Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), a coalition of more than 30 national churches and organizations, including the United Church of Christ, marked a milestone in its collective pursuit of peace, celebrating its 40th anniversary at the annual Advocacy Summit held last month in Washington D.C.
The celebratory champagne, though, wasn’t flowing freely as this year’s gathering carried the burgeoning weight of the ongoing crisis in Gaza. According to the Rev. Dr. Peter Makari, global relations minister for the Middle East and Europe for Global Ministries, the CMEP Summit, scheduled months before the escalation of violence in the Middle East, was “originally imagined to highlight the four decades of witness of churches through Churches for Middle East Peace.” But the present moment was much more pressing.
“The situation in Gaza and Israel/Palestine that prevails is more evidence why the churches need to continue to be as involved as we have been,” said Makari, who hosted a conversation with the Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, leading Palestinian theologian, author and founder of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem. Raheb shared the inspiring ways the university’s Gaza branch was caring for the community, even after it was destroyed in the fighting.
Raheb, though, had something more pressing to discuss. As president and founder of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem, he shared how the university’s Gaza branch, which focused on empowering artists in Gaza, was destroyed just a few weeks before the start of the summit. Raheb spoke of the impact of Israel’s war on Gaza on Dar al-Kalima’s branch campus, noting not just the destruction, but the inspiring ways that the faculty were continuing to offer support and care for the community.
“He also challenged us to be open to new ways of activism, suggesting that the American Christian community can engage with other communities to be effective,” said Makari. Helen Smith, international policy advocate for the United Church of Christ, Washington D.C. office, was among the participants being challenged in new ways. This was Smith’s first time attending the CMEP summit and she found it “overwhelmingly powerful” given the current state of the Middle East.
“I was in awe and abundantly grateful for the Palestinians from the West Bank that took the risk of coming to the U.S. in the moment as the apartheid against their families, friends and people as a whole has escalated so drastically in the last six months,” said Smith, adding that beyond the “heartbreaking” stories, where were also moments of laughter and encouragement.
“Churches for Middle East Peace has clearly lasted for 40 years, not only because it is a vital resource, but because of the organizations ability to unite us in faith, empathy, understanding and justice,” she said.
Read more at UCC.org.