<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We look toward the day when we shall live free in our land, together with all
the inhabitants of the earth, in true peace and reconciliation \u2014 founded upon
justice and equality for all God\u2019s creation, where \u201cmercy and truth meet, and
righteousness and peace kiss each other.\u201d (Psalm 85:10)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
14-11-2025
Introduction
\u00a71
We, the Palestinian Christian Ecumenical Initiative, issued the Kairos Palestine Document in 2009
\u2014 \u201cA word of faith, hope, and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering.\u201d The Heads of
Churches in Jerusalem heard this cry, welcomed it, and offered their support. Likewise, the
document resonated widely, both locally and internationally. Then, as now, we gathered \u2014 women
and men, clergy and laity \u2014 from across the different church families in Palestine. After prayer
and reflection on the suffering of our people under occupation, we released that cry of hope in the
absence of hope, affirming our faith in God and our love for our homeland, convinced that our
struggle is ultimately about human life and dignity.
\u00a72
We live now in a time of genocide, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement unfolding before the
eyes of the world. This moment \u2014 a moment of truth \u2014 demands from us a new stand unlike any
before it. It is both a decisive moment and. Today, we renew our stand for truth and our
commitment to fundamental religious, theological and moral principles. We look at our reality and
take a renewed stand, responding to the voice of the Holy Spirit deep within us, listening to the
call of faith in this time of genocide. We renew our message of faith, hope, and love \u2014 offering a
faith-inspired vision for the time after genocide.
Part I
The Reality: Genocide, Colonization, and Ethnic Cleansing
1.1
We raise this cry from the heart of the assault on Gaza \u2014 a war that has left behind hundreds of
thousands of martyrs and wounded, and nearly two million displaced people. Many were buried
beneath the rubble, burned alive, tortured to death in prisons or forcibly displaced more than once.
Others endured starvation, targeted even as they ran in search of food. Tens of thousands of
children were killed in the most horrific ways. Gaza\u2019s health, education, economic, and
environmental sectors \u2014 indeed, every component of life \u2014 have been destroyed. It will take
years to recover from the devastation and catastrophe that have befallen us as a people.
1.2
Human rights organizations, legal institutions and international experts have been unequivocal:
the statements of Israeli political leaders and Israel\u2019s actions in its assault on Gaza constitute
genocide. Many of the war crimes and crimes against humanity have been documented and arrest
warrants have been issued against Israeli political leaders based upon rulings of the International
Court of Justice.1
1.3
Zionists do not want us to remain on our land. Their plan for us is displacement, death or
submission. The genocidal war on Gaza is the continuation of the Zionist project to seize all of
Palestine, emptied of its Palestinian people. Ethnic cleansing and the denial of the right of return
to those forcibly displaced are ongoing policies practiced in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and
the territories of 1948. The Nakba of our people is our daily reality. This genocide has been carried
out by Israel after decades of apartheid2, settler colonialism, political repression and the
deliberate policy of killing any possibility of a political solution \u2014 including the two-state
solution. Exposed today is the true face of Zionist ideology: a system that over decades has
entrenched an organized and sophisticated regime of apartheid supported by advanced
technologies that exercise total control over every aspect of Palestinian life \u2014 fragmenting the
land, dividing its people, and turning Palestinian existence into an unbearable hell. Israel\u2019s so-
called Nation-State Law enacted in 2018 embodies Zionist racism and arrogant Jewish supremacy
in Palestine, making apartheid a lived reality. Israel\u2019s decision to annex the West Bank has further
exposed the true intent of this colonial project.
1.4
While people of the world have stood in solidarity with us, the genocidal war has laid bare the
hypocrisy of the Western world, its hollow values and its empty boasts of commitment to human
rights and international law. In truth, the Western world has sacrificed us, revealing racism and
double standards toward our people. Of course, we distinguish between the architects of these
destructive policies and the many leaders, organizations and popular movements that have shown
sincere solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, demanding an end to injustice and bloodshed and the
full recognition of our legitimate rights.
1.5
This war has also exposed another reality of Zionism \u2014 whether Jewish or Christian \u2014 in its
justification of violence and killing. We Palestinian Christians are deeply shocked by the positions
of many churches that either adopted the colonizer\u2019s narrative or remain silent in the face of the
genocide of our people. At times, they prioritize Jewish-Christian interfaith dialogue over truth,
human dignity and life itself, ignoring the context. They judge one side and excuse the other or
1 https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/press-releases\/2025\/09\/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds
2 https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2024\/09\/19\/world-court-findings-israeli-apartheid-wake-call
simply remain silent. Some even go so far as to take positions complicit in, supportive of, or calling
for genocide.
1.6
Israel commits these crimes by invoking the events of October 7, 2023, claiming that its actions
are an act of self-defense \u2014 forgetting that the Hamas attack of that day was itself born out of
decades of injustice, oppression and displacement since the Nakba of 1948, and more than sixteen
years of an immoral, suffocating blockade on Gaza. To point to these historical realities \u2014 and to
the right of a people under occupation to resist their occupier and oppressor \u2014 is to acknowledge
that the events of October 7 occurred in a particular context. Mentioning the context does not
justify the killing or capture of civilians, the violations of international law and norms, and war
crimes. The claim of \u201cself-defense\u201d cannot stand. How can a colonizer defend itself against those
it has colonized and expelled from their land? International law \u2014 if it still retains any moral
weight \u2014 refutes this claim.3
1.7
Settler colonialism, past and present, is built upon genocide, ethnic cleansing and the forced
displacement of indigenous peoples \u2014 all for the sake of exploiting land, resources and wealth to
serve the colonizer\u2019s gain. We see deep economic dimensions behind Israel\u2019s genocidal war on
Gaza \u2014 particularly its interest in the natural gas fields off the Palestinian coast. Control over
Gaza also means control over one of the world\u2019s most vital trade routes and energy supply
corridors, enabling vast economic and commercial projects that entrench colonial economic
dominance at the expense of the Palestinian people. The world\u2019s silence toward the genocide in
Gaza is not innocent. It is tied to massive economic interests that value profit above human life
and rights.
1.8
In Jerusalem, clear settler-colonial policies of a religious and demographic nature seek to Judaize
the city at the expense of its pluralism. There are continuous assaults on Muslim and Christian
holy sites, attempts to burn churches, desecrate and destroy cemeteries, and the writing of racist
graffiti slogans upon them. Attacks on Christian clergy are increasing, as are restrictions on
Christian religious celebrations such as Palm Sunday and the Holy Fire Saturday. Financial
coercion, through the imposition of taxes and the freezing of church bank accounts \u2014 in violation
of the \u201cstatus quo\u201d \u2014 has also intensified. The Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem have described
these acts as part of a systematic policy to empty the Holy Land of its Christians.
1.9
Across the occupied West Bank \u2014 from north to south \u2014 Palestinian towns, villages, and
Bedouin communities face relentless assaults by settlers and settlements. They wreak havoc upon
the land, destroy crops, poison or seize water resources and attack residents \u2014 all under the
protection, support and even participation of the Israeli army in acts of violence, killing, home
3 https:\/\/docs.un.org\/en\/A\/RES\/37\/43
demolitions and forced displacement. Palestinian society lives under a suffocating siege imposed
by checkpoints, gates and other mechanisms that deny our people freedom of movement.4
1.10
For Palestinians within the state of Israel, blatant racism and discrimination persist. Palestinian
communities face intimidation, criminalization of free expression, and persecution of any effort to
defend Palestinian rights, along with the deliberate neglect of rampant organized crime in
Palestinian towns. Those displaced within Israel in 1948, whose lands were confiscated, are still
denied the right to return to their villages and rebuild their homes. Bedouin communities remain
victims of systematic displacement and ethnic cleansing, especially in the Naqab (Negev).
1.11
In recent years, Israel \u2014 supported by the United States and other major powers \u2014 has constantly
attacked the core principles and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. It has sought to erase
the refugee question by attempting to destroy the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), accusing it of terrorism and pressuring donor
countries to cut its funding. At the same time, several refugee camps in the West Bank have been
systematically destroyed, displacing thousands of people once again.
1.12
Palestinian civil society organizations working in the field of human rights have come under
fierce assault intended to discredit them, undermine their work, and eliminate them through
accusations of terrorism and through political pressure on governments to halt their funding and
to prosecute them.
1.13
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has dramatically expanded its policy of abduction and
imprisonment. Today thousands of Palestinians \u2014 male and female \u2014 are being held in Israeli
prisons. Roughly one-third are detained without charge or trial under administrative detention.
Among them are many children. Numerous deaths have been recorded in prisons since the war
began. Human rights organizations have documented systematic practices of torture, sexual
violence, starvation policies and the denial of medical care. Prisoners, especially those from Gaza,
are subjected to mass detention and complete isolation from the outside world under Israeli
military law \u2014 resulting in large numbers of enforced disappearances, loss of legal representation
and total absence of communication.5
4 https:\/\/www.unocha.org\/publications\/report\/occupied-palestinian-territory\/west-bank-movement-and-access-
update-may-2025
5 https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/press-releases\/2024\/07\/un-report-palestinian-detainees-held-arbitrarily-and-secretly-
subjected
1.14
The internal Palestinian situation is in urgent need of reorganization. Political division, rivalry
and exclusion have deepened. The majority of Palestinians have lost confidence in their political
leadership. As a result of the Oslo Accords and their aftermath, the Palestinian Authority has been
trapped in serving the interests of the occupier \u2014 managing the daily life of the occupied on behalf
of the Israeli occupier, unable to protect its own people from the terror of settlers and the Israeli
security apparatus.
1.15
Signs of disorder have begun to spread within Palestinian society and have become part of our
reality, largely due to the absence or weak enforcement of the rule of law. This has led to a rise in
intimidation, land encroachment, tribalism, favoritism and corruption in its various forms at the
expense of the common good, deepening people\u2019s frustration and despair. Amid the vast
destruction and genocide in Gaza, acts of violence, revenge, chaos and theft have only added to
the suffering of the Palestinian people.
1.16
Daily life for Palestinians under military occupation has become consumed by internal
concerns: checkpoints, travel restrictions at borders and crossings, the payment of public-sector
salaries and many other pressing issues. Significant as they are, these remain symptoms of the
larger reality which must remain the central focus of our attention: the system of political and
military domination imposed by Israel as an occupying entity over the Palestinian people.
1.17
Our society and political culture suffer from the absence of leadership renewal and a lack of vision
through democratic elections and the exclusion of young leaders. Palestine now faces a grave
phenomenon of brain drain, including skilled professionals and the young. This is not voluntary
emigration. This is forced displacement, born of oppression and a complete lack of opportunity.
We affirm, as Palestinians of all faiths, that we are the indigenous people of this land and that our
very existence today faces an unprecedented threat. The continuous emigration of Christians does
not stop, constituting a real danger to the Christian presence in Palestine which is now at risk of
ethnic cleansing and extinction.
1.18
Christians in Palestine and in the diaspora are an inseparable part of the Palestinian people. Their
challenges are the challenges of the nation as a whole. The reality of the Church is directly
affected by everything that happens on the ground. Facing these realities, the Church continues to
work tirelessly \u2014 through pastoral care and institutional ministries \u2014 to support its sons,
daughters and the broader society. The Heads of Churches work together to confront repeated
assaults, issuing statements and taking courageous positions, despite the pressures and intimidation
they face, in the hope that the world and the global Church will listen. At the same time, some
Palestinian Christians feel a growing need for greater closeness between clergy and laity, and for
a stronger role for the leadership of the Church in rejecting occupation and its symbols, elevating
local theology and giving it broader expression in church pulpits and public stances.
1.19
In recent years, our region \u2014 the Middle East \u2014 has undergone major political and regional
transformations shaped by a deliberate plan to impose Israeli military dominance over the entire
area with the support of Western powers, drawing a new political and demographic map. Backed
systematically by its allies, Israel has attacked many countries of the region, violating their
sovereignty and that of their peoples, flouting international law and entrenching itself as an
aggressive, bullying state as if it stands above all laws and conventions \u2014 pushing the region and
indeed the world to the brink of catastrophe.
1.20
As a result of these external interventions and struggles for dominance, extremist and terrorist
religious groups have emerged \u2014 groups we condemn, along with those who have supported,
financed and\/or armed them. These movements have entrenched sectarianism at the expense of
citizenship. Many \u201cminorities\u201d including Middle Eastern Christians \u2014 especially in Syria and Iraq
\u2014 have paid a painful price for this extremism. In solidarity and prayer, we stand beside them and
all victims of sectarian and religious terrorism.
1.21
At the same time, normalization agreements have been marketed as peace agreements between
Israel and some Arab states under the name \u201cAbraham Accords\u201d. This naming itself represents the
manipulation of religion to serve political, economic and normalization agendas \u2014 ignoring the
essence of the issue and the priority of achieving a just peace with the Palestinians themselves.
These accords have instead normalized occupation and apartheid in Palestine, rendering them
acceptable realities. A new phenomenon has also emerged: \u201cZionist Islam,\u201d a recent movement
among certain Arabs and Muslims who, for religious, economic or geopolitical reasons, support
Zionism and regard Israel as a potential ally.
1.22
In light of all this, we must call things by their proper names: Israel is a colonial, settler, and
exclusionary entity built upon the displacement of the indigenous population and its replacement
with new settlers. For this reason, we reject the very concept of \u201cconflict.\u201d The reality on the
ground is tyranny and an oppressive regime of settler colonialism and apartheid. Any denial of this
reality is an evasion of manifest truth \u2014 one that reinforces and perpetuates the injustice.
1.23
We are now living in a new era \u2014 an age in which \u201cmight makes right\u201d and peace is imposed
through military power in defiance of international law and the rulings of legitimate international
courts. We reaffirm our commitment to the respect and authority of international law which
guarantees human rights and global peace among nations and peoples. This moment in human
history demands a faith-based stance \u2014 one that speaks truth to power and tyranny without
compromise or evasion. Reaching beyond the Palestinian experience, this is truly a moment of
truth.
Part II
A Moment of Truth for Us
2.1
In the face of this harsh reality and at this decisive moment we raise this cry \u2014 first to ourselves,
to the sons and daughters of our churches and congregations, and to our entire people in the
homeland and the diaspora. It is a cry of steadfastness, a renewed stand for truth, and a call to hear
the voice of God within us and to us. This is a time for solidarity and mutual support \u2014 a time to
take clear and courageous positions built upon principles of faith and national belonging.
This is the moment of truth. We affirm that what has been built upon falsehood and historical
injustice can never yield peace or sustainability. True solutions begin with dismantling
oppressive, racist systems. Only then can we speak of a new horizon that we dream of and
long for \u2014 one in which we remain in our land together with all who dwell in it on the basis
of justice, equality and equal rights, free of supremacy and domination.
2.2
We call for a comprehensive national reevaluation of our reality to draw lessons and insights
leading to a unified, collective vision and a clear strategy for future action \u2014 grounded in the
independence of Palestinian decision-making. This must include a critical review of all proposed
solutions and their feasibility within a legitimate representative framework that ensures
independence of decision-making and the right to self-determination. We warn against giving our
national struggle a religious character or turning it into a religious issue that pits religions against
one another.
2.3
This is a time for resistance embodied in costly steadfastness on our land in the face of every
attempt at displacement, annexation and genocide, a resistance lived out in our unity, cooperation
and commitment to our faith, national principles and all our rights. To hold on to faith and hope is
resistance. To pray is resistance. To safeguard the holy places is resistance. To preserve social
peace is resistance.
2.4
At a time when Palestinian resistance and global solidarity movements are criminalized, we
reaffirm the right of all colonized peoples to resist their colonizers. As we stated in our first
document, A Moment of Truth: A Word of Faith, Hope and Love from the Heart of Palestinian
Suffering, we remain committed to the principle of creative resistance \u2014 a firm and costly stand
against ongoing injustice. We see creative resistance embodied in the popular Palestinian
movements confronting occupation, settlement expansion, settler terrorism and apartheid as
well as in the work of civil society organizations, legal and human rights initiatives, cultural,
theological and diplomatic engagement, and in student and labor movements. In all these
and more, we recognize effective means of resistance grounded in love \u2014 a love that can
bring about change and renew hope.
2.5
We value the global movements of resistance, advocacy and popular pressure that work to
hold governments and international bodies accountable \u2014 isolating Israel through boycotts and
sanctions until it complies with international law. We view this from a moral perspective.
The strategies of boycotts, divestment and sanctions are, in our view, effective forms of creative
resistance rooted in the logic of love and nonviolence as affirmed in our original document.
2.6
In the face of the ecocide perpetrated by Israel in Gaza and the repeated assaults and environmental
destruction in the West Bank that threaten future generations, we renew our belonging to this land
and our rootedness in it. We affirm the sanctity of life and the duty to care for creation. Our
calling is to live in coexistence with creation \u2014 a shared faith and moral responsibility embraced
by individuals and institutions, public, governmental, social and religious.
2.7
We emphasize the urgent need to protect all those who are vulnerable in society: the victims of
occupation and colonization; people with disabilities, especially those who have lost limbs; the
brokenhearted, the grieving; and all who are marginalized for any reason including victims of
domestic or social violence, economic exploitation and gender-based abuse.
2.8
Among the faces of steadfastness and hope in our society stands the Palestinian woman \u2014
grandmother, mother, sister and daughter. She is the unbending backbone and an essential partner
in the struggle, holding together home, land, memory and future all at once. Her presence is
foundational to society as a whole and her contributions are manifold in national, social, economic
and spiritual life. The Palestinian woman cannot be reduced to the category of \u201cwomen and
children\u201d, faceless victims stripped of agency and will. Her voice, creativity and leadership are
indispensable forces. There can be no true liberation without her full participation at every level
of decision-making and nation-building.
2.9
Our message to ourselves as Palestinian Christians is this: We feel the weight of history upon our
shoulders and we are determined to preserve the Christian witness in this Holy Land. To all
Palestinians, we say: The preservation of the Christian presence is both a national cause and
priority. We are neither simply a number nor merely a type of diversity within our society. We are
indigenous citizens who embody human values and seek to work and build our homeland alongside
all our partners within it.
2.10
In addressing ourselves, we say: We are the sons and daughters of the first Church \u2014
descendants of the apostles and the saints of the first Christian centuries \u2014 those who cultivated
this land, built its cities and villages and drank from its waters. We do not live on the margins of
this land. We are woven into its fabric. We carry its history and heritage. Its very soil knows us as
its own. Many empires have passed over this land and disappeared, buried in the dust of history,
yet the bells of our churches continue to ring \u2014 bearing witness to the truth and proclaiming
resurrection every day.
2.11
This is what we say to our young men and women: You are the living Church; you are the
treasure of hope. The future is born from your steadfastness and your faith. We believe in you.
We see your anger, your sorrow, your fear. We also see your strength. We know that our story has
not ended, that our injustice persists. We do not call you to na\u00efve optimism, but to hope that is
rooted in action. Hope is not surrender. Hope is a living act of resistance \u2014 steadfastly refusing
the reality of death imposed upon us, confronting and resisting every form of injustice and
occupation. Jesus Christ walked with the poor and the weak, stood beside the oppressed, and never
abandoned love or compromised truth and justice. For the sake of the salvation of humanity, he
accepted the cross. His resurrection was victory over death and injustice, a sign of hope rooted in
faith. This is the hope that sustains us today.
2.12
And we say to you also: You are not alone. There are those who stand with you in Palestine
and around the world. Even if silence is imposed now, the day will come when your voices will
be heard. Your voices matter. Express yourselves. Write. Sing. Create. Organize. Resist
through your humanity in a world that seeks to strip it from you. Dare to love, to dream, and
to shape a free and radiant future. We salute your initiatives and your activities \u2014 in the church,
in national and civic engagement, in scouting, youth, sports, culture, art, politics and human rights
\u2014 all marked by openness to society, by the spirit of volunteerism, and by faith and hope free of
sectarianism. We draw inspiration from your steadfastness and your love. We see in you the
promise of a better future.
2.13
To our people in the diaspora, those who were forcibly displaced: You may be geographically
far from Palestine, but Palestine lives within you. We call upon you to engage in communities,
movements and coalitions that aim to strengthen our steadfastness and affirm our presence. You
play an essential role. Your voice has the power to shift realities. We value your activism. We have
heard your voices. Indeed, the whole world has heard them. Share our suffering and our stories of
steadfastness and success. Create spaces for dialogue and for building bridges between us and the
religious and political leaders in the countries of your diaspora. Act with wisdom, and present to
the world the true image of our people. In you also lies the hope of a better future. We will not lose
our dream of reunification, nor will we abandon our right of return.
2.14
We extend our support to our spiritual leaders and church institutions that continue to bear
their Christian witness even in the darkest and most difficult times, strengthening the steadfastness
of their sons and daughters.6 We especially commend the tremendous work of the churches of
Gaza who have sheltered the displaced. We value the courage of our church leaders who have
stood with our people in Gaza and supported their steadfastness amid genocide and displacement.
The faithful in Gaza have written heroic stories of steadfastness and witness. Some have been
martyred. Many have been wounded and bereaved. Our prayers and hearts are with them. We call
6 https:\/\/www.fides.org\/en\/news\/69796-
ASIA_PALESTINE_Christian_institutions_third_largest_employer_among_the_Palestinian_population_according_to_a_survey_
people
upon Christians around the world to stand with us in our effort \u2014 contrary to what appearances
may suggest \u2014 to preserve the Christian presence in Gaza dating back to the earliest centuries of
Christianity, and to advocate for the right of all who were displaced to return to their homes and
rebuild their lives.
2.15
We are witnesses to the Resurrection and to the empty tomb from which the light of life burst
forth. We believe that the final word belongs not to death, but to life. Not to darkness, but to light.
Not to injustice, but to truth. We proclaim with the Apostle Paul: \u201cWe are hard pressed on every
side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down,
but not destroyed\u201d (2 Corinthians 4:8\u20139).
Part III
A Call to Repentance and Action
3.1
We address our appeal to Christians around the world. We address this call from Jerusalem,
Bethlehem and Nazareth \u2014 from the birthplace of Christ, the land of the Incarnation of the Word,
and the cradle of love, mercy and justice. From the land of suffering, death and resurrection \u2014 the
land of redemption and hope \u2014 from where humanity\u2019s call to repentance and a return to the
foundations of faith has come. From here the faith spread to the ends of the earth.7 It is a call
to \u201clearn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed\u201d (Isaiah 1:17).
3.2
The God revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures in both Old and New Testaments \u2014 the Creator
of the Universe and of all humanity \u2014 is the One who was incarnate in the Son, Jesus Christ, the
God of all peoples (Acts 10:34\u201335; Romans 10:12\u201313). God, the Creator and Father of all, stands
in solidarity with and takes the side of the oppressed and the downtrodden, the victims of all forms
of injustice and tyranny from every nation regardless of race, religion or nationality (Luke 4:18\u2013
19). The mission of the Church is thus made manifest in joining the work of God\u2019s Kingdom
through the pursuit of peace, the defense of the oppressed, and the doing of good.
3.3
Genocide is a cumulative process \u2014 one that began in the minds of the settler-colonial powers of
Europe when they denied the image of God in others and legitimized death, domination and
slavery. We consider the State of Israel, established in 1948, to be a continuation of that same
colonial enterprise built on racism and the ideology of ethnic or religious superiority. This
project settled Palestine and worked to displace the indigenous people of Palestine from the time
of the Nakba until today. Our present Palestinian reality is the inevitable outcome of Zionist
ideology and the supremacist settler-colonial movement, itself a product of the imperial mindset.
7 https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/an-open-letter-from-palestinian-christians-to-western-church-leaders-and-theologians
3.4
Genocide is a structural sin against God, against humanity, and against creation. It stands in direct
opposition to the great commandment of love, the summary of the whole law (Galatians 5:14).
Those who deny the genocide committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza \u2014 despite the
overwhelming evidence, testimonies and even the statements of Zionists themselves \u2014 deny the
very humanity of the Palestinian people. We have the right therefore to ask: How can one speak
of Christian fellowship or communion while denying, supporting, justifying or remaining
silent before genocide \u2014 especially when such acts are committed in the name of God and
Scripture? There must be honest reflection and repentance by all believers, especially by church
leaders throughout the world.
3.5
We express our gratitude to all churches that have recognized the injustice inflicted upon us
and the genocidal war in Gaza. We salute all the voices that have taken a religious and moral
stand against Zionism and so-called Christian Zionism \u2014 rejecting genocide and apartheid and
calling for an end to arms shipments to Israel and for the prosecution of war criminals. We hear in
these voices support of our hope, a sign of the Holy Spirit, and the presence of moral conscience
in humanity.
3.6
We call for a global theological movement built on the pillars of God\u2019s Kingdom \u2014 a movement
that arises from the contexts and struggles of peoples suffering from colonialism, racism, apartheid
and the structural poverty produced by corrupt economic and political systems that serve the
interests of the world\u2019s empires. We challenge the false logic of a \u201cneutral\u201d or \u201cbalanced\u201d peace
as well as forms of ecclesial diplomacy that do not speak truth to power as a way to evade moral
and spiritual responsibility. Together with our partners around the world, we have engaged in self-
examination to free ourselves from the residues of colonial theologies which we inherited from the
West.
3.7
We reject the oppression and injustice produced by the theology of racism, colonialism and
ethnic supremacy embodied in Christian Zionism, a theology that has produced apartheid,
ethnic cleansing and genocide of indigenous people. Christian Zionism calls on a tribal, racist god
of war and ethnic cleansing, teachings utterly alien to the core of Christian faith and ethics.
Christian Zionism must therefore be named for what it is: a theological distortion and a moral
corruption. After all efforts to invite Christian Zionists to genuine repentance have been exhausted,
moral, ecclesial and theological responsibility requires that they be held accountable and that their
ideology be rejected and boycotted. The time has come for the churches of the world to repudiate
Zionist theology and to state clearly their position on Palestine: this is a case of settler colonialism
and ethnic cleansing of an indigenous people.
3.8
We condemn all who exploit and support the charge of antisemitism to silence the Palestinian
voice of truth. We reject every attempt to conflate antisemitism with opposition to apartheid
and with pressure to hold Israel accountable under international law \u2014 particularly through the
use of definitions and documents designed to serve Zionist ideologies and interests under the guise
of combating antisemitism. The misuse of the term antisemitism distorts and obscures the reality
of genuine antisemitism which still exists in our world and which we strongly condemn alongside
all forms of racism, exclusion and prejudice including Islamophobia. Zionist ideology claims
to represent and protect the Jewish people, but in doing so it has conflated \u201cJew\u201d and \u201cZionist\u201d as
though they were one and the same. Not every Jew is a Zionist and not every Zionist is a Jew. This
confusion has done great harm to Judaism itself and to its image worldwide.
3.9
We call upon all people of conscience \u2014 believers in God from every faith and persons of
conviction \u2014 to join together in coalitions that safeguard humanity from further descent into the
reality of injustice, tyranny and domination. We call for the creation of an alternative, just and
humane world order as the present global system has failed in its most important responsibilities:
to defend the weak and to preserve international peace and security.
3.10
We repeat and emphasize our appeal to the churches of the world \u2014 working together with both
religious and secular coalitions \u2014 to pressure their governments to isolate Israel, hold it
accountable, impose sanctions, boycott it, and to ban the export of arms until it complies with
international law, ends oppression and tyranny, and adheres to the principles of justice and peace.
We likewise call upon the governments of the world: to press for the prosecution of war criminals
whoever they may be under the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and the
International Criminal Court; to ensure reparations for the Palestinian people, both in their
homeland and in the diaspora; and to work for the immediate return of the displaced through the
reconstruction of Gaza and the strengthening of its people\u2019s steadfastness.
3.11
More than ever, now is a time for costly solidarity. By its very nature, true solidarity is costly. It
has a price. It is a faith-based stance, a human commitment and a moral responsibility. True
solidarity is also the embodiment of our shared humanity and fraternity. Either we live together \u2014
or we perish together. Today it is Palestine. Tomorrow it will be other marginalized and oppressed
peoples.
3.12
In this spirit, we honor the growing number of Jewish voices that oppose the war and confront
Zionism from moral, faith-based and human conviction. In them we find partners in our shared
humanity and in the struggle for freedom and human dignity \u2014 partners also in religious and
political dialogue. For too many years such dialogue was monopolized by Zionists and their allies,
its premises built upon the reinforcement of Zionist ideology and the persecution of Palestinians.
We therefore call on the churches of the world to distinguish between dialogue with Jews and
dialogue with Zionism \u2014 indeed, to boycott dialogue with Zionist voices that have supported and
continue to support occupation, apartheid and the genocide of the Palestinian people. Instead, we
call upon the churches to stand with and amplify prophetic Jewish voices that call for justice
and truth.
3.13
Christian solidarity means standing beside and supporting the local church in its
steadfastness, strengthening the steadfastness of believers in the land and empowering church and
Christian institutions that embody the faith-based and humanitarian mission on the ground. We
renew our appeal to Christians worldwide to challenge the siege imposed on the Christians of the
Holy Land, to come and visit the living stones, to witness and respond to what you see, and to help
strengthen the steadfastness of the Palestinians and the Christian Palestinians among them. This is
our call: \u201cCome and see.\u201d Then tell what you have seen, respond to it, and stand with the steadfast
Church.
Part IV
Faith in a Time of Genocide
4.1
From the land of the Incarnation, the Cross and the Resurrection, we renew our word of hope in
the God of the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden. The genocidal war has sought to strip us
of our hope and faith in God\u2019s goodness and in life upon our land. Yet we declare our adherence
to our faith in a holy and just God, and in the right God has given us to live with dignity on our
land and the land of our ancestors. This is our hope. This is our steadfastness. This is our
resistance.
4.2
We have heard much talk of political solutions and peace while the reality on the ground says
otherwise. To speak of a political solution today is futile unless we first undertake the serious work
of acknowledging and rectifying past wrongs\u2014beginning with recognition of the historic
injustice done to Palestinians since the rise of the Zionist movement and the Balfour
Declaration. Any genuine beginning must involve dismantling settler colonialism and the
apartheid system built on Jewish supremacy as codified in Israel\u2019s racist Nation-State Law.
We also reject proposals for a weakened, conditional state lacking full sovereignty over its
borders, waters, airspace and security. What is required is international action and protection,
accountability for war criminals, and compensation for survivors of genocide, the Nakba and
settler colonialism. Enduring solutions will not rest on the logic of force, but on the
foundations of justice, equality and the right to self-determination.
4.3
Our aim is to live as sons and daughters of God in our homeland without barriers, walls,
military occupation and apartheid\u2014but in a world in which justice, fairness and equality rule.
We envision a future in which our world is free of war, death, sectarianism and tribalism, where
the word of truth rises above the word of power, where legitimacy belongs to peace and justice.
We draw our hope from the Word of God and from the faith alive in our hearts, refusing to leave
the shaping of the future to the voices of extremism, colonialism and supremacy.
4.4
We reaffirm our rejection of a religious state, for it constricts the state within narrow confines,
favors one citizen over another, and excludes and discriminates among its people. Our hope is for
a civil, democratic state grounded in a culture of pluralism \u2014 not numerical dominance \u2014
that recognizes the goodness and worth of every person who belongs to this land. Such a culture,
rooted in the commandment of love, obliges us to confront every form of extremism and racism in
our land \u2014 rich as it is in the diversity of its peoples, cultures and religions \u2014 on the basis of
equality before the law and full citizenship.
4.5
From the heart of pain, genocide and displacement, we raise this cry, a prophetic cry of
steadfastness. We declare our commitment to work for the good of this land and of all humanity
on the basis of our shared humanity until the day we live free in our land together with all the
inhabitants of the land in true peace and reconciliation founded on justice and equality for
all God\u2019s creation, where mercy and truth meet, and righteousness and peace kiss each other
(Psalm 85:10).
***<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Originaltext:<\/p>\n\n\n\n