PRAYERS FOR ISRAEL
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Seeking Peace in Israel-Palestine Statement from the WDC Israel Palestine Task Force As people committed to nonviolence, MennoPIN and the Israel Palestine Task Force of Western District Conference (Mennonite Church USA) strongly condemn the current violence carried out both by Hamas and by the Israeli military. MennoPIN and the WDC Israel Palestine Task Force urge an immediate ceasefire between Hamas and Israel and call on the United States and the wider international community to support a diplomatic solution to the situation at hand. MennoPIN and the Israel Palestine Task Force likewise recognize that the Hamas attack was not unprovoked. For decades the people of Palestine have been oppressed by the violence and occupation of Israel’s form of apartheid that includes home demolitions, child detentions, separation walls, settler colonialism and violence, seizures of land and controls over water and food supplies. And Gaza has been an open-air prison where Israel controls how much water, electricity and food Gazans can have. The extreme measures taken by the recent Netanyahu ultra-right government have made life increasingly hostile for Palestinians. The praxis of U.S. one-sided and national interest driven diplomacy and unwillingness to effectively address the apartheid reality have contributed deeply to these extreme measures. Additionally, the Biden administration’s attempts to normalize diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel have become the final straw for the militant Palestinian resistance. Ultimately, hopelessness breeds violence. We pray for leadership that has the courage to address the problems, injustices and racism that perpetuates this violence. We especially pray for wisdom and restraint between Hamas and the Israeli government. |