The following reflection is written by Hind Khoury, secretary general of Kairos Palestine. Hind was one of the participants at the Nonviolence & Just Peace conference held in Rome in April 2016. (Photo by Gerry Lee, Maryknoll)

Dismantle “dividing walls”: The struggle for justice and peace in Palestine continues
Reflections on the occasion of the World Week for Peace, 18-24 Sept. 2016
Hind Khoury, Kairos Palestine
15 September 2016

The Church in prophetic action:

Together with many good people around the world, Kairos Palestine welcomes the World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel (WWPPI). This call for advocacy and action in support of an end to the occupation aims to liberate the Palestinians from its oppression and to liberate the Israelis themselves from the consequences of its evil upon them. It helps subside the sense of fear and insecurity, builds mutual confidence and hence to construct a just peace. The WWPPI campaign is beautifully supported with resources to guide prayers and actions.

This campaign from the Church is hope in action that we celebrate with joy. This is the proof that while love guides the work of the Church for peace with justice, the prophetic Church stands firm in rejecting evil; the evil of occupation, the evil of discrimination, and the evil of the ‘dividing walls’ of hostility.

In Ephesians, Paul reminds us that Jesus has “abolished the law ..that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of two, thus making peace and …putting to death that hostility through it” (Ephesians 2:16-17).

In this land, the cradle of the three monotheistic religions, Palestinians lived and practiced religious traditions as Christians, Muslims and Jews. This co-existence and pluralism has been transformed into conflict through the imposition of exclusive rights based to a large extent on interpretations of ‘election’ and ‘promise’. The Kairos Palestine document states that the land is God’s land and that ‘any use of the Bible to legitimize or support political options and positions that are based upon injustice,… transform religion into human ideology and strip the world of God of its holiness, its universality and truth.” (KP2.4)

Yet the patterns of injustice seem to prevail in total impunity. Among these patterns are physical barriers such as the Separation Wall and military checkpoints that fragment Palestinian society, a prolonged blockade of Gaza and a complex system of colonial settlements.

Yes, it’s time for Palestinians and Israelis to share a just peace, it’s time for freedom from occupation, it’s time for equal rights and, it’s time for the healing of wounded souls. …

Read the entire statement on the Kairos Palestine website.