Christian religious and community leaders in occupied Palestine have launched an ecumenical campaign aimed at enlisting Christians around the world to help end the Israeli military occupation. “This document is the Christian Palestinians’ word to the world about what is happening in Palestine,” says the 15-page document.
“We, Palestinian Christians, declare in this historic document that the military occupation of our land is a sin against God and humanity and that any theology that legitimises the occupation is far from Christian teachings because true Christian theology is a theology of love and solidarity with the oppressed and a call to justice and equality among peoples.”
Initiators, who include leaders of major churches in the Holy Land, said they had been working on the document for over a year. “We have not encountered any real opposition to the document,” Rifat Kassis, the main spokesman of the initiative, reportedly said. He expects as many as 32 Christian institutions, 200 community leaders as well as thousands of intellectuals and intelligentsia to sign the document, themed Kairos Paletine-2009: A Moment of Truth-A word of Truth, Hope, and Love from the Heart of Palestinian suffering.
“The problem is not just a political one. It is a policy in which human beings are destroyed, and this must be of concern to the Church,” says the document.