In This Issue

Gaza Twinning Update
Funding Support for Tareq Abuhalima’s Family
Civil Services in Gaza
Prayers from Sabeel

Gaza Twinning Update

Children taking violin lessons at the Edward Said Public Library in 2022. Youth Vision Society, a non-profit organization and MennoPIN twinning partner, operated the library until its recent destruction.

This update was contributed by Michael George, Landisville Mennonite Church

It has been a privilege and blessing to help coordinate MennoPIN’s “Twinning with Gaza” Initiative over the last four years. Three Mennonite Church USA congregations have built relationships with non-profit groups in Gaza doing wonderful and life-giving work in their communities. Representatives of these dynamic organizations and small groups from congregations met via Zoom regularly to share stories, life experiences, hopes, and challenges. As a result of this consistent and open communication, close friendships have been developed between the “twinning” participants in Gaza and the United States. It has been a gift to get to know our friends in Gaza and we will continue to walk alongside them during this horrific and catastrophic time.

The three “twinning” relationships are:

  • Youth Vision Society (Gaza City) and Manhattan Mennonite Church (Manhattan, Kansas)
  • Gaza YMCA (Gaza City) and Fellowship of Hope (Elkhart, Indiana)
  • Pulse of Peace Association for Psychosocial and Mental Health (Khan Younis) and Landisville Mennonite Church (Lancaster, Pennsylvania)

Youth Vision Society is a non-profit organization in Gaza City that aims to empower youth, children, and women through myriad programs such as promoting civic involvement, providing basic life necessities to those living in refugee camps, raising awareness about gender-based violence, and operating the Edward Said Public Library. Youth Vision Society’s work has improved the lives of thousands of people in their community.

The Gaza YMCA is a non-profit organization in Gaza City operated by members of the very small Christian community in Gaza. This vibrant organization is a safe haven for Christians and Muslims alike and is known for its interfaith cooperation. Its youth and adult sports leagues, summer camps, arts and educational programs are just some of the ways that the Gaza YMCA serves its community.

The Pulse of Peace Association for Psychosocial and Mental Health in Khan Younis works to provide activities for children to cope with the trauma of living under blockade and experiencing frequent violence. They work to provide their community training and awareness of mental health by providing workshops for schools and play-based therapies for the younger children. They also provide after-school programs for many children in their neighborhood.

Tragically, the physical buildings of all three organizations have been destroyed during the past nine months. However, members of these organizations are still actively helping their communities survive despite unimaginably perilous circumstances. Most people in Gaza have been forced to relocate multiple times and are struggling to provide the basic necessities of life. They are faced by constant bombardment by the Israeli military and there is no safe place in Gaza.

For example, many Gaza YMCA members are among over 600 people currently sheltering in two churches in Gaza City. There are now 250 people sheltering in the St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church and nearly 400 in the Holy Family Catholic Church. Just a few weeks ago, a YMCA board member sheltering in the Holy Family Catholic Church sent his “twinning” partners at Fellowship of Hope this urgent message:

The situation in the church is very difficult now. All the people who live around us have left their homes and headed to areas that are not under attack. Most of the places around us are empty and no one lives there. The occupation forced them to leave for southern Gaza. The bakeries have closed. Luckily, last week we bought enough gas to last us a month to make bread and eat. We are now under siege and have not been able to leave the churches for three days. The nearby hospital, Al-Ahli Al-Arabi, has closed and the doctors have left. The patients have been transferred to small clinics as a result of the bombing. Today we ate ready-made meals that we had stored and got from the ANERA Foundation. I do not know what to say. The situation is very sad and frightening.

Fellowship of Hope is responding to this dire situation by raising funds for those sheltering in the Gaza City churches. Please see this link to find out how you can help: Appeal on Behalf of Those Sheltering in Gaza City Churches

Whether our partners have remained in Gaza or have fled to countries like Egypt, Qatar, or the United States, MennoPIN “twinning” congregations will continue to communicate the best we can with our partners and share their stories with as broad an audience as possible.

Please take a few moments to view the pictures here of the incredible work that these organizations do as well as the tragic destruction of their facilities. I share these pictures with you in an effort to restore the humanity of our friends in Gaza as well as provide a glimpse into their current catastrophic reality.

Funding Support for Tareq Abuhalima’s Family

Tareq’s neice Tulin manifests resilience amidst destruction

Attacks against Gaza are escalating and Deir Al-Balah is one of the next targets of Israeli Defense Forces.  The invasion of Rafah caused Tareq Abuhalima’s family to be displaced to the beaches of Deir Al-Balah where they are living in old nylon tents. The tents are extremely hot during the day and cold during the night. Tareq has been one of MennoPIN’s Gaza Twinning partners. This last year Tareq came to the United States to pursue a graduate degree at Bluffton University.

It is a time of profound uncertainty and fear for Tareq’s family. They endure significant hardships. Basic necessities like food, water, and medical supplies are becoming scarce. The constant threat of bombing, violence, and displacement has made everyday life incredibly challenging. Communication is sporadic, which adds to stress and worry. 

Above is a photo of Tareq’s niece Tulin, who manifests the resilience and steadfastness of Tareq’s family amidst the destruction of Gaza. In response, MennoPIN is raising funds for Tareq’s family which includes his mother, siblings, spouses, nephews and nieces like Tulin. MennoPIN’s fund-raising goal is $12,000 which should provide food for a four-month period.  Checks should be made out to “MennoPIN”, with “Tareq Abuhalima” written in the memo line, and mailed MennoPIN Treasurer, Jim Norton at 1410 Pembroke Circle, #4, Goshen, IN 46526.

Civil Services in Gaza

Article by Jonathon Kuttab originally published by Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA). Image credit to FOSNA
 
Every society requires some form of civilian authority to provide basic services, maintain public order, and ensure civilian life goes on. This is particularly true in times of crisis, catastrophe, and war.

The territory of Gaza, with a population of 2.3 million, is particularly in need of these services. Under international law, the occupying forces are responsible for providing these services to their “enemy” civilian population. This was the case even before October 7, when Hamas provided this function and carried out these services with Israeli approval, consent, and cooperation. While Israel claimed it was no longer an occupier, and that its redeployment released it from such responsibilities, the fact is it still controlled the borders, the electricity grid, water, currency, population registry, postal services and cyberspace, collected customs duties, and found different ways to ensure that Hamas carried out its civilian functions in cooperation with and subject to the approval of Israel.

On October 7, following the Hamas attacks, Israel ended this cooperation, declaring its intentions to utterly destroy Hamas, not only as a fighting force, but also its “governing functions.” That meant that all civilian functions of government could no longer be carried out by Hamas and that its civilian operatives would henceforth be targeted and destroyed. This has indeed been done, in a brutal and systematic way, and continues to be the case today.

The implementation of this policy has left the civilian population completely vulnerable, as Israel was in no hurry to provide its own alternative civilian administration structures to the local population. As the fighting continued, Israel issued draconian orders for the population to move out of its residential areas, several times, on pain of death, while it reoccupied and systematically destroyed buildings and structures, including all sources of income and sustenance. The population became even more dependent on outside assistance for food, water, fuel, electricity, medical care, and shelter. 

Even as Israel reluctantly, and under international pressure, began to allow minimal quantities of food and water into the area, the situation continued to be dire as there was no civilian authority to oversee the distribution of the food, the provision of supplies, or even to safeguard the personnel who were attempting the distribution. In fact, Palestinians report that the distribution centers themselves and the locations where people could pick up food were themselves targeted, bombed, and destroyed. Famous among these attacks was the attack on the World Kitchen Personnel, seven of whom were pursued and killed with airstrikes, and the “flour massacre” where over 100 Palestinians were killed, mostly by tank fire, as they gathered to collect food for their starving families. Over 200 aid workers have been killed so far in Gaza.

Not only is Israel refusing to carry out its obligations to provide for the needs of the local civilian population, but it has also announced a policy that undermines and prevents any other form of civilian authority even in the long term. It has refused to give any indication of what it plans for “the Day After,” proclaiming that it wishes to indefinitely keep “security control” over Gaza but that it does not wish to govern it or its population. It has indicated that it will not allow Hamas to have any authority there. It has also indicated that it does not want the Palestinian Authority to play that role either. It has declared its refusal to allow UNRWA to have any role, when UNRWA is the only actor on the ground with personnel, infrastructure, and capability of providing basic services in the area. UNRWA Headquarters have been attacked and many of its centers bombed and destroyed. Before the war, UNRWA was a major source of employment (13,000 employees) and provider of schools, clinics, and social services to the refugee population (2/3 of the population of Gaza are refugees from 1948).

Food is just one issue. Water, housing, schooling, garbage collection, basic medical needs, education, roads, courts, policing and governance, are all essential services that no human society can survive without. The issue is not just survival and relief, but the ability to live as a human society. The fact that Israel systematically destroyed those structures and is not allowing anybody to replace them points to a much more serious problem. 

Could it be that Israel is not only shirking its responsibility, but is also actively preventing others from providing these services because it does not believe Palestinians are entitled to such minimal services at all?

The problem, sometimes openly admitted and frequently hinted at by Israeli leaders, and which is openly discussed in Hebrew in public and social media, is that Israelis do not think of Palestinians as human beings. They do not see Palestinian needs as worthy of their attention, much less as their responsibility. If they are viewed as “human animals,” and the solution is to eliminate them as they would “Amalek,” then the logical conclusion is to completely destroy those structures and institutions that support Palestinian life and social organization. Those who still refuse to acknowledge that this constitutes genocide need to address the question of a policy which openly denies the humanity of Palestinians, their need for basic services, and a system to provide such minimal requirements.

Prayer from Sabeel

The Israeli military continues its relentless bombing of Gaza through weapons supplied by several countries, most of which is provided by the US. The headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza has been destroyed and the man-made famine is increasing to unimageable levels. Moreover, the highly infectious polio virus has been found in sewage samples in Gaza, putting thousands of Palestinians at risk of contracting a disease that can cause paralysis. 

God of the broken and destitute, we come to you again and again asking for you to stop this nightmare. Incarnated Christ, you stand among us, yet we fail to recognize you. We repent our failures to the people of Gaza and thank you for the voices from the wilderness who help us to turn away from sin. Make us your instruments of love by fighting the good fight, even if it makes our discipleship costly.  

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer  

In the early hours of Friday the 19th of July, a Houthi drone hit the city of Tel Aviv killing one person and injuring 8 others. Although the drone was identified, it was not intercepted by the Israeli military due to human error. Since then, the Houthis stated that this attack will be the first of many if an immediate ceasefire in Gaza is not achieved. However, Israel since then has heavily bombed a port in Yemen killing at least 80 people.  

God of peace, for months we have been pleading for an immediate ceasefire. Lord, illuminate to the world that an immediate ceasefire will save numerous lives, both Palestinian and Israeli. Lord, have mercy on all the bereaved families who are mourning their loved ones killed because of violence.  

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer 

On July 19th, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s ongoing presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is unlawful and constitutes Apartheid. The judges highlighted numerous violations of international law by Israel in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. While this ruling is not legally binding on Israel, it significantly influences the legal interpretation of Israel’s actions as it comes from the highest authority in international law. 

God of Justice, whilst we know the truth of Israel’s crimes for many years, educating and advocating against Israel’s Apartheid, we are glad about the ICJ’s ruling. Lord, ignite in us a fire that continues to struggle for justice, freedom, and peace. Lord, let the victims of injustice remind us that there is plenty of work to be done regardless of the progress the Palestinian cause has in international legal bodies. 

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer   
 

Stay Informed on Palestine

MennoPIN keeps you informed about Palestine through our monthly update, special alerts, calls to action, important resources and tour possibilities, all from an Anabaptist perspective. But there are additional excellent organizations and web publications that can keep you informed, some on a daily basis. We invite you to explore these groups and visit the web publications as another way to keep current and active for the people of Palestine. Here are some MennoPIN recommends:

Organizations

Web Publications

Mennonite Palestine-Israel Network
mennopin@gmail.com | mennopin.org | facebook.com/mennopin | twitter.com/mennopin

Steering Committee:
Bob Atchison (Manhattan Mennonite Church, Manhattan, KS)
Dorothy Jean Weaver (Community Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, VA)
Dave Janzen (Fellowship of Hope, Elkhart, IN)
Jonathan Kuttab (Palestinian lawyer and human rights activist, Manheim, PA)
Lydia Brenneman (Lima Mennonite Church, Lima, OH)
Zachary Murray (Mennonite Central Committee, Washington, DC)
Lydia Miller (Kalamazoo Mennonite Fellowship, Kalamazoo MI)

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Published by Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN)

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