By Paul Seebeck, Middle Tennessee Presbytery –
In Louisville, a prayer group for the Middle East began with our conviction that we had to do something. This sense of urgency was sparked by an open letter some members of Crescent Hill Presbyterian (CHPC) received from Palestinian Christians. These church leaders in the Holy Land were concerned that Christians in the West were legitimizing Israel’s military response to the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas. They were deeply troubled that Christian leaders in the West would invoke God’s name to promote violence and national religious ideologies. By December 2023, these leaders had canceled Christmas festivities in Bethlehem because of Israel’s war on Gaza, which they described as “madness” and “genocide.”
So in early 2024, we started a weekly prayer group on Zoom. Our meetings have brought together anywhere from a dozen to 20-some people, including a Baptist friend, a member of a Catholic order, a CHPC member now living in Costa Rica, and members of several local Presbyterian congregations. We have felt the Holy Spirit move among us as we share our joys and concerns and pray fervently for peace and justice.
Within a few months we became aware of a pilot program sponsored by Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA). This interdenominational Chistian organization in the United States and Canada seeks justice and peace in the Holy Land, through education, advocacy, and nonviolent action.
FOSNA was looking for North American congregations to participate in a new project to highlight the plight of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails. With the blessing of the Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church session, our ecumenical prayer group, including members of the Sisters of Loretto, joined FOSNA’s Friends of Palestinian Detainees program. We, along with 13 other faith communities in the U.S., provide spiritual support to detainee families and advocate for the more than 10,100 Palestinian political prisoners, educating western Christians about their suffering. Former prisoners have described their time in Israeli prison and jails as “hell.”
Our group was paired with a prisoner released in 2024. We have prayed for him and his family and have been in regular communication with him. Recently he sent us a report published by Palestinian prisoners about their experiences. It is horrific and includes testimonies of extreme beatings, threats, near starvation, withholding of medical attention and medicines, no beds, no change of clothing, overcrowding, and rape. Even Bibles are now being denied to detainees. Many detainees are denied attorneys and family visits. Amnesty International and B’Tselem cite “massive violations of human rights laws” in the treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
When we felt guided by the Spirit to pray for peace in the Middle East, we never anticipated how it would deepen our solidarity with the Palestinians. Nor did we anticipate how much this Palestinian man, whom we’ve prayed for and built a relationship with, would teach us about resilience and grace amid great adversity and great evil.
We’ve learned about his story, how he was detained in 2021 and 2023 and charged with incitement on social media. Released from prison for a fourth time recently, this Palestinian Christian lost 60 pounds during his ordeal.
While in prison he endured the cruelty of jailers who raised the volume on prison loudspeakers— with sounds that included recordings of screaming — to “eardrum-bursting levels.” On his last day in prison, our detainee was blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back and severely beaten by prison guards.
He now has no means to support himself, as the Israeli government stripped him of his license to practice as a dentist for at least two years.
In his first communication with us, this Palestinian follower of Jesus spoke about “being honored” to know us. He also thanked us for our effort “for their noble cause of Palestine” and “the people of Jesus Christ.” Later he wrote that he was grateful for our prayers and work “for all people, regardless of race, religion, or color.”
“We will forever remember the good and noble people who stood by us and supported us,” he wrote, “even with just a word siding with our cause, the cause of the oppressed in this world.”
This man’s story is just one of 10,000 others, often incarcerated without trial. When they are tried it is in Israeli military courts, where their conviction rate has been 99 percent. Currently there are 400 child prisoners (12-18 years old) and 35 female prisoners. Numerous sources state that 40 percent of Palestinian men have been detained — two out of five— since 1967. The number of detainees has increased significantly since October 7, 2023.
We continue to pray for the Middle East, for the Palestinians and Israelis and all who are working for justice and peace, while agonizing at the madness occurring in the Holy Land.
To learn more about FOSNA’s mission of solidarity with Palestinian Christians in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem, click here.
For the latest information about Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and jails, go here.