End the Nakba: An Open Letter

The death toll in Gaza is nearly 25 000 which includes over 10 000 children and there are over 62 000 wounded in Gaza. I am reposting an Open Letter written by a small group of grad students and clergy. Please do sign this Open Letter and share it widely.

End the Nakba: An Open Letter from U.S. and Canadian Christians

“We are broken. The people of Gaza are suffering. . . . Now, again in our history, they find themselves facing the same choice: death or displacement. Our Nakba continues!” Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac

We urgently call for Israel’s invasion, siege, and occupation of Gaza to stop. The borders must be opened; a dramatic increase of supplies must flow; journalists must be let in; the detained must be set free; and life-saving critical responses of water, food, search-and-rescue teams, and medical treatment must be delivered—not under constant threat of snipers and drones but safely and under Palestinian leadership.

We are Christians living on Turtle Island in the United States and Canada. We are citizens of nations funding the Nakba. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed at least 15,000 Palestinians at the time of publication. We hear the call of Palestinians who have lost newborns, children, friends, entire families, homes, mosques, churches—everything—to Israeli airstrikes in Gaza over the last forty days. Muslims, the vast majority of Gazans, have suffered beyond comprehension, and the Lutheran Palestinian pastor and scholar Mitri Raheb says Gaza’s small population of Christians faces extinction. The Israeli government and its military have made Gaza hell on earth before our eyes, and our governments have continued to pledge their unlimited support.

Palestinian Christians are horrified by western Christian silence towards Israel’s occupation. They call us to see the events of the past month in a longer history of ethnic cleansing in Palestine, Oceania, Turtle Island, and other occupied lands. The current massacre is not an isolated incident but the latest episode in a saga of displacement and containment of Palestinians of all faiths by the state of Israel. We repent of our complicity and our silence. We are grieved beyond words by the suffering inflicted on Palestinians: we offer our heartfelt prayers, words, and actions for the thousands of babies, children, elders, and all who have been killed, who are buried under buildings, who are disabled or injured, who are caring for others, who are displaced or imprisoned.

God “raises the poor from the dust / and lifts the needy from the ash heap / to make them sit with princes” (Psalm 113:7–8). We follow Jesus, a Palestinian Jew tortured and killed in Roman-occupied Palestine. We recognize the sacredness of all people and mourn all who have been killed in recent war crimes—Muslims and Jews and Christians—including Israelis killed by Hamas on October 7, while unflinchingly naming the ongoing slaughter, maiming, starvation, and forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli state, Benjamin Netanyahu, the IDF, and their western backers. God is indeed “under the rubble in Gaza”—the rubble of schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, and homes flattened by American missiles launched by the IDF. Despite every effort of annihilation, the world is stunned by the resilience of Palestinians: Gaza will rise from the ash heap.

As Christians, we demand a ceasefire now. Palestinian Christians and a UN expert have called Israel’s actions ethnic cleansing. The churches in Jerusalem have denounced the destruction of hospitals as an “egregious crime.” Pope Francis has said, “This is not war. This is terrorism.” As early as October 15, colleagues in international law, conflict studies, and genocide studies warned that the situation could broach genocide, a warning affirmed by UN experts and the National Indigenous Council and General Council Executive of the United Church of Canada. Since then, horrific assaults on hospitals and schools in Gaza have only increased, and Palestinians in the West Bank have continued to face attack, murder, incarceration, and displacement. The Nakba must end now and permanently.

We call on our governments to stop sending money and weapons to Israel, and we call for deescalation in the region. We call upon institutions, states, and individuals to boycott, divest, and sanction the state of Israel. We call upon Christians to resist and impede the manufacturing, funding, and shipment of weapons to Israel. We applaud those blocking and delaying shipments of weapons to Israel. We applaud those taking to the streets and to their phones to hold their governments accountable.

We demand that the millions of displaced Palestinians retain the right to return to their homes. We call for the Palestinian rebuilding of Gaza, an end to the containment of Gaza, reparations, and the right of Palestinians to live and move freely in their land to be honored.

We demand an end to Israeli settler confiscation of Palestinian land—a call consistent with policies and resolutions already adopted in recent decades by the Episcopal Church in the United States, the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ, and others. 

We denounce industries and theologies engaged in the production of lies. We denounce the ways our media and pulpits have participated in the dehumanization of Palestinians, through their punitive silencing of Palestinians and euphemistic denial of crimes against humanity. We demand that journalists and members of the media be allowed entry into Gaza. We denounce the IDF’s targeting of journalists in Lebanon and Gaza. We denounce the systemic censoring and intimidation of Palestinians and their allies at all levels of our ecclesiastical and secular institutions. 

We denounce Islamophobia, antisemitism, and racism wherever they are found, especially in Christian churches, in the form of supersessionism and Zionism. We denounce violence and hate crimes against Palestinians, Muslims, Arabs, and Jews in our communities and offer our condolences and prayers to all who are grieving. We call on churches to address the increase of hate crimes and provide educational resources on Islamophobia and antisemitism. We denounce the Christian Zionisms used to buttress the state of Israel as an antisemitic instrumentalization of our Jewish siblings for western colonial greed and Christian endtime fantasies.

We insist that there can be no just future on the land called Palestine and Israel without Palestinians—alive, healthy, free, and self-determining. Not walled in like prisoners. Not huddled in hospitals. Not starving. Not in perpetual fear. Not waiting for aid from nations who are killing them. But living in freedom. Apartheid is not the future. Palestinian little ones must sleep without the threat of bombs. Palestinian lives must be respected as sacred. Palestinians must be empowered to choose their own future—be it one state or two. Palestinian leadership and sovereignty must be honored.

Following the churches of Jerusalem, we commit to mourn with Palestine this Advent and Christmas season.

As Christians, we call for a free Palestine and free Palestinians. We believe this is the only path toward true freedom and safety for Palestinians and Israelis alike. We appeal to our fellow Christians to join us.

In issuing this open letter, we join with other Christians calling for an immediate ceasefire. In addition to the groups already named above, these include 900 Black Christian leaders, Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), a group of denominational leaders in the United States organized by CMEP, and a group of 68 bishops and executive leaders from churches and denominations around the world organized by CMEP.

This letter's initial signers are 148 Christian clergy, theologians, and faith leaders. Its drafters are doctoral students and clergy, whose names are interspersed below amongst the other signers. We invite all Christians in the United States and Canada to add their names by filling out the form below.

Signing is one act of solidarity. Let it be one of many. For resources on Palestine and Israel, including theological resources, see here.

Christians in the U.S. and Canada are welcome to add their name to this letter. Your name will appear to the right of this form after you refresh the page and will be added to the names below soon. The list is at about 718 names as of 12/10. Go here to sign it.

**Please listen to Dr. Mitri Raheb on Madang Podcast as he shares about Gaza. Use discount code “MAD” to get 30%off his book, Decolonizing Palestine.

Special Events:

1. Join me at the Wild Goose Festival. Use discount code “A-MADANG” for 25.00 off registration. Register soon before prices go up.

2.Join ⁠⁠⁠⁠Homebrewed Christianity’s new Emerged Podcast co-hosted by Drs. Tripp Fuller and Tony Jones.