Global Ministries

More than 200 olive trees, in the villages of Qusra and Jaloud  in the Nablus area (northern West Bank), were uprooted and stolen by Israeli settlers in the last few days. All these trees were part of the Olive trees distributed by the Keep Hope Alive Olive Tree Campaign of the Joint Advocacy Initiative of the YWCA of Palestine and the East Jerusalem YMCA.

Dear friends, colleagues & partners,

We stand before Christmas and the turn of the year!

One year ago, none of us could have imagined the calamities that 2020 would bring upon all of us and I am referring mainly, although not exclusively, to the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences.

The Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem will hold two recurring different weekly gatherings, and would love for you to join!

The Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, based in Jerusalem, has organized a video reflection on the Christmas story, in words, music, and images.  Click here to watch and listen.  All reflections are made from the traditional sites of the Gospel stories. Music is performed by Al Rua’ Music group from Beit Sahour, in the Church of St. Catherine in Bethlehem.

The Moderator of the Waldensian Church (Union of the Methodist and Waldensian Churches in Italy), Alessandra Trotta, has published a video message for happiness and blessings in the New Year.  It is available below, with English subtitles.

‘united as One’ is the title of a new song which has been released by 23 young Palestinian refugees to express their faith in the future. With the help of six musicians they have worked together to compose this song. The project was sponsored by the United Nations’ Relief and Works Agency, (UNWRA).

Lord, we thank you for the musical expression of the young Palestinian refugees and we pray that, despite the many challenges they face, they will never lose sight of hope in their lives. Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayers.

[The following op-ed, written by the Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem and Dean of the Bethlehem Bible College, appeared in The Jordan Times on Dec. 23.]

Christmas is a time of joyful celebration for the people of Bethlehem, a grateful relief from the day-to-day experience of occupation and isolation. Each year, we welcome hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who come from all over the globe to visit the Church of the Nativity and celebrate where Jesus was born.

Christians, Muslims and pilgrims alike crowd the markets and exchange greetings at religious and cultural events. We give thanks for the world’s embrace. The harsh realities of life behind the annexation wall, the feelings of being forgotten, seem to fade, if only briefly and only in our imagination.

In recent months Israeli settler attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians and their property has peaked, according to the United Nations. Attacks on Palestinian farmers and shepherds are often carried out with the collaboration of the Israeli military. Illegal Israeli settlers destroyed water pipes and trees in al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya village, south of Nablus, on Friday, the 18th of December. The following day Palestinian farmers and shepherds in Masafir Yatta in the southern area of the occupied West Bank were attacked and injured by illegal Israeli settlers.

Lord, we pray that this outpouring violence from illegal Israeli settlers against Palestinians will cease. We pray that the stranglehold of the Israeli occupation, which grows ever tighter on the Palestinians, will be released. Lord in your mercy… hear our prayers.

Dr. Michel Abs, General Secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches, recorded a Christmas message by video, entitled, "A Child is Born, God is Incarnated."  Click here to watch the message, and here to read it.

Dear Friends:

Many years come and go touching different people in different ways, but 2020 has been a calamity for the whole world, as the pandemic has spared nobody. So, like everybody else, Rawdat El-Zuhur had to face new challenges and so did the staff, children, and their parents. That being over and above the occupation and what the city of Jerusalem has been facing. However, we cannot lose hope, and want to wish you and your loved ones good health and a blessed Christmas and to thank all of you who thought of our little school during those difficult times.

With warm greetings for a virus-free 2021.