Over a year ago I drew attention to the 2023 Christmas sermon given so eloquently by the Reverend Munther Isaac in Bethlehem.
It seems unbelievable that the slaughter of the innocents continues; that the calculated genocide pursued by the Zionist Israeli government remains its official policy, afforded succour and ammunition on a daily basis by the USA, the UK and the EU.
With a heavy heart I can do no more than offer the Reverend’s 2024 calm. yet anguished reflection on the situation facing Palestinians today. I can but weep.
“‘Never again’ should mean never again to all peoples,” Munther says in his sermon. “‘Never again’ has become ‘yet again’ — yet again to supremacy, yet again to racism and yet again to genocide. And sadly, ‘never again’ has become yet again for the weaponization of the Bible and the silence and complicity of the Western church, yet again for the church siding with power, the church siding with the empire.”
“So, today, after all this, of total destruction, annihilation, Gaza is erased — millions have become refugees and homeless, tens of thousands killed. And why is anyone still debating whether this is a genocide or not?”
“We’re still seeing images of children pulled from under the rubble. It’s unthinkable to me that it’s been more than 14 months now into this genocide, and we’re still seeing the same images. It seems like we’re powerless, and it seems that the world is content with letting this go on. And here in the West Bank, as we watch from Bethlehem what’s happening in Ramallah or Hebron, we wonder, ‘Are we next?’ Israel has made it clear they plan to annex the West Bank next year. What would this mean on the ground?”
“Our fear here in Bethlehem is that there is no one who’s going to hold Israel accountable.”
Yes, it has been 440 days. It is 440 days of Palestinians’ resilience, sumud. Indeed, it is 76 years of sumud. But we have not and will not lose hope. Yes, it is 76 years of an ongoing Nakba, but it is also 76 years of Palestinian sumud, clinging to our rights and justice of our cause, 76 years of praying and singing for peace. I was thinking about it. We are stubborn people. We continue to pray for peace year after year after year, and sing about peace, and we will continue to do so. And we will continue to echo the words of the angels, “Glory to God in the highest, peace on Earth.”
As for an ageing, irreconcilable atheist like myself I can but pledge my unswerving support for the Palestinian cause and with the good Reverend pray for ‘peace on earth’.
CHATTING CRITICALLY 