Called to bear witness

“As Holy Week approaches, we stand between Gethsemane and Gaza. We are called to remain awake when others sleep, to bear witness when witnessing itself becomes a heavy burden… And may we, like those ancient olive trees, stand firmly rooted in witness to both suffering and the courage to name it.” – Shadia Qubti, “Let this cup pass”

Virtual Solidarity Evening & Art Auction

On Saturday, May 3 at 7:00 PM Eastern Time, CFOS is hosting a special Virtual Solidarity Evening & Art Auction. This event will raise funds for our ongoing work of solidarity with our Palestinian siblings and offer music, poetry, prayers, and reflections on personal experiences of solidarity. We welcome donations of Palestinian artwork, as well as art pieces from allies here in Canada, toward this cause. Please plan to join on May 3 and invite your friends! Details are available here.

Take action for justice and peace

For an inspiring example of concrete personal action, we direct readers to the 40-day fast of Mairead Maguire for the children of Gaza. See her brief video on Facebook explaining the purpose and message of her fast. Mairead Maguire won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 as a co-founder of Women for Peace, an organization dedicated to bringing a just and peaceful end to the conflict in Northern Ireland. For more information, including how you can act in solidarity with Mairead, visit the website of Pax Christi USA, here. 

We also refer you to a new Take Action Tool Kit created by CFOS to inspire learning and action for peace and justice in Palestine. Please read it, download it, and share it with others. Available here.

Palestine and the federal election

How will you vote on April 28 to best support the cause of a just peace in Palestine? Several organizations are urging the visibility of Palestinian issues during the federal campaign. They differ in their focus, their analyses, and their policies.

We invite you to consult Vote Palestine. Their platform has been developed in consultation with a broad array of Palestinian organizations and includes the following demands:

• Impose a two-way arms embargo on Israel,

• End Canadian involvement in illegal Israeli settlements,

• Address anti-Palestinian racism and protect freedom of expression on Palestine,

• Recognize the State of Palestine,

• Protect and fund Gaza relief efforts, including UNRWA.

Their website includes a candidate questionnaire and a list of endorsing organizations. Find out if candidates in your riding have endorsed the Vote Palestine platform. If they have not, encourage them to do so. 

Another election aid for Canadian voters is Kairos Canada’s Election Toolkit 2025, published here. Among many important issues, it lists five questions on Palestine and Israel for candidates. One of them is, “What will you do to support Palestinian self-determination and end the occupation as conditions for just and enduring peace in the region?”

Recognition for those in the struggle

CFOS extends congratulations to Omar Haramy and our own Rana Atie for recent awards.

Omar Haramy, director of Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, has been awarded the 5th annual Berrigan-McAlister Award presented by the Catholic Studies Department of DePaul University in Chicago. The award honours “those whose acts of Christian nonviolence...resist injustice, transform conflict, foster reconciliation, and seek justice and peace for all.” A hybrid award presentation ceremony will be held May 12 at DePaul University. For more information and to register to attend, click here.

Rana Atie is an artist, in addition to serving as executive director of CFOS. Her work has been included in a UNHCR Canada interactive gallery of work on the theme of “Hope Away from Home.” The gallery includes works, in various media, by 20 artists from across the globe who are currently living in Canada. View it here. Rana’s work is an acrylic painting entitled, "Flowers of Resistance," created in 2024.

An accompanying poem includes these words:

Resilient bright red poppy flowers grow,

The souls of every man, woman, and child.

They are the resistance songs of tomorrow.

Resources for Holy Week and Easter

We strongly recommend Sabeel’s booklet Holy Week with Gaza, downloadable here. It explores “Christ’s teachings within the historical and present-day adversities faced by our Palestinian community, particularly in Gaza. Holy Week does not only symbolize suffering and anguish but also Jesus’ approach of kindness, nonviolence, and, ultimately, resurrection—offering solace and motivation.”

Re-visit the CFOS website for previously published video resources to nourish your Lenten and Holy Week spiritual growth. View, for example, Contemplative Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, produced in 2022 and also viewable on YouTube here.

A sermon by Shadia Qubti, entitled, “Let this cup pass,” explores the meaning of Jesus’ vigil at Gethsemane in the context of today’s Garden of Gethsemane in East Jerusalem, and her own childhood experience of the olive harvest. Though Jesus’ disciples

slept, today “We are called to remain awake when others sleep, to bear witness when witnessing itself becomes a heavy burden.” She asserts, “And may we, like those ancient olive trees, stand firmly rooted in witness to both suffering and the courage to name it.” Find the sermon here.

Recent words from Palestinian partners

An eloquent Easter letter by an eminent Christian ecumenical think tank of Jerusalemites, Jerusalem Voice for Justice, is addressed to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank; secondly to “those around the globe who see our wounds but do not speak out”; and finally “to those Jews and Christians who have been led to believe that God wants Israel to annex our homeland”:

“We want to state clearly that you have been misguided. All, Palestinians and Israelis, are created in the image and likeness of God. They are all equal in dignity and rights. Furthermore, our God is a God of love who abhors violence and loves all God’s children.”

Read the complete letter here, on the website of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cape Town, South Africa, arguably the leading voice among the world’s nations for justice for Palestinians.

In December 2024, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) released Translate Hate, a guide to antisemitism, prepared jointly with the American Jewish Committee. The full USCCB document is here. 

In a letter of response dated March 25, 2025, Kairos Palestine delivers an ecumenical critique of and protest against the Bishops. Among its observations:

• The document was “adopted without any form of consultation with Palestinian Christians, rendering us invisible and nonexistent in a discourse that directly impacts our lives and communities.”

• It negates also the immense injustices inflicted upon Palestinians, including the indigenous Christian community whose presence in the Holy Land is on the verge of extinction.

• The document claims that accusations of settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing in Palestine are “categorically false,” disregarding overwhelming evidence from organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B’Tselem, and many Israeli historians.

• Furthermore, the document’s selective portrayal of history omits the staggering Palestinian casualties in Israel’s wars against our people in their quest for freedom.

The letter is signed by Kairos Palestine's Board of Directors and 16 ecumenical leaders, including Rifat Kassis, Munther Isaac, Mitri Raheb, Michel Sabbah, and Omar Haramy of Sabeel. Find the full text here.