‘Cries for Peace in Palestine’: Palestinian Christian voices are center of new book, webinar series

In the past two weeks, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have moved to return to northern Gaza during a tenuous ceasefire agreement. The move follows nearly 16 months of violence and war waged by Israel following Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023. As Palestinians return, President Donald Trump recently announced a vision for Gaza that “is disturbing and dangerous,” according to a new briefing released by Global Ministries, the joint witness in mission of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

It is in this timely context that a newly published book, Rooted in Faith and Justice: Christian Calls to Conscience & Cries for Peace in Palestine, is available, written and edited by Global Ministries staff and partners.

The book centers the voices of Palestinian Christian leaders, who consistently make clear that the current events did not begin in 2023, said Peter Makari, team leader and global relations minister to the Middle East and Europe for Global Ministries. Rather, Israel’s occupation of Gaza has lasted since June 1967.

“It’s important for us to center the voices of our partners and to hear what they are telling us, because they offer a perspective that isn’t normally available through mainstream media,” Makari said. “The connections we have with the Palestinian Christian community and others afford us the opportunity to hear perspectives that we don’t often hear.”

Several sections of the book begin with quotes from the Rev. Munther Isaac, a Palestinian Christian pastor and theologian whose “Easter Amidst a Genocide” sermon is included in the book.  

“Palestine is our homeland. We are deeply rooted here. For those Palestinians exiled around the world, Palestine lives in them. Palestine is in every corner of this earth. We will never relinquish our God-given rights of living in dignity and justice,” a quote from him says.

‘Accessible to the ordinary person’

Makari edited the book together with Rebekah Choate, minister for global advocacy and education, and Krista Johnson Weicksel, vice president for administration and programs.

They discussed the book in a recent Nurture the Soul recorded webinar — the first of several webinars planned to feature contributing authors of the book.

A central aim of the book is to make this topic “accessible to the ordinary person in the pews who might be overwhelmed by this topic and not really know where to start,” said Choate.

There are many resources out there, she said, but this one is relatively short. Chapters, each less than ten pages, delve into the historical, contextual, and religious background, the current state of things, and reflections on moving forward.

“Several of our partners who contributed chapters have written multiple books on the topics that they talked about in their chapters,” Choate said. “It’s really meant as a place for you as the reader to see what grabs hold of you and where you’re interested in learning more from there.”

“Libraries have been written on Israel and Palestine,” Makari added. “This is perhaps one of the most intellectualized issues in the world. We want to convey at its core that these are pretty straightforward issues and accessible to anyone. Our Palestinian Christian partners convey for them it’s not complicated — it’s an issue of justice.”

Each chapter ends with discussion questions and recommendations for further reading.

Intentional language

In a context where the media has been accused of whitewashing Israeli violence against Palestinians, the Rooted in Faith and Justice editors emphasize the importance of encountering the language of the Palestinian writers.  

“The way that they describe their own realities and the language that they use to do that — it was important to us to keep that language,” Weicksel said. “This means using words like ‘genocide’ or saying it’s a ‘war on Gaza.’ This language is careful and it’s intentional. It’s on purpose. The way our partners wrote these chapters is the way that they appear in the book.”

Choate added that in their role as editors, they refrained from using the word conflict.

“We don’t call it the Israel-Palestine ‘conflict,’ because that denotes equality on some level when there just isn’t,” she said.

The book’s Forward — written by Global Ministries leaders Rev. LaMarco Cable and Rev. Sherry Prestemon — stresses the lived experience of the people. “The ‘issues’ of Israel and Palestine are for us always ‘enfleshed,’” they write.

‘Hope is what you do’

The Rev. Mitri Raheb, founder and president of Dar al-Kalima University and the most widely published Palestinian theologian to date, offers a chapter in the book’s “Moving Forward” section.

“Over the past 70-plus years, Palestinians have shown over and over again a tremendous strength to resist, incredible forms of resilience, and creative ways to survive. The Palestinians are not moving, and they will persist in the face of the Israeli settler colonial project,” he wrote.

In the webinar, Makari reflected that “the question comes up often about hope, especially in times like this. We don’t want to diminish the idea of hope in a time of deep crisis, but also, hope is such an important part of our faith.”

He quoted Raheb’s words that emphasize hope is a verb: “Hope is what you do today.”

“I urge you in this time and especially as we move toward Ash Wednesday and Lent and then Holy Week and Easter, as we begin to reflect on hope in that context, to think about hope as a verb, hope as action,” Makari said. “Hope is what we do today.”

Rooted in Faith and Justice book and webinars

Rooted in Faith and Justice: Christian Calls to Conscience & Cries for Peace in Palestine is available from Chalice Press.

Registration is open for upcoming UCC webinars that feature Palestinian Christian Rooted in Faith and Justice contributors:

• A Vision of Liberation with Jonathan Kuttab on Feb. 24;
• Christ in the Rubble: A Conversation with Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac on March 5;
• Palestinian Women in the Struggle with Dr. Mira Rizeq on March 13.

---

Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.