Mosque in Northern West Bank town of Burkin attacked.

Flaming tires were thrown into a mosque in the Northern West Bank town of Burkin near the settlement Ariel Wednesday, according to Burkin’s mayor, and two cars were torched. The attacks are believed to be the latest in a string of so-called “price-tag” attacks by angry Israeli settlers against local Palestinians. These attacks are called “price tag” attacks because they are allegedly made by Israeli settlers if there is any progress toward removing illegal Israeli settlers from occupied Palestinian land. Several mosques have been burned in the past few months in similar incidents. In this case, only the entrance was burned, but graffiti was sprayed all over the mosque denouncing the head of the Shin Bet’s Jewish division, responsible for tracking extremist activity. Read Haaretz article.

Settler-related incidents resulting in Palestinian injuries and damage to property are up more than 50 percent this year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which documents violence in the Palestinian territories.

The Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land, made up of top Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders, including LWF President and ELCJHL Bishop Munib Younan, denounced the attack and issued this statement:

The Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land condemns the acts of desecration of the mosque in the village of Burkin in the northern West Bank yesterday. The Council calls upon people from all faiths – Christians, Jews and Muslims – to respect all Holy Places and sites for all three religions, and strongly discourages extremists’ behaviour that exploits or involves religion in a political/territorial dispute.

In the name of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, The Ministry of Waqf and Religious Affairs at the PA and The Heads of the Local Churches of the Holy Land, The Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land.

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, and other ecumenical faith leaders met with White House officials to express urgency and encourage action on the situation in Israel and Palestine.   According to Hanson, continued meetings with the Obama administration are “a priority because of our commitment to our companions in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. It is also carried out in the commitment we have made in the ELCA’s Churchwide Strategy for Engagement in Israel and Palestine.

“As we began our conversation with Mr. Ross, I expressed disappointment. We hear our Christian partners in the region question the United States’ commitment. They wonder why the U.S. has not been more vocal about the increased settlement construction. I told Mr. Ross that we repeatedly hear Palestinian churches say they see this as a moment of abdication by the U.S. administration.”

Hanson said afterwards that, “More progress must be made toward the goal of a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. Since our meeting a year ago, the prospects for peace seem to have diminished with the expansion of settlements and the absence of face-to-face negotiations.”

According to a Nov. 10 news release from Churches for Middle East Peace, the church leaders who attended the Nov. 8 meeting said they are disappointed with developments since their 2010 meeting at the White House. 

“The position of the Palestinian Christian community is precarious,” stated the release. “There are constant problems of obtaining visas for clergy who must travel outside Jerusalem and the West Bank. Restriction on movement between Bethlehem and Jerusalem is a problem that undermines Christian life. Church leaders are humiliated at check points.”

Ecumenical leaders at this year’s White House meeting included Hanson; Katharine Jefferts Shori, presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church; Denis James Madden, auxiliary bishop of Baltimore and chairman-elect of the Committee for Ecumenical and Interfaith Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Neil Irons, executive secretary of the Methodist Council of Bishops; and Sara Lisherness, director of compassion, peace and justice for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A).
The meeting was arranged by Churches for Middle East Peace, a coalition of 24 national church denominations and organizations working to encourage U.S. government policies that promote a just and lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Read full ELCA story

The Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall in Jerusalem on a hotly-contested spot of land in East Jerusalem.

Today, church leaders in the United States made public their response to the communique issued by the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem regarding the current status of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both documents were produced in September.

In their statement, the U.S. heads of churches, in the context of the Arab Spring, “recognize the complex and difficult situation regarding the current and future realities of the Middle East.” Beyond developments in the region, however, the church leaders voice their dismay “that the Obama administration has actively opposed Palestinian efforts to achieve a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through appeal to the United Nations.”

Click below for the full text of each communication (in PDF format):

Sept. 12, 2011 – Communique from the Heads of Christian Churches in Jerusalem

Sept. 30, 2011 – Response to Communique by Heads of Churches in the United States

Palestinian young women meet bar mitzvah celebrators on the streets of Brighton, Michigan.

On the way home one night, we passed this interesting set of young people. We asked if we could take a picture with them.  Afterwards Martha inquired about their costumes and found that they were celebrating a bar mitzvah.  She let them know that the “beautiful girls” (their words not ours) they just had their picture taken with were Palestinian. At first there was silence, then a “no way, here in Brighton?  My mom’s gonna flip out!”  They all went merrily on their way. 

Perhaps this is how peace begins, when we all realize that we are all just teenagers living our lives and we’re in this together on the same streets.  Just another God moment on the streets of Brighton as part of our Bridges Not Walls program!

Palestinian Lutheran soccer star Honey Thaljieh, changing attitudes in Palestine about women's sports and exploring "sports diplomacy."

“It’s not only about playing football. It’s about living in Bethlehem, the city of peace, and delivering the message that we are humans and that we have rights.  Through football, we can change the world because football is a language that everyone understands.”

 “We have no where else to go and nowhere to put our energies.  We are just playing with our souls and spiritual abilities. It’s because we are strong, we are Palestinian, we face a lot of difficulties. We want to be something.”

So says Honey Thaljieh, a graduate of the ELCJHL Lutheran schools “who has emerged to revolutionize Palestinian attitudes about women’s sports and has taken up what one might call sports diplomacy, making it all the way to the White House with Hillary Clinton,”  explains ELCA missionaries Pastor Fred and Gloria Strickert in their blog, Walk in Jerusalem. 

Read the full story there and be inspired by this young woman who channels her energy and passion into “sports diplomacy,” showing people – including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom she recently met – that Palestinians are people with dreams and aspirations just trying to make better lives for themselves.

Pastor Fred and Diaconal Minister Gloria Strickert serve at the English-speaking Redeemer Lutheran Church in Jerusalem.

http://youtu.be/5q3xHE9D9dc 

The schools of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) have been providing excellent education for students in Palestinian communities since 1851 – regardless of gender, race, religion, or ability to pay. They were the first schools in the region to teach girls, and women’s rights, along with mutual understanding, democratic values and, of course, holistic, academic excellence are among their goals. Christians and Muslims learn side by side how to live with one another with tolerance and friendship.

The schools teach English from Kindergarten through the 12th grade, equipping students for dialogue with international partners and expanding their opportunities for college and careers. Through the ELCJHL Libraries Project, we invite you to accompany teachers in the Holy Land as they build libraries that foster a love of language and learning right from the start. A great book has the power to open a world of possibilities!

This project allows you to purchase books from a list of books developed by the ELCJHL teachers.  The students,  teachers and parents thank you for building up their libraries and their education!

Download a flier about the project.  |    Read more about it on the ELCJHL website 

The Rev. Dr. Munib Younan, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), has been elected President of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF). He succeeds the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, who was president since 2003.

Learn more: ELCA news release | LWF report

Bishop Younan’s July 25 sermon “Who could imagine the Holy Land without Christians?”

In early August, one of Bishop Younan’s first acts in his new role was to visit the annual Peace Forum in Lovisa, Finland, organized by the Finnish Christian Peace Movement. In his sermon in the Peace Mass, Bishop Younan encouraged Christians to live as children of light. At the seminar “Jerusalem – City of Peace,” he gave the keynote address,emphasizing the importance of dialogue and reconciliation. The Bishop has been instrumental in instituting dialogue among key religious leaders in Jerusalem, including the formation of the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land.

Bishop Younan’s sermon | Peace Forum’s website | Listen to part of the Bishop’s keynote address