Category: News

ByRic Benjamin September 29, 2023 RIC BENJAMIN spends a day walking with a shepherd in the Jordan Valley to protect him from settler attack.  Some people ask why we bother protesting. “Walking and chanting can’t change anything,” they say.  Well, walking with a purpose can have power. I saw it when I joined Rabbis for… Continue reading Making a difference in the Palestinian territories, one flock at a time

 Archbishop Thabo Makgoba issued the following statement on the decision by Provincial Standing Committee to declare Israel an apartheid state.  As people of faith who are distressed by the pain of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza – and who long for security and a just peace for both Palestine and Israel –… Continue reading Archbishop Thabo Makgoba’s statement on the Church’s resolution on Israel/Palestine

Abdullah’s new position may force Israel, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. as well to recognize Jordan’s authority when it comes to the Palestinians. The Jordanian king has a belly full of grudges against Israel, and particularly against Netanyahu, as ties between them suffer from severe frost Haaretz | Zvi Bar’el | Oct 2, 2023 Jordanian… Continue reading Analysis | Saudi Progress With Israel ‘Parachutes Over Palestine,’ Leaving Jordan’s Abdullah Frustrated

(The Australian, 27/9/2023) ( https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/saudi-envoy-seeks-to-reassure-palestinians-amid-talks-with-israel/news-story/c0c0e38973774326558388a1528da2f4 ) Saudi Arabia on Tuesday sent its first delegation in three decades to the occupied West Bank to reassure Palestinians that it will defend their cause even as it forges closer ties with Israel.  In a sign of the thaw, Israel’s Tourism Minister Haim Katz visited Riyadh on the same day,… Continue reading Saudi envoy seeks to reassure Palestinians amid Israel talks

A group of illegal Jewish settlers, escorted by Israeli soldiers, hurled stones at Palestinian farmers while they were in their own lands. Illegal Israeli Jewish settlers assaulted on Wednesday Palestinian farmers in the village of in the village of Umm Safa, northwest of the city of Ramallah, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. Marwan… Continue reading Israeli Jewish Settlers Assault Palestinian Farmers near Ramallah

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process on Wednesday expressed deep concern over the relentless expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. During the last three months, more than 10,000 housing units were advanced, Tor Wennesland told ambassadors at the UN Security Council in New York. “Settlements further entrench… Continue reading Israeli settlements ‘systematically erode’ viability of Palestinian State

A bomb explodes during clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli security forces east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip near the Israel-Gaza border fence on September 23, 2023. (AFP) Israel has imposed an air, land and sea blockade on the impoverished Palestinian enclave ever since the Islamist group Hamas seized control in 2007 GAZA… Continue reading Israel strikes Gaza again amid new violence at border

Posted 7h ago7 hours ago (ABC Australia, 25/9/2023) ( https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-24/israeli-forces-kill-two-palestinians-in-west-bank-raid-hamas-eme/102895468 ) Israeli forces have killed two Palestinians, including a fighter of the Hamas group, during a raid on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, emergency workers and Hamas said. Key points: The Nur Shams camp near Tulkarm was raided in the early hours of Sunday morning Israeli… Continue reading Two Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in ‘counter-terrorism activity’ in West Bank

In our last blog we commented on Archbishop Welby’ September 6th lecture about “Reconciliation” in the Middle East. Archbishop Welby meeting Benjamin Netanyahu The event was organised by Embrace the Middle East and hosted by St. Martins in the Fields, London, as part of a series that takes as its theme the words of Martin… Continue reading Archbishop, “you stand on unfirm ground”

One night in 2005, Israeli soldiers came for Huda Dahbour’s teenage son. He was gone for a year and a half. The damage done to their family – and so many others like them – was incalculable The Guardian | Nathan Thrall | 21 Sep 2023 This is an edited extract from A Day in… Continue reading ‘A hidden universe of suffering’: the Palestinian children sent to jail