June 26, 2025
Qassam Muaddi
Burnt-out vehicles at the scene of an attack by Israeli settlers, in the
village of Burqa north of the West Bank city of Nablus, May 16, 2025On Wednesday afternoon, dozens of
Israeli settlers attacked Kufr Malek in groups, setting fire to houses and
properties. During the attack, Israeli settlers killed three Palestinians and
wounded nine others. The victims were identified as Lutfi Baeirat, 18, Murshid
Hamayel, 35, and Muhammad Naji, a teenager. Earlier on Monday, Israeli soldiers
shot and killed another minor in Kufr Malek, Motaz Hamayel, 14, after he
approached an Israeli-only road outside of the village.
“In the evening, settlers began to arrive at the entrance of Kufr Malek in more than 15 vehicles, and others arrived on foot,” a resident of Kufr Malek who asked not to be named told Mondoweiss. “There were more than 100 settlers, and they began to break into front yards and set fire to houses and cars while throwing rocks at windows, so residents began to come out to confront them, but the Israeli army was close behind.”
“Young men of the village succeeded in pushing the settlers out at the beginning, but then the Israeli army began to open fire without warning, forcing the young men to run,” the resident added. “They were protecting the settlers and allowing them to continue to attack the village. Without the army, the settlers wouldn’t be able to do anything.”
“One of the martyrs was shot in the head by a settler in front of his house,” the resident pointed out. “He was trying to defend his family and the family of his brother, including his little nephews, who were inside. Then the settlers left as they came, probably to another village to do the same.”
Meanwhile, another group of Israeli settlers was attacking a home at the southern entrance of the neighboring village of Taybeh, 10 minutes from Kufr Malek. Settlers broke into the front yard of the rural home, located at a road junction, and set fire to a vehicle and to the surroundings of the house.
“I was sleeping upstairs when I woke up to the smell of smoke,” Eid Abu Fazaa, the owner of the house, told Mondoweiss. “I saw a large black smoke in front of the house. I looked down, and I saw Israeli youths who had just set fire to the car and were trying to set fire to a part of the house.”
“My sons rushed out, two of them trying to put the fire down, and the others trying to push the settlers off,” Abu Fazaa continued. “The Israeli army wasn’t there and only arrived after the attack was over. One of my sons’ bedrooms was completely burned, and the window of another room as well.”
The three slain Palestinians were mourned in a massive funeral on Wednesday night that roamed the neighboring villages, and were given a second funeral before burial on Thursday.
Systematic settler violence in service of annexation
Settler violence in the east of Ramallah has been consistently increasing since October 2023, with Israeli settlers attacking villages along the eastern countryside of Ramallah and Nablus, bordering the edge of the Jordan Valley and Israel’s Allon Road.
Israeli settlers attacked the village of Mughayyir, directly adjacent to Kufr Malek, several times in the past year and a half, killing at least two Palestinians and wounding and injuring dozens, while destroying livestock structures and making the village’s lands inaccessible.
Settlers also attacked the lands of the village of Duma, a few kilometers to the north of Mughayyir, and have been systematically blocking the entrance to the village of Lebban, next to Duma, once or twice every week for the past month. In addition to violent attacks, settlers have been increasingly herding livestock on private Palestinian land in these villages, imposing their presence and de facto control.
Simultaneously, Israeli settler attacks targeted all the Bedouin communities in the eastern slopes of these villages and towns, expelling all of them. The latest community to be targeted was the 25 families of Maghayer al-Deir, who were forced to leave their lands in late May.
The area where settler violence attacks have been focused corresponds to the “Allon Plan,” drafted in 1970 by Israeli minister Yigal Allon, which proposed absolute Israeli “security” control over the eastern slopes of the Jordan Valley that separate the central West Bank cities of Ramallah and Nablus and their adjacent villages from the Jordan Valley.
In 2019, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a plan to annex the Jordan Valley as part of his election campaign. His plan was built on the same borders delineated by the Allon plan.
Although the Israeli government officially dissociates itself from settler attacks, key Israeli ministers and politicians are known faces of the settler movement and its more violent manifestations, such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Minister of Settlements, Orit Strook.
Shortly after October 7, 2023, Ben-Gvir filmed himself distributing firearms to Israelis, including Israeli settlers, and posted the footage on X. In November, the security committee in the Israeli Knesset reported that Israeli settlers in the West Bank possessed 165,000 firearms.
In February of last year, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on individual Israeli settlers for violence against Palestinians, which the Trump administration later revoked. At the time, Israeli media reported that some Israeli government bodies might find themselves affected by the sanctions, because they were implicated in the establishment of illegal outposts set up by sanctioned settlers.
Since 2023, Israeli settlers and the army have killed over 1,000 Palestinians and wounded over 7,000 in the West Bank, while demolishing 3,844 properties, including 1,376 homes.. The past year has also seen the displacement of over 40,000 Palestinians in the West Bank.
Zena al-Tahhan
The community’s 1,200 residents are surrounded from all sides by the illegal Yitav settlement and four illegal settler outposts, the most recent of which was built one year ago.
Settlers descend onto the village and raid residents’ homes on a daily basis, physically attacking people, stealing sheep, and terrorizing families. They also took over the nearby spring of Ain al-Ouja, one of the main springs in Palestine and a major water source for the entire area that drew local tourism. Today, all Palestinians are barred from accessing it.
In February, the Israeli government seized the land upon which the village sits and declared a large portion of it as land for settlers to graze their sheep. Less than a month later, on March 7, settlers stole 1,500 sheep from the village in one night.
“The land we live on and our fortunes are being taken from right before our eyes,” Haytham Zayed, a 24-year-old lawyer and resident, told Mondoweiss from Ras Ain al-Ouja. “We’re just watching, unable to do anything. We have been living here for 40 years, on private Palestinian land, and we still have no rights to it.”
As the unofficial village spokesperson, Zayed can recite the history of Israel’s attempts to erase them since the community was first built in the 1970s. He remembers the exact date of every single large-scale attack that took place against them and the surrounding village families over the years.
Slim and soft-spoken, with striking green-hazel eyes, Zayed speaks with the calm certainty of someone far older than his years. Every word lands with weight, shaped by conviction and a political awareness that marks a generational break with his forefathers.
“What is happening is extremely dangerous. They are annexing the West Bank to Israel,” said Haytham. “They operate like cancer — expanding slowly, bit by bit.”
Haytham observed that Palestinians living in the cities only witness army violence and are not exposed to the daily settler harassment that characterizes places like these. “If they see what is happening outside the cities, they will know that they are next,” Haytham noted.
Creeping annexation
Ras Ain al-Ouja, like other Palestinian Bedouin villages, is located in “Area C” of the West Bank, which makes up over 60 percent of the territory and is under the direct control of the Israeli army and settlers.
As per the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords, Israel split the occupied West Bank into areas A, B, and C. While A and B consist of the built-up areas of Palestinian cities and villages, Area C consists of all the areas just outside of those boundaries. It is where Israel’s hundreds of illegal settlements and military bases are located, at times less than a kilometer away from the last Palestinian home.
Area C also includes almost the entirety of the Jordan Valley, which makes up 30 percent of the occupied West Bank. Owing to the shepherding and farming lifestyle of Palestinian Bedouins, the geographic divisions of the Oslo Accords meant that these communities are on the front lines of Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaigns.
Over the past few years — and particularly since the election of the current Israeli government into office in 2022 — armed illegal Israeli settlers, directly funded by the state, have been forcibly expelling Palestinian villages in Area C, building illegal herding outposts and taking over large swathes of land, at unprecedented rates. These systematic policies have only exponentially increased since the genocide in Gaza.
Since mid-2022, more than 60 Palestinian villages in Area C have been expelled, the majority of them after the genocide. The latest expulsion took place on May 24, when the entire Bedouin village of Maghayir al-Deir near Ramallah was forcibly displaced after a year-long series of attacks by settlers and the building of a new outpost right on village land.
According to settlement watchdogs, a few hundred herding settlers have come to directly control around 14 percent of the occupied West Bank — four times the area occupied by all of Israel’s illegal settlements combined.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government, as well as the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and the Jewish National Fund (JNF), gave Israelis more than 93 million shekels ($26 million), to settle in these areas and expel Palestinian residents.
These systematic and centralized efforts come as part of a series of moves made by the Israeli government to slowly annex the occupied West Bank.
Ever since the war on Gaza, settlers have even built outposts in Area B, which is meant to be under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Additionally, in the pipeline is a law allowing settlers to purchase and own land in Area C, and most recently, the government resumed land registration in Area C to consolidate its unlawful annexation.
’10 million shekels’ in losses
As settlers receive tens of millions of dollars to attack and displace Palestinians, the latter are, in parallel, suffering severe economic losses.
In less than a year, between August 2024 and May 2025, settlers stole more than 2,200 sheep from Ras Ain al-Ouja in at least five separate attacks.
“Including the water they cut off, the homes they burned, the cars and solar panels they destroyed, the sheep they stole… it is no less than 10 million [Israeli] shekels [almost $3 million],” said Zayed.
“I personally had 400 sheep stolen from me, worth no less than 650,000 shekels [$184,000],” he added.
In another part of Ras Ain al-Ouja, resident Mahmoud Salameh Mahmoud Kaabneh’s livestock are visibly weak. He is unable to release them from their pens for up to 12 hours a day due to the relentless presence of an illegal Israeli herding settler with his sheep in and around the village at all times.
The latest settler-outpost was built less than a kilometer away, directly opposite Kaabneh’s home.
“All these hills that you see around us were once ours for herding our sheep,” Kaabneh told Mondoweiss. “We would come and go as we pleased. Today, we are being deprived of everything. We are deprived of our right to life.”
He explained that Ras Ain al-Ouja has received zero help to remain on their lands, not from the Palestinian Authority nor any international organizations, despite the major importance of safeguarding these areas.
“We are on the front lines of defense. We are remaining here to confront the settlers and prevent them from taking over all these lands,” said Kaabneh.
“If, God forbid, I am forcibly expelled, the settlers will not stop at that. They will go to Jericho city next.”
Jeff Wright
The statement acknowledges the WCC’s commitment to “inter-religious dialogue and cooperation”—a nod to its Jewish partners, many of whom can be expected to condemn the statement. “However,” the text reads, “the unbearable suffering inflicted on the people of Gaza, and the escalating violence and oppression in the West Bank and in Jerusalem compel the global fellowship of churches to speak with clarity, urgency, and commitment to the principles of justice under international law and ethics.”
Despite spirited dissent during the CC’s formulation of the statement, leaders of the WCC declared that Israel’s actions “flagrantly violate international humanitarian and human rights law as well as the most basic principles of morality.”
“The Government of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has entailed grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention,” the statement reads, “which may constitute genocide and/or other crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).”
“Simultaneously,” the statement continues, “the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem continue to experience intensified violence, illegal settlement expansion, and systemic human rights violations. These actions defy international legal norms, including the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Conventions, international human rights treaties, and numerous Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.”
Therefore, the statement insists, “Full support must be given to the International Criminal Court and UN mechanisms investigating potential war crimes and crimes against humanity.” The Central Committee goes further to “commend the leadership of the South African government in seeking justice and accountability to international law through the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and [to] urge all states to comply with the ICJ’s rulings.”
The statement calls on states, churches, and international institutions to take four actions: name the reality of apartheid; implement sanctions and accountability; affirm Palestinian rights and freedom; and support the resilience and witness of Palestinian Christian churches and communities, upholding their right to remain on their land and to freely practice their faith.
The statement marks a sharp turn in the WCC’s response to the crises Palestinians have endured for decades. On its website, the WCC describes its work as “Inspiring the worldwide fellowship of churches to work together for unity, justice and peace.” However, Palestinians and their allies have argued that, when it comes to the suffering in Palestine, the WCC has consistently chosen to walk the path of unity rather than justice. It’s not just the WCC. Many churches and ecumenical organizations across the globe have treaded lightly around “the issue” — both to keep the “peace” in their congregations as well as to avoid offending their Jewish colleagues and risking the charge of antisemitism.
Credit for the change in the WCC goes in large part to Kairos Palestine (KP), the broadest ecumenical, Christian nonviolent movement in Palestine, and its partner, Global Kairos for Justice, an international coalition of allies who, together with other Christian leaders, advocated for years for the WCC to issue a clear, truthful recognition of the roots and realities of Palestinians’ suffering and a call for justice.
In a press release, Kairos Palestine welcomed the statement “with deep appreciation and hope.” The CC action, KP wrote, “marks a turning point in the moral and theological witness of the global church.”
“We commend the WCC for declaring, clearly and courageously, that the term ‘apartheid’ is appropriate and prophetic in describing the situation imposed on the Palestinian people. This step acknowledges the reality that Palestinians have endured for over seven decades: systematic oppression, displacement, segregation, and denial of basic human rights.”
Rifat Kassis, General Coordinator of Kairos Palestine, told Mondoweiss, “This moment presents a critical opportunity for more denominations to stand in bold solidarity with the Palestinian people. We call for an immediate campaign, led by the WCC, to end the war in Gaza and the West Bank and to support the work of the ICC and ICJ in holding perpetrators accountable under international law.”
“The time has come for moral clarity,” Kassis said. “Churches must speak with one voice in opposing occupation, apartheid, and genocide. Anything less is complicity, and silence now is a betrayal of both justice and faith.”
Asked by Mondoweiss to offer his reflection on WCC Central Committee’s statement, Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem, co-author of the Kairos Palestine Document and a member of the Kairos Palestine board, said, “We thank the WCC for their courage to see the truth of what is going on in our land, the Land of the Redemption of all peoples. We thank them for seeing the truth and affirming it.”
“We still cry and appeal to all Churches in the world,” Sabbah continued, “to speak truth to the powerful of this world, to the tyrants who oppress human beings created in the image of God. Help us have what God Almighty gave us: our dignity, our freedom, our humanity. From Jerusalem, the place of the Redemption, and new life of humanity, we pray for all, and implore you, brothers and sisters, to deliver us from the hands of our oppressors.”
The WCC meets in plenary session every seven years. During the intervening time, its Central Committee (CC) is empowered to speak on behalf of the 352 member churches, which together represent more than half a billion Christians around the world.
Qassam Muaddi
Israeli
settlers went on a rampage in the town of Kufr Malek, northeast of Ramallah,
killing three Palestinians. The attack is the latest in an escalating wave of
settler pogroms against Palestinian communities between the Jordan Valley and
Ramallah.
Palestinians in the West Bank
governorate of Ramallah observed a full commercial strike on Thursday as a sign
of mourning for four Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the
village of Kufr Malek, northeast of Ramallah City.
“In the evening, settlers began to arrive at the entrance of Kufr Malek in more than 15 vehicles, and others arrived on foot,” a resident of Kufr Malek who asked not to be named told Mondoweiss. “There were more than 100 settlers, and they began to break into front yards and set fire to houses and cars while throwing rocks at windows, so residents began to come out to confront them, but the Israeli army was close behind.”
“Young men of the village succeeded in pushing the settlers out at the beginning, but then the Israeli army began to open fire without warning, forcing the young men to run,” the resident added. “They were protecting the settlers and allowing them to continue to attack the village. Without the army, the settlers wouldn’t be able to do anything.”
“One of the martyrs was shot in the head by a settler in front of his house,” the resident pointed out. “He was trying to defend his family and the family of his brother, including his little nephews, who were inside. Then the settlers left as they came, probably to another village to do the same.”
Meanwhile, another group of Israeli settlers was attacking a home at the southern entrance of the neighboring village of Taybeh, 10 minutes from Kufr Malek. Settlers broke into the front yard of the rural home, located at a road junction, and set fire to a vehicle and to the surroundings of the house.
“I was sleeping upstairs when I woke up to the smell of smoke,” Eid Abu Fazaa, the owner of the house, told Mondoweiss. “I saw a large black smoke in front of the house. I looked down, and I saw Israeli youths who had just set fire to the car and were trying to set fire to a part of the house.”
“My sons rushed out, two of them trying to put the fire down, and the others trying to push the settlers off,” Abu Fazaa continued. “The Israeli army wasn’t there and only arrived after the attack was over. One of my sons’ bedrooms was completely burned, and the window of another room as well.”
The three slain Palestinians were mourned in a massive funeral on Wednesday night that roamed the neighboring villages, and were given a second funeral before burial on Thursday.
Systematic settler violence in service of annexation
Settler violence in the east of Ramallah has been consistently increasing since October 2023, with Israeli settlers attacking villages along the eastern countryside of Ramallah and Nablus, bordering the edge of the Jordan Valley and Israel’s Allon Road.
Israeli settlers attacked the village of Mughayyir, directly adjacent to Kufr Malek, several times in the past year and a half, killing at least two Palestinians and wounding and injuring dozens, while destroying livestock structures and making the village’s lands inaccessible.
Settlers also attacked the lands of the village of Duma, a few kilometers to the north of Mughayyir, and have been systematically blocking the entrance to the village of Lebban, next to Duma, once or twice every week for the past month. In addition to violent attacks, settlers have been increasingly herding livestock on private Palestinian land in these villages, imposing their presence and de facto control.
Simultaneously, Israeli settler attacks targeted all the Bedouin communities in the eastern slopes of these villages and towns, expelling all of them. The latest community to be targeted was the 25 families of Maghayer al-Deir, who were forced to leave their lands in late May.
The area where settler violence attacks have been focused corresponds to the “Allon Plan,” drafted in 1970 by Israeli minister Yigal Allon, which proposed absolute Israeli “security” control over the eastern slopes of the Jordan Valley that separate the central West Bank cities of Ramallah and Nablus and their adjacent villages from the Jordan Valley.
In 2019, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a plan to annex the Jordan Valley as part of his election campaign. His plan was built on the same borders delineated by the Allon plan.
Although the Israeli government officially dissociates itself from settler attacks, key Israeli ministers and politicians are known faces of the settler movement and its more violent manifestations, such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Minister of Settlements, Orit Strook.
Shortly after October 7, 2023, Ben-Gvir filmed himself distributing firearms to Israelis, including Israeli settlers, and posted the footage on X. In November, the security committee in the Israeli Knesset reported that Israeli settlers in the West Bank possessed 165,000 firearms.
In February of last year, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on individual Israeli settlers for violence against Palestinians, which the Trump administration later revoked. At the time, Israeli media reported that some Israeli government bodies might find themselves affected by the sanctions, because they were implicated in the establishment of illegal outposts set up by sanctioned settlers.
Since 2023, Israeli settlers and the army have killed over 1,000 Palestinians and wounded over 7,000 in the West Bank, while demolishing 3,844 properties, including 1,376 homes.. The past year has also seen the displacement of over 40,000 Palestinians in the West Bank.
Zena al-Tahhan
The
Palestinians of Ras Ain al-Ouja are the latest Bedouin community targeted for
expulsion by Israel. They are being forced out through violent settler
harassment as part of Israel’s plan to annex most of the West Bank.
Ras Ain al-Ouja is one of the
largest Palestinian Bedouin villages in the occupied West Bank. Nestled amid a
ridge of high silt hills just north of Jericho city, the village is facing
intensified Israeli government-funded settler efforts to expel its residents.The community’s 1,200 residents are surrounded from all sides by the illegal Yitav settlement and four illegal settler outposts, the most recent of which was built one year ago.
Settlers descend onto the village and raid residents’ homes on a daily basis, physically attacking people, stealing sheep, and terrorizing families. They also took over the nearby spring of Ain al-Ouja, one of the main springs in Palestine and a major water source for the entire area that drew local tourism. Today, all Palestinians are barred from accessing it.
In February, the Israeli government seized the land upon which the village sits and declared a large portion of it as land for settlers to graze their sheep. Less than a month later, on March 7, settlers stole 1,500 sheep from the village in one night.
“The land we live on and our fortunes are being taken from right before our eyes,” Haytham Zayed, a 24-year-old lawyer and resident, told Mondoweiss from Ras Ain al-Ouja. “We’re just watching, unable to do anything. We have been living here for 40 years, on private Palestinian land, and we still have no rights to it.”
As the unofficial village spokesperson, Zayed can recite the history of Israel’s attempts to erase them since the community was first built in the 1970s. He remembers the exact date of every single large-scale attack that took place against them and the surrounding village families over the years.
Slim and soft-spoken, with striking green-hazel eyes, Zayed speaks with the calm certainty of someone far older than his years. Every word lands with weight, shaped by conviction and a political awareness that marks a generational break with his forefathers.
“What is happening is extremely dangerous. They are annexing the West Bank to Israel,” said Haytham. “They operate like cancer — expanding slowly, bit by bit.”
Haytham observed that Palestinians living in the cities only witness army violence and are not exposed to the daily settler harassment that characterizes places like these. “If they see what is happening outside the cities, they will know that they are next,” Haytham noted.
Creeping annexation
Ras Ain al-Ouja, like other Palestinian Bedouin villages, is located in “Area C” of the West Bank, which makes up over 60 percent of the territory and is under the direct control of the Israeli army and settlers.
As per the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords, Israel split the occupied West Bank into areas A, B, and C. While A and B consist of the built-up areas of Palestinian cities and villages, Area C consists of all the areas just outside of those boundaries. It is where Israel’s hundreds of illegal settlements and military bases are located, at times less than a kilometer away from the last Palestinian home.
Area C also includes almost the entirety of the Jordan Valley, which makes up 30 percent of the occupied West Bank. Owing to the shepherding and farming lifestyle of Palestinian Bedouins, the geographic divisions of the Oslo Accords meant that these communities are on the front lines of Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaigns.
Over the past few years — and particularly since the election of the current Israeli government into office in 2022 — armed illegal Israeli settlers, directly funded by the state, have been forcibly expelling Palestinian villages in Area C, building illegal herding outposts and taking over large swathes of land, at unprecedented rates. These systematic policies have only exponentially increased since the genocide in Gaza.
Since mid-2022, more than 60 Palestinian villages in Area C have been expelled, the majority of them after the genocide. The latest expulsion took place on May 24, when the entire Bedouin village of Maghayir al-Deir near Ramallah was forcibly displaced after a year-long series of attacks by settlers and the building of a new outpost right on village land.
According to settlement watchdogs, a few hundred herding settlers have come to directly control around 14 percent of the occupied West Bank — four times the area occupied by all of Israel’s illegal settlements combined.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government, as well as the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and the Jewish National Fund (JNF), gave Israelis more than 93 million shekels ($26 million), to settle in these areas and expel Palestinian residents.
These systematic and centralized efforts come as part of a series of moves made by the Israeli government to slowly annex the occupied West Bank.
Ever since the war on Gaza, settlers have even built outposts in Area B, which is meant to be under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Additionally, in the pipeline is a law allowing settlers to purchase and own land in Area C, and most recently, the government resumed land registration in Area C to consolidate its unlawful annexation.
’10 million shekels’ in losses
As settlers receive tens of millions of dollars to attack and displace Palestinians, the latter are, in parallel, suffering severe economic losses.
In less than a year, between August 2024 and May 2025, settlers stole more than 2,200 sheep from Ras Ain al-Ouja in at least five separate attacks.
“Including the water they cut off, the homes they burned, the cars and solar panels they destroyed, the sheep they stole… it is no less than 10 million [Israeli] shekels [almost $3 million],” said Zayed.
“I personally had 400 sheep stolen from me, worth no less than 650,000 shekels [$184,000],” he added.
In another part of Ras Ain al-Ouja, resident Mahmoud Salameh Mahmoud Kaabneh’s livestock are visibly weak. He is unable to release them from their pens for up to 12 hours a day due to the relentless presence of an illegal Israeli herding settler with his sheep in and around the village at all times.
The latest settler-outpost was built less than a kilometer away, directly opposite Kaabneh’s home.
“All these hills that you see around us were once ours for herding our sheep,” Kaabneh told Mondoweiss. “We would come and go as we pleased. Today, we are being deprived of everything. We are deprived of our right to life.”
He explained that Ras Ain al-Ouja has received zero help to remain on their lands, not from the Palestinian Authority nor any international organizations, despite the major importance of safeguarding these areas.
“We are on the front lines of defense. We are remaining here to confront the settlers and prevent them from taking over all these lands,” said Kaabneh.
“If, God forbid, I am forcibly expelled, the settlers will not stop at that. They will go to Jericho city next.”
Jeff Wright
In a
landmark announcement, the WCC’s Central Committee calls for targeted
sanctions, divestment, and arms embargoes on Israel. Palestinian Christians are
calling it "a turning point in the moral and theological witness of the
global church.”
Meeting in Johannesburg, South
Africa earlier this week, the Central Committee of the World Council of
Churches (WCC) issued a bold statement naming the reality of apartheid in
Israel, demanding the end of Israel’s occupation and the lifting of the unlawful
blockade of Gaza, and calling on states and churches “to impose consequences
for violations of international law, including targeted sanctions, divestment,
and arms embargoes.”The statement acknowledges the WCC’s commitment to “inter-religious dialogue and cooperation”—a nod to its Jewish partners, many of whom can be expected to condemn the statement. “However,” the text reads, “the unbearable suffering inflicted on the people of Gaza, and the escalating violence and oppression in the West Bank and in Jerusalem compel the global fellowship of churches to speak with clarity, urgency, and commitment to the principles of justice under international law and ethics.”
Despite spirited dissent during the CC’s formulation of the statement, leaders of the WCC declared that Israel’s actions “flagrantly violate international humanitarian and human rights law as well as the most basic principles of morality.”
“The Government of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has entailed grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention,” the statement reads, “which may constitute genocide and/or other crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).”
“Simultaneously,” the statement continues, “the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem continue to experience intensified violence, illegal settlement expansion, and systemic human rights violations. These actions defy international legal norms, including the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Conventions, international human rights treaties, and numerous Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.”
Therefore, the statement insists, “Full support must be given to the International Criminal Court and UN mechanisms investigating potential war crimes and crimes against humanity.” The Central Committee goes further to “commend the leadership of the South African government in seeking justice and accountability to international law through the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and [to] urge all states to comply with the ICJ’s rulings.”
The statement calls on states, churches, and international institutions to take four actions: name the reality of apartheid; implement sanctions and accountability; affirm Palestinian rights and freedom; and support the resilience and witness of Palestinian Christian churches and communities, upholding their right to remain on their land and to freely practice their faith.
The statement marks a sharp turn in the WCC’s response to the crises Palestinians have endured for decades. On its website, the WCC describes its work as “Inspiring the worldwide fellowship of churches to work together for unity, justice and peace.” However, Palestinians and their allies have argued that, when it comes to the suffering in Palestine, the WCC has consistently chosen to walk the path of unity rather than justice. It’s not just the WCC. Many churches and ecumenical organizations across the globe have treaded lightly around “the issue” — both to keep the “peace” in their congregations as well as to avoid offending their Jewish colleagues and risking the charge of antisemitism.
Credit for the change in the WCC goes in large part to Kairos Palestine (KP), the broadest ecumenical, Christian nonviolent movement in Palestine, and its partner, Global Kairos for Justice, an international coalition of allies who, together with other Christian leaders, advocated for years for the WCC to issue a clear, truthful recognition of the roots and realities of Palestinians’ suffering and a call for justice.
In a press release, Kairos Palestine welcomed the statement “with deep appreciation and hope.” The CC action, KP wrote, “marks a turning point in the moral and theological witness of the global church.”
“We commend the WCC for declaring, clearly and courageously, that the term ‘apartheid’ is appropriate and prophetic in describing the situation imposed on the Palestinian people. This step acknowledges the reality that Palestinians have endured for over seven decades: systematic oppression, displacement, segregation, and denial of basic human rights.”
Rifat Kassis, General Coordinator of Kairos Palestine, told Mondoweiss, “This moment presents a critical opportunity for more denominations to stand in bold solidarity with the Palestinian people. We call for an immediate campaign, led by the WCC, to end the war in Gaza and the West Bank and to support the work of the ICC and ICJ in holding perpetrators accountable under international law.”
“The time has come for moral clarity,” Kassis said. “Churches must speak with one voice in opposing occupation, apartheid, and genocide. Anything less is complicity, and silence now is a betrayal of both justice and faith.”
Asked by Mondoweiss to offer his reflection on WCC Central Committee’s statement, Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem, co-author of the Kairos Palestine Document and a member of the Kairos Palestine board, said, “We thank the WCC for their courage to see the truth of what is going on in our land, the Land of the Redemption of all peoples. We thank them for seeing the truth and affirming it.”
“We still cry and appeal to all Churches in the world,” Sabbah continued, “to speak truth to the powerful of this world, to the tyrants who oppress human beings created in the image of God. Help us have what God Almighty gave us: our dignity, our freedom, our humanity. From Jerusalem, the place of the Redemption, and new life of humanity, we pray for all, and implore you, brothers and sisters, to deliver us from the hands of our oppressors.”
The WCC meets in plenary session every seven years. During the intervening time, its Central Committee (CC) is empowered to speak on behalf of the 352 member churches, which together represent more than half a billion Christians around the world.
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