Remembering the Nakba of 1948 and the Ongoing Nakba Today

by Rich Wiles

During a Nakba commemoration event sponsored by MCC partner Lajee Center, youth from Aida Refugee Camp near Bethlehem hold a kite decorated with a key symbolizing the Palestinian right of return. (photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler)

The term Nakba (Arabic for ‘Catastrophe’) refers to the first round of massive population transfer undertaken by the Zionist movement and the State of Israel in the period between November 1947 (the issuing of the UN Partition Plan for Palestine) and the cease-fire agreements with Arab states in 1949. The Nakba was an act of forced population transfer (ethnic cleansing) undertaken for the purpose of establishing Israel as a state that would ensure permanent dominance of Jewish settler-immigrants over the indigenous Arab people of Palestine. More than 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes and lands during these original Nakba years.

The Ongoing Nakba refers to Israel’s ongoing denial of the rights of displaced Palestinians to return to the lands from which they were displaced, as well as the ongoing experience of forced displacement and dispossession of Palestinians from their homelands that has continued since the original Nakba years as a result of Israel’s policies and practices.

Click to view this interactive map from the Ongoing Nakba web site.

This website uses multi-media productions to highlight the Ongoing Nakba that has been perpetuated against the Palestinian people from 1947 until today. The multi-media productions featured on this site include short films, audio recordings (podcasts and oral histories) and photo galleries.

The home page presents a map of Mandate Palestine. By moving the mouse over a district it will become highlighted. Click on the highlighted district and a smaller map of the respective district on which areas that contain multi-media productions are highlighted. By clicking on any highlighted area you are then taken directly to the home page for that area which contains links to the relevant multi-media productions.

This project is a work-in-progress. The multi-media productions available on this website do not cover all examples of the Ongoing Nakba. In fact, given the thousands of examples of displacement in Palestine, only a tiny sample are available at launch time but work is ongoing to document and highlight other areas.

Rich Wiles works with MCC partners Lajee Center and BADIL, both of which focus on the history, rights, and ongoing challenges of Palestinian refugees.

Everyday is Land Day

Thirty-six years ago, on March 30, 1976, hundreds of Palestinian citizens of Israel took to the streets to protest the confiscation of their land. The State of Israel had announced they were confiscating the land in order to build Jewish-only neighbourhoods and security bases on privately owned Arab land. Despite several communities being put under curfew in order to prevent the protests, hundreds of Palestinians within Israel took part in the demonstration. The protesters were met with a barrage of police and military. Six Palestinian protestors were killed, over hundred were wounded, and hundreds were arrested. This day became known as Land Day.

Today, land confiscation and the violent repression of demonstrations are still part of the Palestinian experience. Most recently Israel has announced the confiscation of land in the olive orchards and vineyards of Cremisan, a monastery close to Bethlehem and one of the final green spaces people from Bethlehem can enjoy. It is a green space that MCC partner, Lajee Center, would use every summer for their MCC-sponsored summer camp programming.

Lajee is a community center within Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. With very little space in the camp, Lajee previously relied on Cremisan’s land to provide nature education for their children and youth. Therefore, this year, to commemorate Land Day, Lajee Center, along with other organizations from Bethlehem organized a tree-planting activity on the land of Cremisan. Over 200 children, youth, and adults gathered to plant olive trees on land that is threatened by confiscation. Their action not only served as a demonstration, but also a reminder to the children and youth of their connection with the land. Kholoud Ajarma, activist, photographer and board member at Lajee who took part in this action reported,

“On this day more than three generations of refugees gathered to plant olive trees on land that is in danger of being confiscated. It showed that the young people will not forget their rights… Olive trees are known for their strength and deep roots into the earth, and so is the Palestinians’ link with the land. We are rooted in this land and we will continue to do so.”

Lajee Center planting olive trees near Cremisan

 Here in Palestine, Land Day is not one isolated day.  It is a reality that many Palestinians live on a daily basis. Land confiscation, violent repression of demonstrations, arrests, and curfew are all part of the current reality that Palestinians face. Ajarma states, “In Palestine every day is land day as we continue to live under occupation and continue to be deprived from our right to our land. It is a day that reflects belonging to the land, to our country, and to our right to freedom.”

Therefore, this year Land Day protests were not only in commemoration but also in response to Israel’s closure of Jerusalem to Palestinians living the West Bank and Gaza. MCC partners Wi’am and Stop the Wall took part in a demonstration with hundreds of Palestinians from Bethlehem marching towards the wall waving flags, chanting slogans, and expressing their frustration with their oppression and the occupation.

Thirty-six years ago, six Palestinians with Israeli citizenship died protesting the confiscation of their land and the denial of their rights. Today Land Day is a day that serves as a reminder of the collective oppression Palestinians experience whether they are within the Occupied Territories or within Israel. As Ajarma says;

“Land day is an opportunity to show the unity of Palestinians wherever we exist. It is not important where we live, what political party we follow, which checkpoints we pass or which settlement is built on the land of our city, or if we live on the historic land of Palestine or elsewhere. What matters on that day, is that we are all Palestinians, we all have the right to this land, we all have the right to justice and to have the right to self determination.”

Ragd Ajarma commemorates Land Day in Bethlehem

Removing Barriers to ‘Normal Life’

by Jihan Twemeh Nazzal

It started at the very early moments of her birth. Lack of oxygen during birth caused the life of Raneem* to be a different one, a life with a permanent disability: Paralysis.

Raneem spent her early childhood, within the four walls of her house. Isolation, fear of the future, hopelessness and loneliness were her companions. For 12 continuous years, Raneem and her family faced a constant struggle to obtain what the majority of the families in her community consider to be an ordinary life.

Going to school, accessing education, playing with peers, enjoying her childhood–the very simple things most children take for granted were the unattainable dream of Raneem. For so long, her parents held on to the belief that disability is a big impediment, and from this belief, Raneem was not given the chance to be part of the community.

When she became nine years old and entered school, the mockery of her peers at school emphasized this belief and only led Raneem to be a shut-in, a hidden and isolated young girl whose place is nowhere but her house.

Reintegrating Raneem into community was the most significant goal which the YMCA Rehabilitation Program planned to achieve. Working with her family, raising awareness of those surrounding her, and enhancing Raneem’s acceptance at school were the first steps that helped Raneem gain motivation, persistence, and drive to change her life and compensate for the years of childhood wasted in isolation.

With the support of MCC, the entrance of Raneem’s house was adapted thereby enabling her to move freely in and out of her home. The barriers that used to shut Raneem in are now removed so that she can get on with living.

Today, Raneem has begun to feel better about herself. She came to know herself as respected, accepted and loved. Today, she is healed from the feeling of being unworthy and undesirable. Out of her new positive feelings, great things may flourish. That’s what she and her parents have realized.

Raneem said: “Today, I have friends at school, and I can learn and I know how to write and read.”

And her father said: “In the past, we didn’t know what to do with Raneem, but today she is living a normal life like others, she is learning and continuing her life. You are the only organization that was able to change our life and the life of my daughter and you let us feel capable of dealing with the problem.”

Today, Raneem who used to be shut-in is shut-out to a new and better life to live.

* Real name changed for privacy.

Jihan Twemeh Nazzal is Grants Administrator for the East Jerusalem YMCA  Rehabilitation Program, an MCC partner organization in Beit Sahour.

“Welcome to Palestine” Campaign Exposes Travel Tribulations Faced by Palestinians and their Supporters

Graffiti on the Israeli separation wall dividing the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Dis.

“What is the purpose of your visit?”

This question, from the lips of Israeli security officers, can raise the anxiety of even casual tourists. Entering or exiting, one can expect questions about your activities and local contacts. If the answers arouse suspicion—or if you appear to be Palestinian, Arab or, more broadly, of Muslim faith—many travelers experience extended interrogations or invasive body searches.

The West Bank is accessible only by traveling from Israel’s Ben Gurion airport or through the Israeli-controlled border crossings. For this reason, travelers visiting the West Bank are often advised to play coy and answer mainly about visiting holy sites in Jerusalem or the Galilee in northern Israel. But volunteers or activists whose main purpose is entering the Palestinian Territories must almost certainly obfuscate their purpose for visiting, or risk intense questioning, strip search, or deportation.

Last summer, a group of Palestinian NGOs and international activists hit upon a novel means of drawing attention to these practices and their chilling effect on travel to areas under Israeli occupation. They invited hundreds of visitors to fly into Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport and state openly that they are coming to visit the West Bank. The result, according to The Jerusalem Post:

Some 124 activists were detained upon arrival in Israel and deported. Hundreds more were barred, mostly in Europe, from getting on airplanes to Ben-Gurion after Israel passed on their names to the airlines.

Despite this heavy-handed response–or perhaps because of it–according to campaign organizers, “the publicity shed light on Israel’s attempts to deny visits by internationals for humanitarian peaceful support to millions of Palestinians living under occupation.”

This weekend, a similar coalition, including MCC partner organizations Wi’am Center, Badil, and the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement, has invited thousands more activists for a similar campaign. Once again dubbed, “Welcome to Palestine”, the organizers state:

We believe that every single one of us is a change maker, and nobody has the right to deny access to suffering populations. We call on more internationals to join the hundreds who already booked their tickets and come help us begin to build a school, work with farmers, and join the struggle to bring peace with justice.

Again, despite the campaign’s commitment to nonviolence, Israeli officials quoted in international media have exaggerated the “threat” and promise a similar response as last summer:

“The provocateurs will be dealt with in a determined and quick way,” said Israel’s public security minister, Yitzhak Aharonovitch. “If they arrive to Israel they will be identified, removed from the plane, their entry into Israel will be prevented and they will be moved to a detention facility until they are flown out of Israel.”

Though such media coverage has focused on distorted versions of activists’ goals (campaign organizers are not planning demonstrations or direct confrontations with Israeli authorities), “Welcome to Palestine” has already succeeded in its aim to draw attention to the movement restrictions faced not only by Palestinians on a daily basis, but even on internationals intending to visit them.

UPDATE: It would seem that once again, the “Welcome to Palestine” campaign has succeeded in generating significant media coverage:

Who are the ‘Welcome to Palestine’ activists? +972
Much ado about flytilla Jerusalem Post
In Israel, pro-Palestinian activists get attention, if not entry Washington Post
Israel Moves to Block Activists From Entering New York Times news
Pro-Palestinian activists refused Israel flight BBC News
Pro-Palestinian activists detained in Israel Al-Jazeera
Pro-Palestinian ‘fly-in’ activist: Israel and Europe treated us like terrorists Haaretz
Israeli official: 40% of names on Shin Bet fly-in blacklist were not activists Haaretz
Welcome to Palestine visitors travel to Israel Maan News

Via Dolorosa: Journey of Suffering

by J. Daryl Byler

Israeli activist Chaska Katz of MCC partner the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions explains to MCC learning tour participants how the separation wall divides Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. (photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler)

A group of twelve MCC constituents from British Columbia visited Palestine and Israel, March 18-27, tracing the footsteps of Jesus and learning about the current political realities from a broad spectrum of Palestinians and Israelis.

MCC sponsors learning tours twice a year, with the hope that groups will return to their home communities to share stories and act for change.

Palestinians described their suffering under Israeli military occupation. Still, many embraced a vision of Israelis and Palestinians sharing the land as neighbors.

Melkite Catholic Archbishop Elias Chacour told how his family was expelled from their village of Biram when he was 8 years old. Biram was one of 531 Palestinian villages destroyed or depopulated to create the State of Israel in 1948. “We started our own Via Dolorosa (way of suffering) at that time,” he said. Chacour urged the learning tour members to work for change by befriending both Jews and Palestinians.

Stop the Wall staff member Mazin Al-Azzeh speaks in front of the Israeli separation barrier and the settlement of Har Homa. (photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler)

Dr. Jad Isaac, director of MCC partner Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem, documented how Israeli settlements – illegal under international law — have expanded dramatically since the beginning of the Oslo Peace Accords, dividing the West Bank into increasingly smaller cantons and fortifying the Israeli occupation. “We will never accept the Israelis as occupiers,” Isaac said, “We will accept them as neighbors.”

Shireen Al-Araj describes the situation in Al-Walaja to BC tour participant Michael Dick

Shireen Al-Araj gave a tour of her West Bank village of Al-Walaja, soon to be completely surrounded by the separation wall in order to create space to expand the Israeli settlement of Gilo. The planned route of the wall will come within steps of Shireen’s home, cutting off access to her garden.

Salim Shawamreh told how Israeli authorities have destroyed his home five times now, most recently in January 2012. Shawamreh described the nearly impossible bureaucratic maze that Palestinians must navigate in order to obtain building permits for their own land. After paying thousands of dollars and waiting for years to receive permits, many Palestinians simply build out of necessity.

“We are finding the grace of God even in our own suffering,” said Nora Carmi, a Christian Palestinian who supported the drafting of Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth. “Apartheid in South Africa came to an end because of the work of the churches,” Carmi challenged the group, “Advocacy is part of who we are as Christians.”

The group also visited Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, to learn about the tragic history of anti-Semitism, which culminated in the killing of six million Jews in the 1940s. Many Israelis cite this traumatic history as the reason a state is needed to provide security for Jews.

Col. Danny Tirza, architect of Israel's separation barrier, speaks to the BC group

Participants heard a variety of Israeli perspectives, including Col. Danny Tirza, architect of the 760 km- (472 mile-) long separation barrier, and Ardie Guildman, who lives in the West Bank settlement of Efrat. Underlining the core challenge of the conflict, Guildman told the Canadian group, “We are here. We are not going anywhere.”

Still, many Israeli speakers lamented the suffering caused by the military occupation, home demolitions and settlement expansion, saying that Israel will not be secure until the occupation ends.

“The occupation is destroying the moral fabric of Israeli society,” a Jewish Israeli member of Combatants for Peace reflected. “I want to see the end of the occupation for the benefit of the Jewish people and the Palestinian people.”

“There won’t be peace until we understand the narrative of the other,” Yehiel Grenimann of Rabbis for Human Rights told the MCC constituents.

Tour member Jon Nofziger greets Sundus Abu Omar and her father Ahmed, whose house was rebuilt by MCC partner Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions only to be destroyed by Israeli authorities several months later. (photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler)

Itay Epshtain, co-director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, said that Israel has demolished some 26,000 Palestinian homes and buildings since 1967. He described the Israeli policy as the “Judaization” of East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Some 95% of the Jordan Valley — the richest agricultural land in the West Bank — is already off limits to Palestinians, making them reliant on foreign aid for food security.

Eitan Bronstein Aparicio, founder and staff member of MCC partner Zochrot, gave a tour of Canada Park, built over the ruins of three destroyed Palestinian villages. Eitan is among a minority of Israelis who favor a one-state solution to the conflict, noting that living side-by-side is less of a security risk than an ongoing military occupation which will inevitably lead some Palestinians to take revenge. Eitan was jailed for his refusal to do military service.

Palestinian Christians offered a consistent message that Christian Zionism, often used as a rationale for not challenging Israeli government policies, misrepresents the expansive nature of God’s love for all people.

“God does not play favorites,” Archbishop Chacour reflected, “All are called to become children of God.” Rev. Alex Awad, professor and dean of students at Bethlehem Bible College and pastor of East Jerusalem Baptist Church, offered a New Testament overview that challenged the assumptions of Christian Zionism. “In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,” said Awad, quoting the Apostle Paul (Gal. 3:26).

Participants also read Scripture at Capernaum and on the Mt. of Beatitudes and took boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.

The Common Lectionary readings for this fifth week of Lent focus on Jesus’ suffering and service as the path to wholeness and resurrection. Reflecting on his upcoming crucifixion, Jesus tells his followers, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24)

With so many stories of suffering, the group at times felt overwhelmed by the reality on the ground. One participant described the situation as “war in slow motion.”

Is there any hope?

“It’s a long struggle, keep hope, keep resisting,” urged Hafez Hreini, a leader of the nonviolent resistance movement from the village of At-Tuwani.

Long-term MCC partner Zoughbi Zoughbi reminded the group that the 14th station on the Via Dolorosa is an empty tomb. “My faith is based on a resurrected Lord,” he said.

J. Daryl Byler, along with spouse Cindy Byler, are MCC representatives for Palestine-Israel and several other countries in the Middle East. They are based in Amman, Jordan.

A Bedouin Woman Follows Her Dreams

by Mai Jarrar

A Bedouin woman walks through her Jordan Valley village at dusk. (Photo for illustration only, by Ryan Rodrick Beiler)

Mariam Al-Rashayda is a 20-year-old Bedouin woman who lives with her family in a tent in the prairie of Bethlehem’s eastern slopes. Mariam has had a hard and complicated life. At the age of 14 she was forced to leave school and moved to Jordan for an arranged marriage to a Bedouin man.                                                                                                  

Mariam’s husband and his mother frequently beat her and forced her to do all the chores inside the tent and look after the cattle, in addition to taking care of her husband’s children from a previous marriage.  Mariam asserts, “I was treated as a slave for food they offered me.” After one year of such a harsh and cruel life, Mariam made an important decision that changed her life by moving back to her family in the prairie of Bethlehem.  Her husband, who was later imprisoned in Jordan for committing a serious crime, was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Mariam asked her family to divorce her from her estranged husband, but the family refused and did not support her decision. To make things worse, they blamed her for her husband’s family problems. She continues,   “My husband’s imprisonment provided me with a glimpse of hope for a better life.”  She explains, “I have recalled my dream of being an educated woman and setting my mind free and making an impact on the mindsets of people around me.”

Mariam became aware of the YMCA’s work for the first time through the Cisterns Rehabilitations Project in the prairie. She was later introduced while YMCA staff was conducting field visits to assess women’s needs in the area.  Mariam started to cry when she was asked about young women’s needs. She says, “When the YMCA came to us, for the first time in my life I felt like a human being who deserved a better life. They asked about my needs and goals and that was my only chance to tell them about my dreams and hopes of completing school.” Mariam told her story to the YMCA’s staff in detail, and the staff decided to bring her case to the Palestinian Ministry of Education to allow her back to the school.  Based on the Ministry of Education’s regulations, “If a student leaves school before the tenth grade he/she should pass a level exam, in order to be permitted back.” Surprisingly Mariam not only passed the exam but achived the highest grade!

Mariam became active and  joined the YMCA modular training sessions conducted in Al-Rashaydeh, and now she is preparing for the Tawjihi (the Palestinian High School Certificate Exam). She is also a member of the Bethlehem Student Forum  and was awarded the prize of “The Young Initiator Project”  for her active role in introducing students from Bethlehem to life in the prairire on the eastern slopes of Bethlehem.

Mariam says, “The difficulty was facing my community, as an estranged married woman who leaves the village to follow her dreams and goals. Thank God with determination I can overcome all obstacles and challenges.”  Mariam also says that she is very thankfull to the YMCA: “They have changed my life.” The YMCA is certain that her experience and determination for a better life will inspire other women in her community.

Mai Jarrar is the director of the East Jerusalem YMCA’s Women’s Training Program, an MCC partner organization.

19 Key Quotes from Christ at the Checkpoint

A Palestinian youth is forced to lift his shirt at an Israeli military checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron. (photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler)

“I am a Palestinian Christian—not invented. I was born in Bethlehem to an Arab Palestinian family. I can trace my family at least 10 generations that we have been living here in Bethlehem. I am an evangelical Christian, a follower of Jesus, a sinner, saved by grace,” said Munther Issac.  “We are not inventing our suffering. The checkpoint is our reality.”

“For us as Palestinians, it is not an academic study to talk about the theology of the land. It is very personal,” said Isaac, Vice Academic Dean at MCC partner Bethlehem Bible College, and director of the 2012 Christ at the Checkpoint conference. His words form a fitting frame for a week of presentations and discussions on some of the most controversial issues of religion and politics.

“Why do we have a conference like this?” asked Alex Awad, Dean of Students at Bethlehem Bible College and Pastor of East Jerusalem Baptist Church. “We really want to educate the church at large, but especially the evangelical church, about what is happening here. We want Christians from around the world to come, see the checkpoint, see the wall, see the occupation as it is. And then, open the Bible and say, ‘What does Christ tell us about this?’”

Contrary to early criticism of the conference by various groups, the program very intentionally included Israeli, Messianic Jewish, and Christian Zionist voices—all of whom were welcomed lovingly and respectfully despite sharp theological and political differences. In addition to the many prominent speakers, participants visited local sites such as Hebron, Tent of Nations, the Bethlehem checkpoint at morning rush, and the community of Beit Jala affected by the separation wall. It’s tempting to try to reproduce the entire conference for those could not attend. So instead, here are some key quotes from just some of the many different voices that hopefully will give a sense of the themes and diversity of perspectives presented (and does not necessarily imply endorsement!):

• Labib Madanat, Coordinator of the Palestinian and Israeli Bible Societies: “You can earn the right to criticize, only when you love. We need to be soaked in the love of Christ. Love is not a hug and a kiss. Love is to seek the life of the other that the cost of one’s own.”

• Dr. Yohanna Katanacho, Academic Dean at Bethlehem Bible College: “Love is not an opportunity to overlook justice. Love is an opportunity to pursue justice…. I am not embarrassed to say that I love the Jewish people. Every Jewish person is a gift from God. But I hate injustice…. The Israeli occupation is a sin. And people need to repent from that sin…. [But] we want to resist any form of evil with the heart and mind of Jesus Christ…. There is no love without justice. And there is no true justice without love.”

• Rev. Joel Hunter, Senior Pastor of Northland Church, Florida: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you’re not getting a reaction, you’re not taking enough action.”

• Shane Claiborne, Simple Way Community: “If we look close enough in the faces of the oppressed we can see our own faces. And if we look closely enough at the hands of the oppressor, we can see our own hands.”

• Gary Burge, Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College: “I am hungry for Christians who come to this land and promote the values of Jesus…. I can recognize the political legitimacy of Israel, while not seeing it as a spiritual fulfillment of prophecy.”

• Wayne Hilsden, Senior Pastor of King of Kings Community in Jerusalem: “The Jewish people have a special role because the revelation of salvation was given to them. And they were to send this message to all the peoples of the earth…. To the degree that Israel has been loved and privileged, so Israel will also be held uniquely responsible for the gifts they’ve been given.”

• Manfred Kohl, Vice President of Programs and International Development at Overseas Council International: “Jesus taught [the women at the well] that the divine space shifted from a place to a person…. Christ not only replaces the physical space of the land and the city, but he becomes the spiritual center…. Jesus Christ the Son of God is the only answer to the question of the land.”

• Stephen Sizer, Vicar of Christ Church, Surrey, England: “I accept Israel’s unique claim to the land, but not their exclusive claim to the land.”

• Daoud Kuttab, Palestinian journalist and media activist: “On one side we’re heroes, on the other side we’re terrorists, but on no side are we human.”

• Bourous Mansour, General Director of Nazareth Baptist School: “We suffer from this tension between Israel wanting to be a democracy and wanting to be a Jewish state which includes some exclusivity…. laws against Palestinians come from fear. Both peoples have fear. Both peoples have bitterness. They are angry. The Palestinians fear a new Nakba. The Israelis fear a Holocaust again. Only love can cast out fear. This is what the Bible says. How do we do it? How do we give security to the other side? I don’t think we’re capable of that love. It is only the love of God that can cast out that fear.”

• Ron Sider, Evangelicals for Social Action: “I am convinced that Christ intended to teach his followers never to kill…. [In the Sermon on the Mount] Jesus was not advocating a passive resigned attitude toward oppressors. Jesus’ response was to call on the oppressed to take command of their situation.”

• Sami Awad, Holy Land Trust: “I serve not to convert, but I serve because I am converted.”

• Grace Zoughbi, graduate of Bethlehem Bible College: “I looked at the situation in my country, and I thought that most women get married and then they raise their children, which is a great thing to do. But why only stay at home? … So I thought, I want to make a difference. I want to have a positive role—in my church, in my culture, in my community.”

• Shadia Qubti, Director of the Galilee Region Youth Department for Musalaha: “Many of us [women] are doctors, lawyers, architects, scholars, or theologians, but when it comes to ministry, there is a very narrow window as to how much we can impact that knowledge that we have in ministry. Why is that so? How many of us have challenged what is our role in the church?”

• Dina Katanacho Director of the Arab Israeli Bible Society: “We don’t have enough women in leadership…. Sorry to say that, but this is the reality. Women are not aware of this biblical perspective. They don’t have the opportunity to live out their calling and potential. There is a need, I believe, for men and women to express themselves freely and respectfully. Men need to learn to appreciate the contribution of women, and the latter need to take the risk of advocating.”

• Evan Thomas, Pastor of the Messianic Congregation Beit Asaph, Netanya, Israel: “We must be careful not to confuse our Jewish spiritual identity with our national aspirations.”

• Salim Munayer, Founder and Director of Musalaha Reconciliation Ministries and faculty member at Bethlehem Bible College: “If our theology of land, of justice, of chosen-ness, become absolute—they become heresy.”

• Richard Harvey, a Messianic Jew who has been involved in planting Messianic congregations and evangelism with Jews for Jesus: “I’m here to share a journey that I’m on—a journey to reconciliation that passes through the checkpoint.”

• Mubarak Awad, founder of the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence in Jerusalem: “Nonviolence, I felt, is more of an action thing, rather than giving people something to read.”

Isaac summed up many of the themes of the conference with this challenge:

The irony for us Palestinian Christians is that evangelicals, with their over-emphasis on prophecy, have lost the capacity of being prophetic. You want to prove that the Bible is right? You don’t do this by pointing to self-fulfilling prophecy, or by pointing to world events as prophecy fulfillment. This is not how you prove that the Bible is right. We prove that the Bible is right by radical obedience to the teachings of Jesus, by proving that Jesus’ teachings actually work, and that they can make the world a better place. Let us love our enemies, forgive those who sin against us, let us feed the poor, care for the oppressed, walk the extra mile, be inclusive not exclusive, turn the other cheek, and maybe—and only maybe then—the world will start taking us seriously and believing in our Bible.

In one of the final sessions, Alex Awad issued the following commission: “You have been with us. You have listened to us, you have seen the situation. You have heard Palestinians. You have heard Israelis, Messianic Jews. You know how we feel. You know our heart. Please, this is what we are asking you: Take the message wherever you go.”

He then urged those attending to do something even people who did not attend the conference can do: Visit www.christatthecheckpoint.com where you can read the Christ at the Checkpoint Manifesto, and share it with your family, friends, church, and community—whether in person or through Facebook and Twitter. And remember, this is not just an academic discussion. It is a life-and-death issue for the flesh-and-blood people quoted above.

[UPDATE: You can watch Munther Isaac's entire message on video here!]