Pexel Hilal - with appreciation

Dear Readers:   This post is dedicated to the People and Nation of Palestine and their call for solidarity and advocacy from all people of goodwill celebrating the indefatigable love of God revealed in the birth and life and death of Jesus, our Friend and Companion on life's Way to just peace and liberation.

I commend to you this urgent and heartfelt faithful witness of our siblings in faith in Palestine.

A H Harry Oussoren

Ottawa

(Artwork by Steve Erspamer in the original was not reproduced in this post.  For the original version copy this link to your browser:  https://www.kairospalestine.ps/images/Kairos_Christmas_2025_Appeal.pdf

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Kairos Palestine – Christmas [Solidarity] Appeal 2025

A Cry for Truth, Justice, and Costly Solidarity

30 November 2025

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; justice and peace will kiss each other. Psalm 85:10

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

This Advent season and Christmas, as the Church gathers around the light of Jesus Christ, we write to you from a land overshadowed by death, siege and profound injustice. Across historic Palestine, our people, Christians and Muslims alike, live under a system of occupation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, settler colonialism and now genocide. These are not mere figures of speech; they are the daily realities of children, parents, refugees, the elderly and entire communities whose cries echo through our churches, our streets and our prayers.

It is our fervent hope that you will read and then respond to our appeal. Share it widely. Read portions each week in worship. Distribute our cry through social media in whatever creative ways you discern.

A Land in Agony

Gaza

In Gaza, relentless bombing, the destruction of homes, schools, universities and hospitals, the killing of entire families, and the ongoing siege have produced one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of our time. Thousands remain displaced, wounded, or buried under rubble. Water, medicine, electricity, and safe shelter are almost nonexistent. Children have known nothing but war, fear, trauma and starvation.

The West Bank and Jerusalem

In the West Bank and Jerusalem, daily life is suffocated by checkpoints, settler violence, military raids, home demolitions and land confiscation. Families are separated, farmers cut off from their fields, and entire communities live under constant harassment and the threat of forced displacement. Our churches, schools and community institutions are targeted by policies designed to empty the land of its indigenous people.

Yet we remain

Our presence here is not passive endurance. It is a living witness. We are the “living stones” of the land of the Incarnation, the Cross and the Resurrection. Protecting the Christian presence— and the Palestinian presence in general—is not the longing for an earlier time but a spiritual, moral and human responsibility.

“Kairos Palestine II: Faith in a Time of Genocide”

In 2009, we issued the first Kairos Palestine document, a cry of faith, hope, and love rooted in nonviolent resistance and prophetic witness. Sixteen years later, the situation has plunged into a deeper, darker valley. Kairos Palestine II was born in the rubble of Gaza, in refugee camps, at checkpoints, and in grieving homes. It is both lament and proclamation, mourning what has been destroyed and affirming the mission to resist oppression, uphold life and proclaim justice. Kairos II insists that faith cannot be neutral. Faith demands truth-telling, courageous action, and solidarity that costs something.

Our Call to Our Community in Palestine

As Palestinians, our responsibility is to:

• Stand firm on our land, resisting erasure, annexation, displacement, apartheid and genocide through creative and nonviolent means.
• Prepare a renewed collective vision for liberation grounded in unity, justice and human dignity.
• Protect the vulnerable, care for our environment, and cultivate social resilience as expressions of love for our homeland.
• Promote full equality and leadership opportunities for Palestinian women, affirming their essential role in shaping our future.

As Palestinian Christians, we are also called to:

• Nurture a strong Christian presence in the Holy Land, rooted in hope, service and steadfast faith.
• Strengthen relationships between clergy and laity, fostering courage and prophetic discipleship.
• Accompany and support our youth, through education, creativity, sports, culture, and civic engagement, so that their hope remains anchored in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Our Appeal to the Global Church: Recognize, Name, Act

This Christmas, we appeal to you, our sisters and brothers across the world, to join us in truthful, costly and transformative solidarity.

Your prayers are needed, but prayer alone is not enough.

Your solidarity is essential, but symbolic gestures are not enough.

Your actions are urgent, because silence or passivity in the face of genocide is complicity.

I. Five Things International Advocates Must Do

1. Name the Reality Truthfully

Do not call this a “conflict.” Name it for what it is: genocide, settler colonialism and apartheid.

Neutral language perpetuates injustice. Equating oppressor and oppressed is moral evasion.

Speaking the truth is a moral, theological, and human duty.

2. Advocate for Accountability and International Law

Press governments, churches and institutions to:

• Hold Israel accountable under international law. 
• Impose sanctions, boycotts and arms embargoes.
• Support prosecution of war crimes.
• Demand reparations and the right of return.

Reject approaches that spiritualize or depoliticize oppression. Faith requires concrete engagement in the struggle for justice. Peace without justice, dignity and freedom is not the peace of Christ.

3. Reject Theologies that Justify Oppression

Christian Zionism and all theologies that suggest that racism, supremacy, and/or genocide are the will of God must be rejected.

Dialogue with Jewish communities committed to justice is essential, but dialogue that normalizes oppression is not.

Dialogue without justice is empty and harmful.

4. Practice Costly Solidarity

Solidarity must be public, courageous and willing to bear consequences.

Visit us. Witness our reality Amplify our voices. Strengthen our communities.

Silence, delay or cautious diplomacy while people are being killed is a betrayal of faith and humanity.

5. Support Creative, Nonviolent Resistance

Support and participate in movements like the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, as well as other nonviolent strategies grounded in love, justice and principled resistance.

III. Five Concrete Actions the World Can Take Now

1. End Complicity: Divest and Boycott

Urge churches and other faith communities, universities, NGOs, unions and pension funds to divest from companies profiting from occupation and support BDS as a moral, nonviolent tool.

2. Advocate for Sanctions and Political Pressure

Demand suspension of military aid, economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, and recognition of Palestinian statehood and the ongoing genocide.

3. Support and Protect Palestinian Communities

Partner directly with Palestinian churches, schools, hospitals and civil society organizations. Send delegations, not for tourism but to witness truth and report it faithfully.

4. Amplify Palestinian Voices

Center Palestinian theologians, pastors, scholars, activists and victims in your advocacy. Share Kairos Palestine documents widely in churches, universities, seminaries and public forums. Urge media to include Palestinian voices in their reporting and editorial content.

5. Challenge Theologies of Domination

Confront Christian Zionism, repent of institutional complicity, and adopt justice-based theologies rooted in the liberating message of the Gospel.

Our Call: This Christmas, Choose Action

This Christmas, your solidarity is not charity, it is discipleship.

It is not pity, it is partnership.

Standing with us is standing with Christ crucified among the oppressed.

By:

• Visiting our communities,
• Supporting our schools and churches, 
• Speaking truth publicly, 
• Advocating in your parliaments and pulpits, 
• Demanding sanctions and accountability, and 
• Amplifying Palestinian narratives—

you help resurrect hope amid the rubble and participate in the work of liberation.

A Prayer of Hope

This prayer of Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah holds our deepest longing:

God says: peace, life, freedom, justice, and equality. Therefore, we say: we stay. And since God is the Lord of life and death, we will remain. No human decision, however tyrannical, can supersede God’s will. We pray to God to establish His peace and justice in our land and in our hearts, and to keep us in His peace.

Stand with Us. Pray with Us. Act with Our People.

This Christmas, let us choose life over death, truth over silence, justice over fear, and solidarity over complicity.

Let the light of Christ shine through your actions, your advocacy, and your unwavering commitment to justice.

Kairos Palestine

November 2025

Kairos Palestine Vision

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 righteous and righteousness and peace kiss each other (Psalm 85:10).’