Israel/Palestine Resources
We look to our Presbyterian Brothers and Sisters and thank them for a wonderful resource called: Steadfast Hope
Steadfast Hope is a collection offers an inspiring view of the activities currently being undertaken by Muslim, Jewish, and Christian peacemakers working for justice and reconciliation. It also gives helpful guidance on how your congregation can contribute to the cause of just peace for the people who share the Holy Land. Click here for Steadfast HOPE
“Week of Prayer and Witness with Christians in the Middle East”. You will find worship, adult study, children and youth resources, travel opportunities, craft fairs and partnership products, and dinner and discussion suggestions.
Organizations of NOTE:
J Street is the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement. J Street was founded to promote meaningful American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatically. We support a new direction for American policy in the Middle East and a broad public and policy debate about the U.S. role in the region.
Parents Circle - Consisting of several hundreds of bereaved families, half Palestinian and half Israeli, The Families Forum has played a crucial role since its inception in 1995, in spearheading a reconciliation process between Israelis and Palestinians. The Forum members have all lost immediate family members due to the violence in the region.
Sabeel: an ecumenical grassroots liberation theology movement among Palestinian Christians. Inspired by the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, this liberation theology seeks to deepen the faith of Palestinian Christians, promote unity among them, and lead them to social action.
American Friends of the Diocese of Jerusalem:a non-profit, non-political partnership nurturing the Church in the Holy Land as we seek to serve our Lord’s command to heal the sick, feed the hungry, shelter the orphaned, soothe the suffering, teach the Truth and preach the Gospel.
End the Occupation: The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is a diverse coalition working for freedom from occupation and equal rights for all by challenging U.S. policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Churches for Middle East Peace
Children and Teen Projects:
*Children’s Coloring Book: Presbyterians USA
*Hands of Peace: The mission of Hands of Peace is to foster long term peaceful coexistence among Jewish-Israelis, Arab-Israelis, and West Bank Palestinians by bringing young people from the Middle East together with American teens in an interfaith setting.
*International Day of Peace, September 21st Plan a vigil with other houses of worship in your neighborhood
* Middle East Children’s Alliance: supports several youth projects in Palestine, including Playgrounds for Peace, Ibda’a Cultural and Community Center, Palestinian Counseling Center, and scholarships for Palestinian refugees.
Check also Lutheran Schools, Friends Schools in Ramallah (www.palfriends.org/), Mennonites
Ways to Support Peace in Israel/Palestine:
* Olive Tree Campaign, Keep Hope Alive, a project of the YWCA and the YMCA of East Jerusalem. Planting Olive Trees:
* Purchase and promote Palestinian olive oil: Contact the AFSC office in Atlanta, Chicago or Los Angeles for more information about these presentations.
Ziyarat az Zeitoun gathering
If you are outside the Atlanta, Chicago or Los Angeles areas and would like to organize your own Ziyarat az Zeitoun gathering please contact the AFSC at olives@afsc.org and we will be glad to provide you with the information and materials you need to plan and run your own Ziyarat az Zeitoun gathering.
*The Seraj Library Project, fonded by Estephan and Laurie Salameh: board of directors co-chaired by EPF member the Rev. Cotton Fite. The Seraj Library Project is a non-profit 501 (c)3 providing initiative and support in developing libraries in rural Palestinian villages. Its mission is to assist in the education of Palestinian villagers of all ages and faiths through the development of high quality and accessible library programs.
*Palestinian Crafts: info@sunbula.org
*Host a Holy Land Craft Fair: Presbyterians USA: www.pcusa.org/worldwide/weekofprayer/crafts.pdf
*Help Rebuild Palestinian homes [Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions: www.icahd.org
*Support Anglican Schools and hospitals in Palestine: Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (www.j-diocese.com)
Chicago Speakers:
*Chicago Diocese: Rev. Robert Cotton Fite : (cotton.fite@sbcglobal.net ) Or Newland Smith (n-smith1@seabury.edu)
*Christian Peacemaker Teams: CPT national office is located in Chicago, they will be glad to send out speakers and provide programming- 773-277-0253
*American Friends Service Committee: Jenifer Bing-Canar and Miriam Rashid – 312-427-2533
*Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine: Martha Reese and Rebekah Levin justpeace1@aol.com
*Jewish Voice for Peace/Not in My Name: 312-409-4845
DVD’s
Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness stories and photographs by Anna Baltzer. 1hr 12 min.
This is done by a young American Jewish woman. Excellent, but a bit long. www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com.
The Iron Wall, a film by Mohammed Alatar. 58 min. Interviews with prominent Israelis and Palestinian peace
activists including Jeff Halper, Israeli settlers and soldiers, Palestinian farmers. www.TheIronWall.ps
PEACEMAKING IN THE HOLY LAND VIDEO
ISBN:65-9903ea order from Episcopal Books and Resources: www.episcopalchurch.org
Salt of the Earth: Palestinian Christians in the Northern West Bank by Marthame and Elizabeteh Sanders.
In Arabic with English subtitles. Very good interviews with Christians in Zababdeh. www.saltfilms.net
Searching for Peace in the Middle East by Landrum Bollng, President Emeritus of Earlham College. 30 min. www.fmeg.org
Sacred Space Denied: Bethlehem and the Wall by Peter Nagel. Recently distributed by Sabeel.
Available I’m sure from Friends of Sabeel, NA
Journey for Justice done by Joint Action Initiative (JAI) of the YW and YMCA of East Jerusalem.
Liturgical Resources
*A Season of Prayer for Peace in the Middle East: www.seasonofprayer.org/
*Prayers for Peace: Episcopal Peace Fellowship: www.epfnational.org;
*Worship booklet and bulletin from Presbyterians USA: www.pcusa.org/worldwide/weekofprayer/resources.htm
LINKS
*Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Centre: www.sabeel.org
*Friends of Sabeel – North America: www.fosna.org
*Holy Land Trust: http://www.holylandtrust.org
*Churches for Middle East Peace: http://www.cmep.org/
*Diocese of Jerusalem: http://www.americanfriends-jerusalem.org/
*US Campaign to End the Occupation: www.endtheoccupation.org
American Friends Service Committee – Faces of Hope Campaign www.afsc.org/faces-of-hope
*Jewish Voice for Peace recommendations: http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/publish/booklist.shtml
Books and Pamphlets:
* Tolan, Sandy. The Lemon Tree, The title of this moving, well-crafted book refers to a tree in the backyard of a home in Ramla, Israel. The home is currently owned by Dalia, a Jewish woman whose family of Holocaust survivors emigrated from Bulgaria. But before Israel gained its independence in 1948, the house was owned by the Palestinian family of Bashir, who meets Dalia when he returns to see his family home after the Six-Day War of 1967. Journalist Tolan (Me & Hank) traces the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the parallel personal histories of Dalia and Bashir and their families
*Hass, Amira. Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land under Siege. (2000) (An Israeli reporter’s extraordinary account of her experiences living in Gaza.) American Friends Service Committee resources: www.afsc.org/israel-palestine/learn/default.htm
*Pentecost Peace Packet complied by the Episcopal Peace Fellowship www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/PentecostPeacePacket.pdf
* Bennis, Phyllis. Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: a primer. TARI, 2003. This sixty-two page primer in question and answer format with excellent maps provides an introduction to the complex history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by a fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies and one of the leaders of the US Campaign to End the Occupation.
*Chacour, Elias. Blood Brothers / Elias Chacour and David Hazard. Chosen Books, 2003. Chacour describes himself as an Arab, Palestinian, Israeli Christian. Born in 1939 when he was eight he with his family was deported from Biram, a Palestinian village. A priest of the Melkite Catholic Church, in 2006 he became Archbishop of the Galilee. In the early 1980s he began work in establishing the Mar Elias Education Institutions in Ibillin. Blood Brothers is a moving account of his efforts for peace and tolerance among his “blood brothers.”
*How Long O Lord: voices from the ground and visions for the future in Israel/Palestine / Maurine and Robert Tobin, editors. Cowley Publications, 2002. Fifteen articles by Jewish, Christian and Muslim writers including Haidar Abdel-Shafi, Director of the Red Crescent Society of Gaza, Rabbi Michael Lerner, founder of the Tikkun Community, and Thomas Shaw, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. Includes a helpful glossary and “Chronology of the Historic Land of Palestine from the Ottoman Empire to the Present.”
*Wagner, Donald E. Dying in the Land of Promise: Palestine and Palestinian
Christianity from Pentecost to 2000. New updated edition. Melisende, 2003
A very readable account of Palestinian Christianity from its beginnings at the first Christian Pentecost until the beginning of the 21st century and of the “Zionist(Israeli)-Palestinian” conflict by the Executive Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at North Park University. Don Wagner is an ordained Presbyterian clergy person and served for ten years as the Director of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding.
*Younan, Munib. Witnessing for peace: in Jerusalem and the world / edited by Fred
Strickert. Fortress Press, 2003. A personal account of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by a Palestinian Christian born in Jerusalem and who is serving as the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. Bishop Younan has spoken several times in the Chicago area and is respected for his advocacy of nonviolence in his conflict ridden part of the world.
News:
*Palestinian News Network http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2053
*Washington Report on Middle East Affairs: http://www.wrmea.com/
*Electronic Intifada www.electronicintifada.net
*Jewish Peace News http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/publish/jpn.shtml
