Crisis in the Holy Land: conference at St Mary’s University - remarks by Vincent Fean
Posted: 9th December 2025
You may care to see what I said at a recent gathering at St Mary’s University, Twickenham.
During the conference we heard that the Occupation does not distinguish between Palestinian Christians and Muslims – the oppression and denial of rights are equal.
The Churches in the UK – and our Government – need to heed the cry for help of the fast-dwindling Christian community in Palestine, voiced recently in the Kairos document entitled A moment of truth: Faith in a time of Genocide.
Kairos means “the appointed time” or “the crucial time”. The Kairos text is reproduced below. Without change – without an end to the Occupation – Christians will continue to leave the land of Christ’s birth.
With best wishes,
Sir Vincent Fean
Trustee, Britain Palestine Project
Crisis in the Holy Land: conference at St Mary’s University, 21 November
Sir Vincent Fean, trustee, Britain Palestine Project
My theme is Britain’s moral responsibility to advance peace in Palestine/Israel – peace with justice and accountability, working with the like minded.
The Catholic Archbishop of Southwark, John Wilson, spoke earlier about four things: pray, learn, act and bear witness. He then talked about the need to make forceful representations to our Government. I agree.
I’m an ex diplomat, long-retired. I used to be a servant of the Crown and therefore of any Minister whom you and I elected. Now I can say what I feel to be right. I will talk about history briefly, then the current situation and what we individually and collectively can do about it.
History
The Balfour Declaration of November 1917 says that the British Government views with favour the creation of a national home for the Jewish people but that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. That didn’t happen. The opposite happened. At the time that that statement was made by Britain’s Foreign Secretary, 90% of the population of Palestine was Palestinian Arab (Muslim and Christian), and 10% Jewish – Palestinian at that point.
And 21% of the population was Christian. Now it’s less than 2%. UK responsibility historically, going on to today, is clear. Immediately after the Declaration, Britain occupied and ran Palestine between 1917 and 1948. The distinguished British Jewish historian of Israel, the late Sir Martin Gilbert, said rightly that the centrepiece of British Mandatory policy was the withholding of representative institutions for as long as there was an Arab majority in Palestine. In other words, for as long as the Arabs were the demographic majority, Britain stopped Arab democratic institutions from developing – and did not do the same for Jewish institutions, which it permitted to flourish.
I commend to you a film “Palestine 36”,now on in Curzon Cinemas around the country. It talks about the Arab revolt as we, the British, called it and the brutal suppression of that uprising between 1936 and 1939. The film stars Jeremy Irons and other good actors. You will see that Britain used the self-same repressive practices as the present Israeli government in terms of human shields, demolition of houses, administrative detention – which we used to call internment in Northern Ireland: detention without trial. There are several thousand Palestinians currently held without trial. Israel learned its repressive ways from us. And then we cut and ran in 1948, leaving a mess for the United Nations to handle. But the Nakba, as the Palestinians describe it, the catastrophe, actually began in 1947 – on our watch. The expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland was in full swing while we British were in charge.
I’m glad to say that our charity, the Britain Palestine Project, is honoured to have as a patron William Dalrymple, renowned historian of this world and of the British Empire. He is currently hosting an 11 part podcast series on Gaza: the history of Gaza going back thousands of years. I commend it to you.
The current situation
The West Bank countryside is under constant attack by violent settlers, acting with impunity or even, often with support from the Israeli army. In Gaza, the genocide continues despite the so-called ceasefire. No longer hundreds of people per day are dying, but 10s of people are dying in Gaza. As to the prospects for the West Bank – the economy is hanging by a thread. As Brendan Metcalfe (Friends of the Holy Land charity) mentioned, there is no tourism and there are too few pilgrimages. The remittances from workers going into Israel have ceased, and Israel is withholding money – Palestinian taxation and customs dues – from the Palestinian Authority, which cannot afford to pay its employees their agreed salaries.
The Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, which (with UK political support) wants to go back into Gaza, is unloved. But indirectly, through employment of teachers, nurses, police etc., the Authority feeds 1,000,000 people in the West Bank and still funds utilities in Gaza, to the extent that they still exist, which is very little. Abolishing the Palestinian Authority is not the answer.
What’s to be done?
One of the words in my title was “moral”. Britain has a moral responsibility.
I’ll turn to the Kairos documents: one of 2009 and now more starkly that of 2025. The title of the Kairos 2 document (reproduced here and below) is “A moment of truth: Faith in a time of genocide”.
Frankly, we should have listened in 2009. Some did. But not the people who decide.
Not the people who determine British Government policy. They are well informed.
Our UK Diplomatic Service reports faithfully and well what is going on. So there’s no ignorance from Sir Keir Starmer down. Just remember that they know what you know. They know more than I know. It’s what they do about it, that we need to challenge. They’re aware but expedient. Hoping for the best, managing the situation, trying to offend no one. Particularly not Trump. Wait and see what happens. Well, we’ve seen what happened.
In my time as Consul-General in Jerusalem, British Government Ministers condemned settlement expansion plans 20 times in one year. That was in 2012. But did nothing. So the Ministerial statements were water off a duck’s back to the Government of Israel.
I hesitate to speak of the churches, being a layperson. But the contention that we’ve heard today is that the churches didn’t do enough, and maybe still are not doing enough effectively to change the course that we’re witnessing. The Holy Land Coordination is a grouping of Catholic and Anglican bishops visiting the Holy Land every year since 1998, at the request of the Pope. In 2017, the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, the bishops called for justice and peace, but said that they knew the suffering continues. They called, as Brendan Metcalfe has done, for prayer, awareness and action. Back then, they said that the 1967 occupation was a scandal. And that the Gaza blockade by Israel since 2007, long before the horrendous Hamas attack of 2023, needed to stop.
It didn’t stop. It continues today, in extreme form.
I recall the words of His Holiness Pope Francis: “We all have a responsibility to encourage nonviolent resistance”. That was a generic remark, but it applies here. Equal rights and dignity are what we need to advance. And to give a voice to the voiceless. Those words come jointly from Catholic Bishop Declan Lang and Anglican Bishop Christopher Chessun in 2020.
Very recently the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, was most outspoken in condemning apartheid and ethnic cleansing in Palestine as barbaric. Please read what he said.
He made reference to genocide. He mentioned the UN Commission of Inquiry, which in September found grounds to believe that genocide is happening. My belief is that genocide is still happening in spite of the ceasefire. Starvation is still being used as a weapon of war.
I mentioned Pope Francis. May I also mention Pope Leo. Recently he has criticised – without naming – President Trump for the actions of the United States immigration authorities. With the deportation of several 100,000 people from the United States. I know what Pope Leo would say about this tragic situation. But that readiness to challenge Trump is rare.
The Archbishop of York talked about sanctions on settlement related enterprises: a ban on settlement trade. Territorial clauses in trade agreements with Israel to exclude what we now rightly call Palestine. He mentioned revising church investment strategies. The next Synod will discuss that, and how the Church of England should look at where pension fund and other investments are going. I believe they should not go anywhere that is supportive of illegal settlements. I hope that could be done by other churches, including the Catholic Church to which I belong.
The Archbishop said “In the West and in the Church of this nation, the Church of State, we should be bold and clear in proclaiming God’s judgement and God’s truth”.
There is a lot to do. The most urgent thing is to get food, medicine, tents and mobile clinics into Gaza. It’s not happening enough – or it’s not happening at all. And it needs to happen.There’s a new Civil Military Coordination Centre in Israel, in Kiryat Gat: a lot of Americans, a lot of Israelis, one British Major General – Tom Bateman – and 10 British staff. Can that Centre overrule the Israeli Defence Force? To bring those things in. Can the UN Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) operate properly in Gaza and the West Bank, as in the past? Now it’s been accused of being Hamas in disguise. I disagree. UNRWA has 12,000 staff in Gaza. In my time it was the alternative, the antidote to Hamas. In Gaza there were only two things that really worked: Hamas – administratively, socially, politically and militarily – and UNRWA, with school curricula that talked about equal rights, that talked about the Holocaust. That tried to ensure that young Palestinians knew what they needed to know: both sides of the story.
The Knesset has voted to cut off electricity and water from every UNRWA office. There is a campaign against UNRWA, on false grounds. We can’t ignore it. We need to challenge it.
I mentioned the wish of every western and Arab government to stay close to Trump.
On 17 November the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2803, and blessed a transitional administration for Gaza called the Board of Peace. Transitional until such time as Palestinian Authority reform can securely and effectively take back control of Gaza. So after an unspecified period of reform of the Palestinian Authority, Palestinians might (might) be authorised by external rulers to run part of their own state.
There is mention – grudging mention – of a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, preceded by the word “may”. Which doesn’t mean “shall”. In the meantime, the US alone will establish a dialogue between Israel and “the Palestinians”. The resolution says that humanitarian aid to Gaza will be fully resumed. That hasn’t happened. It says that the UN, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent should operate freely. That hasn’t happened either. The same resolution authorises the creation of an International Stabilisation Force, with no clarity as to who would participate. Effectively, Israel is given a veto over who will join.
Is that defective resolution better than no resolution at all? If you’re doing the job that I used to do, the diplomatic job, then ensuring that President Trump pays some attention to the UN Security Council is better than the opposite. That’s about it. The excellent organisation Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights has issued a briefing note: “Regression on commitments to Gaza, Palestinian self-determination and international law”. What is different about this resolution is that it doesn’t base itself on any specific earlier UN Security Council resolutions like 242 or 338, the ones that we’re used to, the ones that set a framework. It parts company with them, by implication.
But that resolution has been backed by the Palestinian Authority, Turkey, the Arab states, our own government and France. It’s a compromise – and it’s messy.
It lacks clarity with regard to international law and respect for Palestinian sovereignty over the state that we recognised only two months ago. And it’s not based on the consent of political forces in Palestine, other than the PA itself. It doesn’t refer to the 1967 military Occupation, which the International Court of Justice determined in 2024 to be unlawful. The Occupation needs to be ended as soon as possible. And it doesn’t refer to the West Bank – the other half of the State of Palestine. It is very hard work to try to reconcile that document with what is actually UK government policy, which is to reunite Gaza and the West Bank, empowering Palestinian institutions, including a united Palestinian Authority. Yvette Cooper, our Secretary of State, said in Parliament “Palestine must be run by Palestinians”. Not by outsiders. Our Government is saying the right things. But then action does not always follow.
Things are going badly, tragically wrong in the West Bank. The Israeli Government exercises total control. Settler violence is rampant, unpunished. Israel’s Finance Minister threatens that Israel will withdraw banking cooperation with the Palestinian banks. That would be terrible for the entire Palestinian economy. The Palestinian Authority relies very heavily on loans from the Palestinian banks to survive, because it doesn’t have enough income of its own. If the Palestinian banks collapse, so does the economy. There is work going on behind the scenes to try to prevent that happening. But one of the many extremists in the Netanyahu government, Finance Minister Smotrich, wants it to happen. Netanyahu may – repeat may – prevent it. We don’t know.
Let’s turn to this word “Occupation”. The advisory opinion of the ICJ in July 2024 declared it unlawful. That is true. It is now illegal. More than that, I believe it is evil. Evil, certainly for the people on whom it is imposed. I think also evil for the people who have to perpetrate it. The Occupation demeans, devalues and dehumanises those who suffer. I think it does the same to those who impose it.
So Israelis suffer, too. They may not realise it now, but what is clear to me is that Israel is not safer as a result of the Occupation. It does not actually make anybody safer. And it is harming community cohesion here in the UK.
The Britain Palestine Project
As a charity, the Britain Palestine Project (www.britainpalestineproject.org) focuses on what Britain can and should do. We focus on ourselves, on our Parliament and on our Government. We, along with many others, lobbied for British recognition of Palestine.
I am glad that happened. It was necessary – but a beginning, not the end. Necessary, but not sufficient.
As a charity, we advocate:
- a ban on arms sales to and from Israel.
- a ban on trade in settlement goods, services and investment. Ireland is showing the way on this. But it is important to include services as well as goods, and Ireland hasn’t made-up its mind. Here in Britain, we haven’t yet started to talk seriously about it in Parliament. There is no Government proposal on this. There should be. Nor is there a response to that ICJ Advisory Opinion from July 2024. British civil servants are better than that. Bureaucrats will have prepared a position. It’s under a carpet in 10 Downing St.
Our charity advocates that we should suspend the trade agreement between Britain and Israel until the Occupation ceases through Israeli withdrawal. That in itself does not mean no Israeli goods to enter, no British exports. But they would happen under WTO rules and at a cost rather than straight free trade.
One of the words in my title is accountability. We need to hold Israel and Hamas accountable before the ICJ and the ICC. Hamas committed war crimes on the 7th of October 2023. Israel has committed war crimes before and since. It is self-evident that Israel should allow journalists into Gaza. They don’t. And on the Palestinian side, as our Government is trying to do, we should continue to try to strengthen Palestinian unity – and encourage elections, both presidential, and parliamentary. They need to be free and fair.
There are some words that are used and there are some words that are danced around. I believe that what is happening in Gaza today is genocide.
What is happening in the West Bank is apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
Settler violence is rampant, with the connivance of the Israeli state security authorities. There can’t be business as usual while these things are happening.
I’ll finish on a note of hope – because we need it. I believe in the power of prayer, as a stimulus to action. God didn’t make this mess. So it’s up to us rather than to God to address it. But there is hope in prayer. It needs to stimulate action.
The Churches are powerful when they are willing to be so. There can be no reconciliation without justice. They go together. With the disparity of power between Israelis and Palestinians today, reconciliation is not the issue. It needs to be, one day, but not today. Justice is the issue today.
I have a suggestion for the British Churches. Talk with American Church counterparts, Irish, French, Spanish, Italian, German Church leaders. Try to make common cause. That may require not using the word genocide, because some will and some won’t.
Examine the new Kairos document, which reflects the current reality of Christians in the Holy Land.
Just one more remark on the word genocide. Archbishop Hosam Naoum was online with the Archbishop of York and he was asked. “Are you authorising the use of strong words”? He said “We are at a dead end. The churches and the institutions of Christianity in the Holy Land are at a dead end. If the current course of action is not altered, they cease to be what they should be: places of worship, places of community, and become mausoleums or museums”.
Conclusion
If we want Christians in the Holy Land to survive and prosper, and indeed if we want Israel – as I do – to prosper within its pre 67 borders, we need to act to correct the current trend. Salvation will not come from within. It will not come from within Israel and within Palestine. It needs to come from the likes of us, acting in the best interests of both peoples. The hope is that some of that can happen. People in our country and across the world now know a lot more than they did about the plight of Muslims and Christians in the Holy Land. The two are indistinguishable when it comes to the Occupation, which favours no Palestinian. And people don’t like what they see. They know that it is wrong.
So there is an opportunity to change course for good. I think that’s what we’re here to do.
What I learned in my three years in Jerusalem, and since, is that if people of conscience don’t act, nothing changes.
Kairos Palestine – The Palestinian Christian Initiative
A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide
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 — founded upon justice and equality for all God’s creation, where “mercy and truth meet, and righteousness and peace kiss each other.” (Psalm 85:10).
14-11-2025
Introduction
§1
We, the Palestinian Christian Ecumenical Initiative, issued the Kairos Palestine Document in 2009
— “A word of faith, hope, and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering.” 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 — women and men, clergy and laity — 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.
§2
We live now in a time of genocide, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement unfolding before the eyes of the world. This moment demands from us a new stand, one unlike any before it. It is both a decisive moment and a moment of truth. 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 — 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 — 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’s health, education, economic, and
environmental sectors — indeed, every component of life — 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’s 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
They do not want us to remain on our land but are destined for 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 — 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, exercising total control over every aspect of Palestinian life — fragmenting the land, dividing its people, and turning Palestinian existence into an unbearable hell. Israel’s so- called Nation-State Law enacted in 2018 embodies Zionist racism and arrogant Jewish supremacy in Palestine, making apartheid a lived reality. Israel’s decision to annex the West Bank has further exposed the true intent of this colonial project.
1.4
While the peoples 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 the civilization it boasts, claiming 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 — whether Jewish or Christian — in its justification of violence and killing. We Palestinian Christians are deeply shocked by the positions of many churches that either adopted the colonizer’s 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
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 while invoking the events of October 7, 2023, claiming that its actions are an act of self-defense — 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 refer to this context — and to the right of a people under occupation to resist their occupier and oppressor — 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, or war crimes. At the same time, the claim of “self-defense” cannot stand. How can a colonizer defend itself against those it has colonized and expelled from their land? International law — if it still retains any moral weight — refutes this claim.3
1.7
Settler colonialism, past and present, is built upon genocide, ethnic cleansing and the forced displacement of indigenous peoples — all for the sake of exploiting land, resources and wealth to serve the colonizer’s gain. We see deep economic dimensions behind Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza — particularly its interest in the natural gas fields off the Palestinian coast. Control over Gaza also means control over one of the world’s 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’s 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 the Holy Fire Saturday and Palm Sunday. Financial coercion, through the imposition of taxes and the freezing of church bank accounts — in violation of the “status quo” — 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 — from north to south — 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 — 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 every mechanism that denies 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 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 — supported by the United States and other major powers — 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 aimed at discrediting them, undermining their work, and even eliminating them through accusations of terrorism and through political pressure on governments to halt their funding and prosecute them.
1.13
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has dramatically expanded its policy of abduction and imprisonment. Today thousands of Palestinians — male and female alike — 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 — 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 — 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’s 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 vision through democratic elections as well as the exclusion of young leaders. Palestine today 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 the 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. The Church continues to work tirelessly — through pastoral care and institutional ministries — to support its sons, daughters, and the broader society in facing these pressures. 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 — the Middle East — 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 in our region. Israel, backed systematically by its allies, 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 above all laws and conventions — 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 — 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 “minorities” including Middle Eastern Christians — especially in Syria and Iraq
— 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 “Abraham Accords”. This naming itself represents the manipulation of religion to serve political, economic and normalization agendas — 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, normal realities. A new phenomenon has also emerged: “Zionist Islam,” 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 their replacement with new settlers. For this reason, we reject the very concept of “conflict.” The reality on the ground is rather tyranny and an oppressive regime of settler colonialism and apartheid. Any denial of this reality is an evasion of manifest truth — one that reinforces and perpetuates the injustice.
1.23
We are now living in a new era — an age in which “might makes right” 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 — one that speaks truth to power and tyranny without compromise or evasion. This goes beyond any particular Palestinian dimension; it 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 — 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 — 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 — 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 re-evaluation of our reality — to draw lessons and insights from it — leading to a unified, collective vision and a clear strategy for future action, grounded on 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, we remain committed to the principle of creative resistance — 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 — 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 — 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 mutual coexistence with creation — a shared faith and moral responsibility embraced by individuals and institutions, public, governmental, social, and religious alike.
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 — grandmother, mother, sister, and daughter — the unbending backbone, 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 “women and children”, 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 in it.
2.10
In addressing ourselves, we say: We are the sons and daughters of the first Church — descendants of the apostles and the saints of the first Christian centuries — 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 — 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 naïve optimism, but to hope that is rooted in action. Hope is not surrender. Hope is a living act of resistance — 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 prevails 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 — in the church, in national and civic engagement, in scouting, youth, sports, culture, art, politics and human rights — 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, and 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 — contrary to what appearances may suggest — to preserve the Christian presence in Gaza, which dates 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: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9)
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 — 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 — the land of redemption and hope — from where humanity’s 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 “learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed” (Isaiah 1:17).
3.2
The God revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures in both Old and New Testaments — the Creator of the Universe and of all humanity — is the One who was incarnate in the Son, Jesus Christ, the God of all peoples (Acts 10:34–35; Romans 10:12–13). 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– 19). The mission of the Church is thus made manifest in joining the work of God’s Kingdom through the pursuit of peace, the defense of the oppressed, and the doing of good.
3.3
Genocide is a cumulative process — 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.
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 — despite the overwhelming evidence, testimonies and even the statements of Zionists themselves — 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 — 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 — 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’s Kingdom — one 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’s empires. We challenge the false logic of a “neutral” or “balanced” peace as well as forms of ecclesial diplomacy that do not speak truth to power as a way of evading 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 and 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 — 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 “Jew” and “Zionist” 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 — believers in God from every faith and persons of conviction — 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 — working together with both religious and secular coalitions — 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’s 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 — 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 — 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 — 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. Today 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: “Come and see.” 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’s 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—beginning 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’s 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—but 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—not numerical dominance—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—rich as it is in the diversity of its peoples, cultures and religions—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’s creation, where mercy and truth meet, and righteousness and peace kiss each other. (Psalm 85:10).