In This Issue
URGENT: Give Feedback on Israel-Palestine Resolution by Dec. 20!
Going to the Orlando Convention?
Webinar Now Online
For Further Reflection
URGENT: Be Sure to Give Feedback on the Resolution! December 20 Deadline
Mennonite Church USA has posted the draft Israel-Palestine resolution, to be considered at the convention in Orlando in July and is inviting feedback on it. Please go online to read through the draft text and submit feedback before the deadline, which is December 20. Encourage others from your congregation to do so as well.
While the process from here until Orlando is still uncertain—and we on the steering committee still have questions, especially following reports from a recent Executive Board meeting—we will continue to engage this process, so keep checking in at mennopin.org and facebook.com/mennopin and twitter.com/mennopin.
Going to the Orlando Convention?
Thanks to those who have volunteered to help plan MennoPIN’s presence at the Orlando convention next summer. We could still use a few more volunteers. If you’d like to join the Orlando subgroup, please email mennopin@gmail.com with Orlando in the subject line.
Webinar Now Online
If you weren’t able to join the Nov. 17 webinar, A Rabbi and a Pastor walk through a checkpoint: Relating to Jewish neighbors while working for justice in Palestine, you can still listen to it online and share it with friends.
For Further Reflection
The Kairos Palestine Christmas Alert 2016 “reminds us of the plight of Palestinian children. It provides theological reflections, prayers, reports, articles and stories to guide deeper and more meaningful celebrations. Inspired by the real Christmas story, the themes cover current conditions of dispossession, homelessness, fear, poverty and exile suffered by our children.”
“Occupation is the essence of evil. It must be fought in any way possible,” said Elhanan. “Occupation is the reason we lost our children. I think it goes without saying that you should boycott the products of the settlements without thinking twice.” –TMail: Israeli and Palestinian Parents Share Stories of Grief, Resilience in Ohio and Indiana
“For us in Aida, on the frontline of Israel’s settlement regime, the situation is urgent. Ending trade with settlements would deny Israel the means of maintaining their occupation and give us some relief from its immediate, choking effects. This would provide our children and us with the first glimmer of hope for a future of justice, dignity and peace.” —The Frontline of Israel’s Settlement Regime, Salah Ajarma, Lajee Center, Aida Refugee Camp
“According to the U.N., 95 percent of the water to which Gaza residents have access is not safe to drink. A 2015 U.N. report warned that the Gaza Strip, with nearly 2 million inhabitants, could become “uninhabitable” by 2020, due to the Israeli government’s destructive bombing campaigns and stifling blockade…Like Gazans, indigenous groups in North Dakota are worried about their access to clean water. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which has led the NoDAPL protests, warns that its water and land will be polluted by the Dakota Access pipeline.” — Palestinians support indigenous Dakota pipeline protests: “We stand with Standing Rock”
Bethlehem Prayer Service, Saturday, December 17 at 10:00 am
Join those gathered in the Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem and Washington National Cathedral for the 10th annual joint Christmas Service, joined via satellite telecast.
Alert from MCC Washington Office: Call on President Obama to Act for Peace in Palestine and Israel.
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Mennonite Palestine-Israel Network
mennopin@gmail.com | mennopin.org | facebook.com/mennopin | twitter.com/mennopin
Steering Committee:
Joy Lapp (Pleasant View Mennonite Church, Mt Pleasant, IA)
Erica Littlewolf (White River Cheyenne Mennonite Church, Busby, MT)
George Muedeking (Albuquerque Mennonite Church, Albuquerque, NM)
Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach (Peace Fellowship Church, Washington, DC)
Timothy Seidel (Community Mennonite Church, Lancaster, PA)
MennoPIN 