Easter 2020 Message of Samia Khoury

 Zoom Holy Saturday prayer April 11

Al-Salaam Aleykum,  Peace Greetings to all of you from Jerusalem. 

While Easter is the most important season for Christians all over the world, it is specially meaningful for Palestinian Christians, and more so for those of us  living  in Jerusalem, supposedly the  city of peace, when in reality there is no peace. 

People travel from all over the world to walk the way of the Cross in commemoration of the crucifixion of our Lord and to rejoice at his Resurrection.  But this year with the Corona Virus Pandemic the streets of Jerusalem and its hotels are empty.  And the doors of  the churches are closed.  For a change the whole world is joining us in our via Dolorosa which we have been walking through under a harsh military occupation, not much different from the days of Christ under Roman occupation.

While all the country is locked down, we empathize with the people of Gaza who have been under siege for the last fourteen years.  And despite the need for  solidarity from everybody in the region to face the challenge of this monster of a virus, we continue to watch Palestinian homes being demolished and young people thrown into prison without charge or trial.  Farmers are losing more and more of their land to Israeli settlers.  As if that is not enough, the settlers have been flooding whatever land they have not yet confiscated with contaminated water and pesticides.  Even  when  Palestinian personnel in charge of the affairs of East Jerusalem  as well as young volunteers are caught helping people in this crisis,  they pay heavily for that aid.  As we say in Arabic لا برحمك ولا بخلي رحمة ربنا تنزل عليك  “neither am I merciful towards you, nor will I allow the mercy of God to fall upon you.”  Yet we know God is a merciful God and He will in His own way protect us.  And that is why we  hold onto hope;  the hope of the resurrection every time we watch our people  being denied their basic human rights,  and more so,  their right to live freely in their own city.  Without our faith and hope as well as our resilience “Sumud” we could not have survived all those long years under occupation.   

Thanks to technology, we have been attending services and have been connecting with our churches on line during this Holy Week,  just as we are now  sharing  with you our hope of the resurrection.  The whole world has been toppled upside down due to a small virus that found its way across the world, irrespective of borders or security walls; needing neither  visas, nor travel permits,  and challenging all the technology as well as the powers who reign in our times.

So we seize this opportunity on Holy Saturday to pray with all the people of the world,  and our special prayers at this time  are for the sick people, the doctors, nurses and all health workers who are on the front line. We also pray for the families who lost dear ones in this pandemic. And we pray for all the prisoners who are locked up in Israeli jails and other jails all over the world.   And when this nightmare is behind us we pray and hope that  we would have learned a good lesson to be more compassionate not only to our neighbors and world citizens, but to our environment that is already rebelling in its own way to our style of life. 

And last but not least, we pray that world leaders would  reset their priorities and silence the guns to spare humanity further suffering, so that the hope of the resurrection will supersede all the suffering caused by wars, sanctions and greed for power. 

As I send you greetings and hope for Justice and Peace from the Land of the resurrection, let me remind all of us of the words of the hymnal:“This is my Father’s world. O, let me ne’er forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet”. Amen

Here is the link for the Friends of Sabeel North America Service. I hope you enjoy it.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2854034748007057

Is not the Corona pandemic enough???

While the United Nations Secretary General is calling on all countries to silence the guns and focus on collectively saving humanity from this vicious pandemic that is ravaging societies around the globe, Israel finds it very timely to increase its oppression of the Palestinians under occupation.  

A few days ago Israeli  soldiers  raided Ramallah creating havoc in the middle of the night.  A week ago they continued demolishing homes in the suburbs of Jerusalem and  other parts of the West Bank. And on the second of April, the police  raided the house of  Fadi Hidmi, the Palestinian minister in charge of the affairs of  East Jerusalem,  blasting the gate to his garden and breaking into his  house, as well as confiscating the money he had at home..  

Not only does Israel seize the opportunity of this world crisis to further harass the Palestinians, they always choose the night hours for their raids.  Why I wonder?  It seems to me that thieves are the only people that need to be protected by the dark  hours of the night  to do their illegal actions.  The Police in Jerusalem know very well that the Palestinians in East Jerusalem are practically under curfew and they have complied by staying at home.  So they could have easily picked up Mr. Hidmi during the day time without scaring the family and causing extra stress to the community that is already being deprived of its basic rights.  The only charge against Mr. Hidmi is that he is trying, with his colleagues,  to alleviate the suffering of so many people who have lost their daily bread due to the  current  crisis which has not spared either Palestinians or Israelis.  And that is why the police has also been  harassing all the young volunteers of the Old City of Jerusalem and confiscating the aid in kind that they are trying to deliver to needy families.  

Will the Corona Pandemic be a good enough lesson for all of the world leaders and citizens?  Actually, it is in time of crisis and the way  one reacts to fellow world citizens that one’s true character is revealed.