Courageous Love Standing Together: An Update from our Women€¦ · joint action. Standing Together: An Update from our Women On Friday, the 11th of July, Palestinian and Israeli

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me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention arises. Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds.” The prophet was distressed by the wickedness, a lack of justice, and the breakdown of the legal system.

His words are similarly echoed around the world and especially here in the middle of our chaotic and violent Middle East.

In Habakkuk’s mind, God was not involved in history. Evil men were successful and in control, and people were terrified by what was going on around them. He began to wonder what more could these human beings do to other human beings. These overwhelming circumstances lead to anxiety, powerlessness, and much hopelessness. But, we see throughout the book of Habakkuk how God answers his cries.

Our hope, life, faith, and actions should not be controlled by the surrounding circumstances. It is true that they do affect us and have an impact on us, but we should not allow the temporal affairs of this world to control our thoughts.

Habakkuk learned not to look at the world as someone lost in the midst of a tornado, but rather to rise above the chaos and see the world from above. God has an interest in history and is constantly working in the people that he has created. Even when we do not see a way out there is hope and he will bring change. God reveals to us how we are

Summer Camps

Courageous Love

Standing Together

In this issue...

Whenever we turn on the TV, we see terrible accounts of what is occurring throughout our region. There is increasing instability, and Middle Eastern states are breaking down. And to look beyond our context, one cannot help but see the ruin of society worldwide with the conflict in Ukraine, violence, refugees, and heart-breaking pictures of children attempting to flee the mayhem.

The past several months have been more heated than usual in Israel and Palestine. Before the outbreak of violence, Palestinians prisoners launched a hunger strike in protest to their detainment without trial. Some say this is part of the background to the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers. Military raids and curfews followed in villages throughout the West Bank. A Palestinian teenager was murdered in Jerusalem, and riots broke out intermittently. Israel and Hamas entered into a new round of violence, further escalating the already heated situation.

Yet, we find a similar situation in 612 BC during the time of the prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk lived during a time of oppressive measures and cruel violence, where there was a collapse of the legal system, and wars all around him.

The Middle East at that time was in turmoil. Habakkuk was burdened by what he saw. His heart was broken by what was taking place in his society. He wanted to know why God wasn’t intervening. In Habakkuk 1:1-4 he pleads, “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear? Even cry out to You, Violence! And you will not save. Why do you show

to look, see, act, and behave and he shows us that we are not subject to the evil of human deeds.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 encourages us to trust God even when we feel weak and powerless. When Habakkuk says, “The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and he will make me walk on my high places,” he is embracing God’s perspective on the world. Here he realizes that God is working in history and his justice will prevail.

Like Habakkuk, we too need to look at the chaos around us with the eyes of God and with the eyes of faith. To those proclaiming the goodness of God, continue to do so and do not become overwhelmed by the challenges and violence that exist. God is present, and he will not abandon us to despair. He has a message and a plan for our present, and in following him, we can be agents of change in the midst of the chaos.

Salim J. Munayer, Ph.DMusalaha Director

God in the Midst of Chaos, the message of Habakkuk

Fall 2014

Dear Ladies,

I pray that my letter finds you well.

I know the past weeks were not the greatest weeks of our lives, but I can say that we learned so much. These days are good days for all of us to leave the situation to the Lord because negotiations are taking place and nothing is happening yet, but I trust that if we all seek the Lord we will pass this time and make it to the end. War is not giving us as Palestinians nor you as Israelis any benefit, on the contrary it is killing innocent people especially children who are angels in the eyes of our Lord.

Please know that we love you and this will not stop our fellowship, I just want you to also keep in mind we are never enemies, we are the children of the Lord and we need to stand with one another. Let us put our hands together to press for peace. This is what the Lord wants us to do rather than keep surfing for bad news against one another.

Hedva and I have been in contact trying to put things together for both peoples. The Palestinian women will try to gather some aids, whether materialistic (clothes and food) or money to give to the children of Gaza. At the same time we do not want you or your people to be left out so I ask on behalf of the Palestinians HOW can we help besides praying for you all. I will wait any feedback from you about this matter.

Again, pray for peace and please know that your pain is our pain. Also, I urge you to call one another, pray and ask about each other

In the love of Jesus,Shireen on behalf of the Palestinian Women

A number of the women from Musalaha have taken the initiative to bless the Israeli and Palestinian communities during these difficult times. All lives are precious and a gift from God, and it is sad to know that so many are no longer with us, and many suffer injuries and trauma that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. A few of our women have organized gifts and supplies for injured Gazans in Jerusalem hospitals, and have visited them, and purchased medicines. There is a desire to try and bring a little encouragement to those who are suf-

fering, while meet-ing tangible needs. We also seek to encourage the fam-ilies of the fallen Messianic soldiers, and let them know that we feel for them in their loss. All of these initia-tives have come from our women, and we are encour-aged by these efforts of mutual compassion and joint action.

Standing Together: An Update from our Women

On Friday, the 11th of July, Palestinian and Israeli Musalaha women gathered at various locations in courageous fellowship during the esca-lating violence between the two sides. The women, empowered by their desire for peace, came together to pray, worship and encourage one another to be ambassadors for fellowship and reconciliation. Thirty women met on the outskirts of Jerusalem, sixteen in Nazareth, some in Netanya, a few in Haifa and we were joined by supporters on three continents who interceded with us at the same time.

“We want to see an end to violence. Hallas. No more violence against each other,” an Israeli woman proclaimed. Not only was the very presence of the women at this meeting coura-geous, when many meetings and scheduled events were cancelled in light of the current situation, but their victorious exclamations of an overcoming God illustrated their commitment to pursue love.

In Nazareth, the women went from praise and worship to prayer and back again as they felt each of their prayers rising to heaven and their cries being heard by God.

“We choose to say ‘No’ to fears. We choose to say ‘Yes’ to love. We choose Your courage, Your love, Your faithfulness,” a Palestinian woman prayed with authority. “We want peace in this land, but first we need peace in our hearts.”

The walls were shaken by the cries of these women’s hearts. Beauty was revealed moments before their powerful prayers as the women wor-shipped, side by side, singing praises to a God who is in control. They raised up their voices in Hebrew, Arabic and English, uniting with one another through their diversity in language and culture.

“Fellowship between believers is sacred, it’s holy. This is the thing we sin against most,” said Musalaha Director Dr. Salim J. Munayer as he started the morning off with words of encouragement. Just outside the walls of the prayer meeting, an entire conflict depicted relationships that have been forsaken. Religious Zealouts try to pursue their own goals, Saddu-cees strive to keep their place, and Pharisees rely on their own strength and works to achieve change.

Jesus’ challenge to these religious groups of people is mirrored in the challenge of having fellowship, peace and relations amongst Palestinians and Israelis today. While the Pharisees developed books on prayer and demonstrated theological knowledge, Jesus, the one they had been wait-ing and praying for, was standing before their very eyes saying, “Here I am! Look at me!”

So easily today, when struggle occurs, we are quick to default to our inner Pharisee and go into ritualistic practices aimed to “Get to God.” But Jesus said it is what is within our heart that is important.

Munayer reminded the women, “If you love God, you love your brothers and sisters and have fellowship with them. You have truth.” But, “If you say you have fellowship with Him but are hurting others, you lie. You cannot love one without the other.”

This was a day where the fellowship of Christ poured out into all the fear-less women gathered at this meeting. In the midst of their time together, women living in the West Bank split to one side of the room while the women from Jerusalem and surrounding Israeli towns gathered on the other side. The two groups wrote supportive scriptures to one another and placed it on a very significant gift to exchange. In this loving gesture, Palestinian women gave Israeli women a bottle of olive oil from olive trees in the West Bank, while Israeli women gave large cases of water to the Palestinian women (a symbolic gesture to counter the shortage of water which is normal in the West Bank). Christ’s love spread in and through each woman as she passed her special gift to a woman from the

other side, and embraced her with a compassionate hug.

In Haifa, Netanya and Nazareth, the women prayed all morning, enjoying their fellowship together. Finally at 12:30, the group leader in the Nazareth women’s meet-ing asked if anyone was hungry. They broke for a meal together and stayed and chatted for many hours – no one was in a hurry to go back to their bomb shelters and news reports.

“There is no fear in love, but per-fect love casts out all fear,” (1 John 4:18) Munayer quoted. It is easy to

get overwhelmed by the darkness in our news, the struggle with injustice and the sadness of human suffering. But it is in the Spirit of God that we proclaim “Greater than he who is in the world” and by this, “Love is perfected within us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judg-ment” (1 John 4:17).

As believers, we have the power and ability to love God and to love others fearlessly. On a day that most groups would be cancelling meetings in fear of the current situation, these Musalaha women chose to be coura-geous, and let the God who conquers all darkness, be the shining light through fellowship and reconciliation.

One Israeli woman showed her courageous love as she interceded on behalf of mothers, children and families in Gaza, living in the pain and suffering of devastating fear and loss, and facing the destruction of rubble and ashes. She placed herself in the shoes of Gazans and stood in the gap for their hurts.

When the women were asked what their biggest fear was at the start of this gathering, a Palestinian woman said she was afraid “Not to speak words of God in this situation and not be a light.” The woman made a point to cover this fear in prayer later, asking that God would be bigger in their hearts than their offenses and to fill them with a love that is His love.

The Musalaha women prayed that Palestinians and Israelis would reach out their hands towards each other and pursue love. They left with a joyous countenance, a passion to love their neighbor, and a strengthened sense of courage and confidence to be the light of peace and change in their communities.

By Kaitlyn Barnhill

Courageous Love“We choose to say ‘No’ to fears. We choose to say ‘Yes’ to love. We choose Your courage,

Your love, Your faithfulness.”

It is a hot summer day in July. Children gather in the concrete playground of the school where we are holding our camp. Mothers and fathers kiss their kids goodbye for the afternoon as children squeamishly wiggle away. Their eyes spark at the crowd of familiar and new faces. They are all similarly dressed in a cool pair of shorts and shoes for play. They expectantly wait for all 85 children from Bethlehem and the surrounding areas to arrive. They greet one another and gather in circles, eyes looking from side to side, waiting for the first sign of a soccer ball or basketball to roll by. They are completely unaware of the hundreds of balloons being filled with water behind the scenes and the fun that awaits them.

Then suddenly, when all the children were present and all the parents have left, it was as if the clouds of heaven shadowed the playground and poured out every kind of ball a kid could imagine. Loud music ignited the energized emo-tion in that moment. Children yelled for joy; counselors ran around dancing and playing. It was official – the Beit Sahour Children’s Camp had begun!

Musalaha’s children’s camp in Beit Sahour was given the theme “Four Seasons Camp” this year. The children were split up into groups based on seasons, fall, summer, spring and winter, with a colored shirt to emphasize the season they belonged to for the week. Throughout the day the groups rotated from one fun-filled activity to the next. There was a certain glow that lit up a child’s face when yellow, pink, orange and blue water balloons appeared in a large clear bucket. “Water games are my favorite part about camp!,” one of the children exclaimed. The kids grouped into two teams, both sides holding a bed sheet to toss the water balloon. Every now and then a group would miss and the entire team would be splashed, giving them the quickest and most thrilling way to cool off in the summer sun.

It was quite apparent which other event fueled the kids with the most energy and excitement, Zumba, the dancing class. Along with the afternoon heat wave came an afternoon dancing frenzy. The whole camp caught the dancing bug. Not only were kids singing and moving along to choreographed dances, but every shade and snack break the kids just couldn’t stop the dancing. As soon as a song came on, the children and the leaders congregated for more steps and twirls.

The whole camp coming together and dancing was such a beautiful sight to see. There were many international volunteers leading the camp who had lim-ited conversational abilities with the children due to language barriers, and could mainly help through action. But when it came time for dancing, it was one language that was universally known. It was something everyone in the camp could share together. Even the children who were very shy at first came vibrantly alive in these moments and laughed, smiled and danced!

There were many other opportunities in the week for the children to come alive and explore creative abilities. In arts and crafts, leaders were able to sit down with the kids in a cool room and teach them fun, do-it-yourself projects like popsicle-stick picture frames, Hawaiian lei necklaces, and star-shaped sunglasses. Each child had an opportunity to design their own creation and take it home to remember their time at camp.

In light of the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Hamas, the children were able to step away from the conflict affecting their community and step into a world where they can simply be kids. They could laugh, run, play, dance and sing in the way God made them to do. This camp gave Palestinian children an opportunity to live and enjoy life the way a kid knows best. The smiling face of a child is an inspiring hope for all human beings. Jesus said, “Be like little children.” (Matt. 18: 1-4). Children smile at the sight of a soccer ball, they laugh when dancing, and they live freely and fully in the present. In a time when we can find many reasons to fear, children give us every reason to have hope and joy.

By Kaitlyn Barnhill

Each year, Musalaha holds one camp in Is-rael for Israeli and Palestinian children. Since many of our Musalaha children are growing up and still want to participate in our camps, we decided to hold two camps in Israel this year, one for junior youth ages 12-14 and our regular camp for children ages 8-11.

This year as we approached the Musalaha camps, Is-rael was in the midst of an ongoing operation in Gaza result-ing in daily military at-tacks by the IDF, and Israel faced daily rocket attacks by Hamas. We faced new fears by Israeli and Palestin-ian parents questioning whether to send their children. Israeli parents were afraid of the possibility that the camp location might be hit by rockets coming from Gaza. Palestinian par-ents were afraid of the possibility of an attack at the camp location by right wing extremists targeting Palestinians. Both fears were very strong, especially since Israeli and Palestin-ian media outlets fed these fears. Additional-ly, I myself was afraid of the dan-ger and re-sponsibility I hold over the chil-dren and my team of counsel-lors. Initial-

Envisioning and Living a Better Present:A Reflection on this Year’s

Musalaha Camps ly I thought that the camps will be can-celled because of the political situation.

This camp is one of my favorite projects that I look forward to each year. I enjoy planning it and it is an understatement to simply say I was disappointed as I con-

templated the reality that our camps might not take place. After studying the situation and taking into account key sources, we decided that both our camps in the Baptist Village would be held as planned.

The first fear I had to overcome was my own. I had to overcome my fear of this cycle of violence, and put it in the right perspec-tive. In the process of doing that, I realized what it means that our conflict is an intractable one. In part, it means that our political leaders are not interested in solving this conflict in the same way I would want it solved. I questioned why then they should be allowed to control my response to this

cycle.

So, my conclusion was that I ei-ther allow this fear to paralyze or mobilize my response to this conflict. My fear can paralyze me by letting our leaders dictate how

and when we, Israeli and Pal-e s t i n i a n believers, meet each other. We s h o u l d wait until the fight-ing is over and there is no more

violence to meet again. We should only meet when our leaders allow it. On the other hand, my fear can mobilize me and my commitment to meet despite what our leaders are dictating to us. During trying times, they often call us to identify with our national and ethnic group, and that loyalty is expected to exceed all oth-ers. By isolating ourselves from contact with the other, we allow our society to dictate what

our brothers and sisters are experiencing and feeling.

To go against your society is the harder choice for several reasons. First, it is hard because I am asked to bypass the fear that my society builds in me. If you grow up here, you are well aware that each side believes there is no partner for peace. “They are not interested in a peace. We gave them so many chances,” is what each side will say about the other side.

At the camp this summer, one Israeli child bor-rowed a counsellors’ head band and put it on his face and said “Look! I’m an Arab terrorist!”

Our image of the other side is crystalized at a young age, and our natural response is collec-tive fear of the other side. And this is where we can use this chance to plants seeds of change. Sana, the counselor who heard his comment, took this young boy aside and had a conver-sation with him about making generalizations and breaking stereotypes. She stated that when he generalizes about Arabs, that hurt her feelings because she is an Arab. The child understood what he had said and apologized, and that was the end of it.

Second, it is hard to go against society be-cause we are dependent on others to succeed. The camp cannot happen without children or counsellors. I may be willing to overcome my fears surrounding the camp, but would the parents do so too? Much of the success of this camp relies on the parents who courageously trust our judgment, and send their children to our camp. This is a loud statement that we, as a seg-ment of believ-ers, stand firm together de-spite these dark times. Through our ten years of work in chil-dren’s camps, we have been successful in creating a com-munity where Israeli and Palestinian parents send their children to a reconciliation camp. We acknowledge and appreciate the parents who send their children regularly, and espe-cially this summer.

Finally, it is hard because of the physical fear itself. During the camp we heard sirens. We

were well-prepared for them, and all of the children and staff were in the safe room on time before we heard the Iron Dome launch its anti-missiles to strike down the rockets.

Similar to sleep-ing time, Pales-tinian and Israeli children were in the same room together with their counsellors. They would wait in the room lying on the floor with their hands over their heads for ten minutes. And during this time,

the counsellors decided how they would pass the time. Some of the counsellors decided to pray together, others decided to sing, and others to play a game. It didn’t matter who these children were, they were sharing the same experience. One of the children noted, “At first I was nervous when we were under our beds, waiting on the boom, but then we started singing ‘Jesus Loves Me,’ and when we sang ‘We are weak but He is strong,’ I knew He was strong enough to take care of us, and then I was comforted.”

After the ten minute wait, I would knock on the doors to the rooms and ask them to come out. There wasn’t a single room where I saw tears, but

rather smiles and laughter. It was as if nothing had hap-pened and the pro-gram would contin-ue. I was inspired by the children’s level of resilience and read-justment.

We have many rea-sons to fear in times of conflict, and at the same time we have many opportuni-ties to transform this fear into a glimpse of hope to those

around us. One of the counselors summarized this with a moving observation. In this camp we had an Israeli counselor whose brother had just been deployed to Gaza with his army unit, and in the same room we had a Palestin-ian camper whose grandparents live in Gaza. This counselor took care of this camper and watched over him all day.

There is no other camp in our community that brings together Israeli and Palestinian children, especially not in times like these. I am proud to have been part of this camp, and grateful that I had the support and encour-agement to face my fears. There are hopeful opportunities awaiting us if we are willing to stand up to the challenges in front of us. Our societies offered us fear and division, but in the Messiah, we envisioned and lived out a better present that can make a difference to-ward a better future.

By Shadia Qubti

Summer fun at Beit Sahour Camp

“It was a privilege to bring some of the young people from my church over to work together with local people in delivering a camp for the children of the area. Working and eating with the locals and making friends enabled us all to hear first-hand about the situation, how it affects them and the difference that it makes in their lives. We were blown over by the Palestinian hospitality and the welcome that we received from all – both at the camp from the leaders and the families and also as we walked the streets of Bethlehem. It was certainly a life changing experience for all of us who came and if you are willing to go and serve then I guarantee that you will get a lot

more out of it than you can ever give.”-Jo Smith, St. Peter’s Church, Haliwell, UK