention and the restoration of critical UNRWA funding.
Our resolve and courage to stand with the powerless is being tested. We look to you, our spiritual leaders, for a prophetic voice to denounce the evil of war and the killing of so many innocent men, women, and children…some barely in this world for hours.
Do we speak out on behalf of the most vulnerable…those caught in the crosshair of bullets and bombs?
Does our collective Christian voice echo the teachings of Jesus or has it, in its tepid silence, become another weapon?
We shudder to think that the cries of the living stones of Palestine have fallen on deaf ears.
When will our sisters and brothers in Gaza know that the Church has not abandoned them?
Or, like Jesus, will they be left to suffer alone in a garden of rubble?
Have we too fallen asleep?
The time to speak is now. There is not a minute to waste.
The above, from Pax Christi International, is meant for Christian Faith Leaders. Please pass it onto any Christian Faith Leader that you know of – let’s spread the word.
Thank you.
Event – From ‘Projects in Palestine’ , on Facebook
Our next event is on Sunday 24th March, 3pm-5pm
at Commongroundcoventry,
FarGo Village, Far Gosford Street, Coventry.
Facts on the Ground.
Working as a Human Rights Observer in the West Bank.
They write: – Ann Farr has worked alongside Palestine Partners for 25 years and as well as frequent personal visits has led groups on tours. She has served as an Ecumenical Accompanier, a Human Rights Observer, living in the West Bank alongside those threatened with extreme violence from those in
surrounding Israeli settlements.
Ann is a member of Pax Christi International’s Working Group on Palestine/Israel,which works to raise awareness and advocates locally, nationally and internationally, within church and political arenas for justice and freedom for the Palestinian people and adherence to international law and human rights.
Ann will be talking about her experiences, what she has witnessed and no doubt, talking about the current situation in Gaza and The West Bank.
The event will be held in Commonground, at Fargo Village, which is an event space with a café. The café will be open all day. We will begin the talk around 3.15pm, but please feel free to arrive before and have some food and grab your place.
Ann will also have the Zaytoun products with her for sale on the day.
This is a free event, but as always, we as a charity rely on donations.
We will also have our stall there too.
Recruiting Human Rights Monitors for 2025 (with a deadline of 14th April 2024)
Quakers in Britain write: – The human rights monitors we send are called
Ecumenical Accompaniers. We call them EAs for short.
EAs spend 3 months in Palestine and Israel monitoring human rights violations and standing in solidarity with Palestinian and Israeli peace activists.
When they come home they give talks in their local communities and advocate for an end to the military occupation of Palestine.
EAs need to be flexible, hard-working, physically and emotionally robust, open to hearing from different perspectives, and able to represent the programme in a professional manner.
No previous monitoring experience is required. Your expenses will be paid and a living allowance provided.
We recruit a year in advance and provide in-depth training and resources to help you to prepare.
Recruitment for EAs for 2025 is now open and you can apply via our job pages.
Please see the 2024-25 role description (PDF) for an idea of what the work involves,
and check the essential information (PDF) before you apply.
Action
Palestine Solidarity Campaign are holding pretty much weekly actions against what is going on in Gaza. On Friday, they wrote: – Hunger is killing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Last week, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported 21Palestinians, including 17 children, had died of malnutrition and hydration caused
by Israel’s genocidal campaign.
The government’s smears against our principled movement for justice are an attempt to distract from Israel’s ongoing genocide, and the UK’s active complicity in it.
We must not let them change our focus.
Obviously, it is too late for the actions they had around the country this weekend, but please sign up to their web page for details of any future events.
Palestine and Israel – What’s to be done?
Pat Devlin writes: – When we see our TV screens filled with images of deadly violence once more in Palestine and Israel – the Holy Land for Christians Jews and Muslims alike, we can feel helpless.
But, Palestinian Christians have been calling on us, the Universal Church and the International Community, through their Kairos Document issued at the end of 2009 to respond in some very specific ways. They don’t want hand wringing and empty words of sympathy – they want our action – now more urgently than ever.
They have called on us to: pray; to inform ourselves about the history and the current reality of the situation; to urge our politicians to take economic action as the most effective non violent way of achieving an immediate ceasefire leading to rebuilding life in Gaza, an end to the Occupation of the West Bank, and an end to the discriminatory laws in Israel, thus opening the way to a Just Peace, and when the violence subsides to come and see, meeting with their communities during any visit to the Holy Land
I have outlined below some very practical ways that we can respond to the longstanding call of Palestinian Christians. No-one can do all these things but everyone can pray and do at least one other action
Prayer
- Organise monthly prayer in parishes
Resources could be supplied for last Saturday of the month:
email patdev48@btinternet.com
Stay informed and Hear other Voices from the heart of the conflict
- Get regular updates on the situation in the West Bank
- Personal Stories and visions of a different future from:
- · Reports & Statistics from Israeli information centre for Human Rights
Take Action
Show solidarity:
- Organise silent vigils outside your Church, at your MPs office or in any other prominent local place
- Join major rallies in Newcastle or London info at https://www.facebook.com/newcastlepsc/ Although organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign , you will find small numbers of Jewish people at these rallies and the there is a strict ban on anti-Semitic content or activity
Lobby
Email your MP asking them to support
- An immediate ceasefire as a prelude to inclusive negotiations leading to a just peace
- An arms embargo on Israel (because of its systematic violations of international law, including the disproportionate use of force against civilians)
- A ban on importing goods from illegal Israeli Settlements
Boycott : Particularly important given the current army supported surge in Israeli Settler violence in the West Bank
- Companies who manufacture goods in or support Illegal Israeli Settlement eg Motorola; Keter (plastic garden stores),
Companies profiting from the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian Territories· eg Hewlett Packard (supply security systems for checkpoints, prisons) For further info: email patdev48@btinternet.com
Donate to:
Medical Aid for Palestine whose aid is particularly invaluable in Gaza https://www.map.org.uk/donate/donate
Hebron International Resource Network https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/7827#/DonationDetails
Helping communities stay on their land, education+livelihoods.
Currently responding in the West Bank to massive increase in demolitions, loss of livelihood and inability to pay higher education fees, and the plight of Gazan workers expelled from Israel but unable to return to Gaza
Come & See
This will be so important when the violence subsides
Pilgrimages: Let’s ensure all our diocesan pilgrimages include encounters with Palestinian Christians – the Living Stones Through Sabeel Palestinian centre for Liberation theology https://sabeel.org Or Kairos Palestine https://www.kairospalestine.ps/ or Pax Christi(see below)
Encounter & awareness visits:
SAVE THE DATE…On Thursday 27th June, we will be holding our next Evening Open Meeting, where we will be discussing the war in Gaza, and Pat Devlin will speaking. More details to follow nearer the time.
The Last Word…
On 4th March 2024, Sabeel wrote: – Last month, members of U.S. Congress received more than 500 olivewood hearts made and blessed in Bethlehem from the United Church of Christ. Each wooden heart represents one beating heart of the nearly 12,000 Palestinian children killed in Gaza since October 7th.
The hearts were accompanied with a letter urging Congress to “raise your voice
for peace and reconciliation in the Holy Land. True peace can only be achieved
through the pursuit of justice for all parties involved.”
● Prince of Peace, it has been over 150 days with no ceasefire. We come before
you bewildered that the Western world has not exercised their power to stop the loss
of so many lives, loss which will damage generations to come.
Lord, bring an immediate ceasefire and give us courage and wisdom to pursue
a just peace in our land.
Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer
