Friends of Sabeel North America has a Colorado chapter and when Tessa Bielecki and I learned of their fact-finding pilgrimage to Israel/Palestine May 12-26, 2007, we decided to go. It was a heartrending yet hopeful excursion. We learned so much from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim peacemakers.

The horror unleashed last October 7, followed by the continuing horror of genocidal violence in Israel/Palestine leaves many of us on the brink of despair. Sabeel posts a “Wave of Prayer” regularly on their web site, and September twelfth’s prayer begins,

“Divine Protector, how much despair can our people take? As we lose our loved ones, our homes, and our livelihoods, we cry out before You. Grant us the strength to resist oppression with dignity and the hope to continue striving for peace.”

Although the prayer grows out of Palestinians’ ongoing experience in Gaza, recent violence in the West Bank inspired this specific supplication.

Longhurst’s reflections on Sabeel and Ateek took me back to the fall of 2006, when Sabeel invited PLO Mission Ambassador Afif Safiyeh to speak at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Colorado Springs. Safiyeh is one of the two percent of Palestinians who are Christian. He spoke about the peace process and recounted the myriad difficulties Palestinians undergo, including the daily loss of eight million man hours passing through 650 checkpoints in order to work or go to school or find medical help. I wanted to see firsthand what Safiyeh described. And Sabeel got my attention in a special way by reminding me that Jesus lived in occupied territory. So we joined that 2007 fact-finding trip.

Sabeel grew out of Palestinians’ longing to understand their situation from a Christian perspective. They were disillusioned with a “spirituality” that taught them that their lot is to suffer. They convened for the first time in 1990 at Bethlehem’s Tantur Ecumenical Institute. They now focus their energies on six areas: community, youth, women, clergy, international outreach, and annual events that include ecumenical celebrations.

Friends of Sabeel–North America seeks peace and justice in the Holy Land through non-violence and education. They co-sponsor regional educational conferences, alternative pilgrimages, witness trips, and international gatherings in the Holy Land.

Our 2007 Sabeel witness trip included visiting the West Bank and hearing Palestinians describe their many losses as well as their hopes. They refused to consider themselves victims. They were committed to non-violence. Read Tessa’s reflections on our trip here.

As the October 7 anniversary approaches, what can we do to end this current calamity and move toward healing? We watch antisemitism and Islamophobia increase. Both are toxic. As I noted last March, we witness three billion dollars of our taxes going annually to assist Israel’s military while we give no aid to Palestinians, who are stateless. We mourn the deaths of 12 hundred Israelis and 40 thousand Palestinians, 16 thousand of whom were women and children. We mourn the 221 United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) colleagues who have been killed since October 2023.

I recently wrote my congressman, asking him to resume American aid to UNRWA. He noted that last January, “The United States was joined by our allies in Great Britain, Germany, Australia, stalling all contributions to the UNRWA, which provides resources to Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.” He did not mention that the United States is the only one of those countries that has not resumed support for UNRWA. Nor did he note that on August 5 the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services completed its investigation of nineteen UNRWA workers accused of aiding Hamas in its attack on Israel. Ten workers were exonerated and nine were fired.

Sixty House representatives support restoration of support for UNRWA. You may want to urge your representative to pledge support, too. “Without these funds,” writes UNRWA’s Lein Soltan, “millions of refugees from Gaza to Lebanon will lose life-saving assistance.”

Given my representative’s failure to note the present situation regarding UNRWA, maybe education itself is one important action we can all take. An old acquaintance recently admonished me to “know your history,” regarding Israel/Palestine and he’s right. We need to learn the history and share it. But that’s easier said than done. Many of us elderly people grew up with the myth of Leon Uris’s Exodus, believing it was an accurate history of Israel’s birth in 1948. If you are in this group, I recommend reading The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi. It is not fiction. Or watch this enlightening interview with Khalidi.

Finally, you may wish to donate to the Friends of Sabeel or  to UNRWA.

While Mark Longhurst’s reflections on Ateek Naim took me back to the beauty of discovering Sabeel and its mission, recent days have also reminded me of a tragic death in Israel/Palestine in 2003. That’s the year 23-year-old American Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer as she protested the destruction of Palestinian homes by Israeli forces. Twenty-one years later, on September 6, Israeli forces shot and killed 26-year-old Egyptian-American Aysenur Eygi after a protest sponsored by the International Solidarity Movement. Eygi was part of regular protests against illegal settlements near the West Bank town of Beita. Prayer was the protesters’ main activity.

The Arabic word sabeel means “a way,” “a spring” or “a watercourse.” It reminds me of the Spanish word acequia, an irrigation ditch that brings life-giving water to arid land. Ironically, the word acequia derives from the Arabic al-saqiyah. The Arab and Berber Muslims of medieval Spain introduced the very irrigation practices that continue today in the American Southwest.

Please pray with us that by the grace of God and through peacemakers’ brave efforts living waters may flow to a Holy Land thirsting for justice, mercy, and lasting peace.

The photo above includes an image of a tapestry in Sabeel’s offices in Jerusalem. Photo by Tessa Bielecki. Background photo by Anita Austvika for Unsplash.