Unilateral is in the Eye of the Beholder
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has stated that if there is not sufficient progress in negotiations, the Palestinians plan to pursue recognition of Palestinian statehood in the United Nations this September. The US has stated their opposition to this, and yesterday, President...
Bishop Younan’s Statement of Solidarity with Algerian Church
Yesterday Bishop Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land released a statement of solidarity with the church in Algeria which has been under pressure from the Algerian government to close churches. The most interesing portion...
Ha’aretz: The New UN Process Begins in July
Ha’aretz: Palestinians plan to approach UN Security Council about statehood in July In addition to the article itself, the 300+ comments are quite interesting. It appears that Palestinian leadership has succeeded in changing the terms of the debate. Additionally,...
Doubling Down: The U.S. Commitment to the Peace Process
Greetings to you this U.S. Memorial Day. In addition to remembering those whose lives have been lost defending the United States, this is an important day to recognize “the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:42). In these days after...
NILI Urges President Obama to Visit Jerusalem and Restart Talks
The National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East (NILI), a high level group of religious leaders of Christians, Muslims and Jews, which includes the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, the presiding bishop of the ELCA, is urging President Obama to visit...
President Obama’s Speech on the Middle East
President Obama gave a long-awaited speech on the Middle East on Thursday, May 19, that brought immedate criticism from pro-Israeli groups and GOP presidential hopefuls. Nothing he said was really new except perhaps that Palestine should have an international border with Jordan, which...
Palestinian President Abbas on a Palestinian State
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in an op-ed in the New York Times, talks about the importance and international legitimacy of a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu takes issue with him and his account of history. President Abbas does leave...
May 15 brings celebration and lament in the Holy Land
May 15, the day Israelis and most of the world celebrate the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 every year, is a painful day for Palestinians, whose experience of that day and history is very different from...
Build up the Schools through the ELCJHL Libraries Project
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...
Israel admits it covertly revoked residency rights of 140,000 Palestinians
May 11, 2011 – An article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz by Akiva Elder today reveals that Israel revoked residency rights of 140,000 Palestinians who traveled abroad between 1967 and 1994 without telling the Palestinians what they were doing. When Palestinians left, they...