Palestinian Communities Under Attack

Every day, we wake up wondering

which Palestinian village will be attacked next.

We are exhausted, afraid,

we live in fear and terror.

This has gone way beyond what one can endure.

And we're not talking about isolated incidents.

This has become a daily, relentless reality.

Hardly a day passes without one or more attacks

by armed settlers on Palestinian communities.

We're talking about families in their villages and towns,

simply trying to live, to farm,

to raise their children in their land

and the land of their ancestors.

Settlers attack, burn homes, cars, farms,

they uproot trees, they steal sheep.

They terrorize and kill.

Yesterday, four more Palestinians were killed

in the village of Tel, in their land.

And as I said,

now we live in a constant state of fear and terror.

Here is what many people actually don't understand.

Palestinians can't defend themselves.

In fact, if we try, we risk being shot.

We saw this again yesterday.

Armed settlers arrived at Tel,

the village, alongside with the soldiers.

They came with weapons, with protection,

and of course, with total impunity.

Palestinians are not only not protected,

but when they defend themselves,

the result is retaliation and revenge.

Yesterday, Israeli lives were also lost in these attacks.

And the aftermath was terrible.

Villages across the West Bank were effectively under siege.

Checkpoints were closed.

Roads were blocked.

People could not leave or return home.

And this is not, again, an exception.

In fact, just a few days ago,

a Palestinian woman died after being delayed at a checkpoint

while trying to reach a hospital.

Prior to that,

a child died as a result of being stuck at the checkpoint.

This is, again, daily reality.

And we ask, how many more Palestinians continue to be or have to be killed?

I thought about sharing statistics today

about how many Palestinians have been killed,

how many children have died,

how many attacks have taken place.

But really, I'm tired of repeating numbers.

We're not numbers.

We're not headlines.

In fact, we don't want to be the headlines.

We're talking about mothers, fathers, children, grandparents,

with names, with stories.

We're talking about families whose lives are forever changed,

futures that are cut.

So I ask myself, when will enough be enough?

How long can an entire people be expected to live in fear and terror?

For how long can communities remain defendless

while violence continues with so little accountability?

Of course, except for those who dare to defend their land,

their homes, their families, their trees,

the army, the Israeli army, is quick to hold them accountable.

Now we ask, what's the end goal of all of this?

What future is being imagined?

It feels as though we have exhausted all human solutions,

the world issue statements,

but the violence continues.

Palestinians feel abandoned with no one willing or able to protect us.

So today I want us to pray.

Pray not as a substitute for justice,

but pray because we believe God hears the cries of the oppressed.

Pray for protection over the communities.

Pray for courage for those who live in fear and terror.

So pray that hearts will change,

that those with power will act,

and that justice will prevail.

See, as Palestinians, we often feel no one standing between us and the violence,

but we refuse to believe that God has abandoned us.

So today, in our grief, in our fear,

and even in our desperation, we will pray.

Now we need to do more than prayer.

So much has been said about the illegality of all of this.

International law has spoken.

Human rights have spoken.

Even governments have spoken.

But today I want to speak about something even deeper,

not just the illegality of all of this,

but the immorality of it,

which means we as people of faith have to speak.

Friends, this is not about isolated incidents.

It's a part of a system, an ongoing system for many years,

with the stated goal to displace Palestinians and replace us.

The goal is clear.

They want to uproot us from our land,

from our villages, from our homes,

from our history.

So we ask, how is this happening?

How has this been allowed to happen?

The answer begins with impunity.

Israel has been allowed to act as though it is above the law.

But I think we must go deeper.

What sustains that impunity?

What political interests?

What military support?

What financial backing?

We've just seen the votes in the Congress.

We must ask what ideology,

what theology has been used to justify and excuse

what should never be justified.

As people of faith, we cannot remain silent.

Our faith demands more of us.

Yes, we need to pray,

but prayer is not an escape from responsibility.

In fact, prayer is what gives us the courage to act.

So we pray and then we act.

So let's pray,

pray earnestly, pray persistently,

but don't stop at prayer.

We urge you to speak,

to write, to mobilize.

Call your elected representatives.

Challenge your churches to speak louder.

Urge your governments to act.

Refuse, we need to refuse

to become just accustomed to injustice and oppression.

We need to refuse to look away.

And perhaps by God's grace,

if enough people find the courage to raise their voices,

we can help bring an end to this misery and terror.

We owe it to every family living in fear today.

We also owe it to our faith,

to our convictions that justice must prevail.