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Return to Gaza
A Lament by Swee Ang
Return to Gaza
My God, my God Why do You forsake Gaza?
The broken heart of Gaza cries out to you from the abyss
of darkness, death, despair and desolation
Do you not hear the cries of the mothers
Weeping for their children
Bodies crushed under the rubble
Incinerated to ashes, torso torn apart
Eyes mingled with sand
The orphans with no surviving parents and family
Too frighten to cry, too shaken to eat and hope
Will you gather them like a hen her chicks
Will you heal their trauma and their wounds
Give them love and a future?
This beautiful piece of coastal land was created by You
You blessed this land and made it
Awash with fishes and now with fuel oil
Planted it with olives, dates, grapes, and jasmine
With fruits vegetables and herbs, oranges and lemons
With the fairest and most fragrant flowers in the Levant
Where peacocks, doves and sunbirds
Dance and sing in harmony and in sequence
Where food is plenty on land and in the sea.
The land on which the indigenous people live for millennia
Where civilisation, culture and trade flourished for millennia
Enriched by respect, tolerance, generosity and hospitality
Where the children of Ismail and Isaac lived under Your wing
Now you have allowed it to be laid waste
Death, desolation, and despair through massacres
Manmade hunger, famine and disease
Have decimated the natives of this land
I have called for those who murdered tens of thousands innocent
To face Your judgement for genocide and obliteration of the land
I have pleaded with you to spare the lives of the defenceless
I bring before You Your own promise that You will honour
Your pledge to Hagar to save and prosper the descendants of Hagar
Do You remember opening the spring of life for them
Telling them that their descendants will always live on this land?
Almighty God, our hearts are dying, there are no tears left
Hope is faltering, and words are failing
We know the hearts of kings and rulers are in Your hands
And You direct them in the way You desire
Take away their hearts of stone
Give them new human hearts, hearts of flesh and compassion
Let Gaza live and rescue humanity from this abyss.
Merciful and compassionate and loving God so we pray.
Amen
Swee Ang, 1 June 2025
An Unlawful Presence
“We, the undersigned organisations, call upon global leaders to uphold their legal and moral responsibilities in light of the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion and the UN General Assembly resolution.” Read our shared post about how world leaders must act to end Israel’s unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. (more…)
Kairos Palestine Easter Appeal 2025
As we approach Easter, a time of renewal and resurrection, we Palestinian Christians stand at a crossroad….
– one that will determine whether our presence in the land where Christ was born, crucified, and resurrected will endure or fade into history. The threats facing us and all Palestinians—land confiscation, forced displacement, physical assaults and violent arrests, targeted killings, movement restrictions, economic strangulation, and political marginalization—have reached a critical point. (more…)
A Jerusalem Voice for Justice
An ecumenical witness for equality and a just peace in Palestine/Israel.
15 NGOs demand UK action to stop escalating violence in the West Bank
11 February.
We, the undersigned organisations, urgently call on the UK Government to take immediate action in response to escalating Israeli forces’ violence in the occupied West Bank, particularly in Jenin and Tulkarem refugee camps.
Since early 2025, Israeli military attacks have killed at least 66 Palestinians in the West Bank, including eight children. The ongoing siege of Jenin has trapped thousands of Palestinians, restricting access to medical care, water, and electricity. On February 2, 2025, the Israeli military demolished approximately 20 buildings in the Jenin refugee camp, further escalating displacement in the area. This latest operation has compounded an already dire situation, with nearly all of the camp’s 20,000 residents forced from their homes over the past two months.
Despite compelling evidence of unlawful killings, mass forced displacement, and attacks on civilian infrastructure, we have yet to see any meaningful action to protect civilians and prevent atrocities in the West Bank or any condemnation from the UK Government or action to hold the Israeli government and forces accountable. Israeli forces have been using disproportionate, unnecessary, and indiscriminate force – including airstrikes on civilian areas and attacks on medical facilities – which are apparent violations of international human rights laws on the use of force. Yet, there has been no clear or forceful response from the UK Government to demand an end or accountability for these actions.
Israeli forces’ atrocities which concentrated for over 15 months in Gaza are now spilling over into the West Bank, with Israeli forces deploying the same indiscriminate military tactics that have killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. Severe movement restrictions, including roadblocks and checkpoints, have paralysed daily life and worsened the humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile, settler violence against Palestinians reached unprecedented levels in 2024, with homes set on fire, and Palestinian communities harassed.
The UK’s failure to respond meaningfully to the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion, which found Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful, is unacceptable. The UK must urgently exert all efforts to ensure that similar patterns of mass killings, displacement, and destruction seen in Gaza do not move to the West Bank, through:
- Publicly condemn Israeli forces’ actions in the West Bank, including the use of disproportionate, unnecessary and indiscriminate force, and demand an immediate halt to military operations.
- Demand an immediate and unconditional lifting of the siege on Jenin, ensuring humanitarian aid reaches those in need, along with the restoration of essential services.
- Suspend all arms transfer to Israel, including the parts of the F-35 fighter jets.
- Hold Israeli authorities accountable for violations of international law, including unlawful killings and attacks on civilian infrastructure.
- Work with international partners to ensure Israel faces meaningful consequences and that Palestinians are protected under international law.
- Outline a clear plan to end Israel’s continued presence in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and evacuate all settlements, in line with the ICJ Advisory Opinion.
Delay is not measured in time but in Palestinian lives. Every moment of inaction costs more lives. The UK Government must use its diplomatic influence to demand an end to the violence, hold Israeli authorities accountable, and ensure Palestinians’ rights are protected under international law.
The time for action is now. The lives of Palestinians in the West Bank are at stake, and we cannot afford further delay.
Signed by:
- Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
- Oxfam GB
- Save the Children UK
- Islamic Relief UK
- Christian Aid
- Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS)
- Action for Humanity
- ABCD Bethlehem
- Amos Trust
- Welfare Association
- Sabeel-Kairos UK
- Muslim Aid
- Embrace the Middle East
- Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu)
- War on Want
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(more…)Brian Brown: The Nakba
On Holocaust Memorial Day Jews invite us to share their commitment that never again will institutionalised hatred go unchallenged. On the 15 May Palestinians invite us to consider whether their present institutionalised suffering will continue forever? Nakba offers an opportunity to consider the magnitude of that suffering. (more…)
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The Rev Anna Karin Hammar, from our sister organisation the Church of Sweden has written a compelling essay on challenging the occupation and European antisemitism, and how we have a responsibility to not abandon but to stand in solidarity with Israelis and Palestinians.
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“My father was arrested when I was 6 years old. It would be the first time of many. My childhood ceased to exist. I realised my life was not in my control”
As Bissan Kassis tells me her story from an office in Beit Sahour, it’s hard to imagine that this confident, intelligent young woman, who’s English flows as easily as her Arabic, was once the young girl so affected by her father’s arrest. And yet hearing her story, it is an event that has not only shaped her personal life, but her professional one as well. (more…)
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