That justice and peace might embrace
Just over a week ago I returned to Dublin from southern Africa, via Heathrow. In the airport a free copy of the Financial Times carried an article (paywalled) concerning the Israeli reaction to a ban on trade between Britain and the illegal settlements in occupied Palestine. The British Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, has underlined that …
Continue reading "Churches at the Crossroads Conference – Belfast Nov 13/14"
Church Solidarity with Palestine Discussions and motions in church synods and assemblies can seem dull or even tedious affairs. However, a motion at the recent Church of England General Assembly, committing British Anglicans to engage with the Ecumenical Kairos Palestine documents written by Palestinian Christians and on church investors to examine church investments regarding Israel …
OCHA report - June 2026 The UNOCHA Humanitarian Situation Report for 12th June 2026 describes a grim humanitarian picture of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The report points to a lack of medicine and access to water, an escalation of settler attacks and the forced displacement of Palestinians, critical shortages of food and shelter, and the …
Continue reading "Kairos Ireland Newsletter – Midsummer 2026"
The disappearing West Bank ‘The West Bank is disappearing before our eyes – what will Ireland do?’ This is the alarming message from Katie Roxburgh, Christian Aid Programme Manager for Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Following a recent visit to Israel and the West Bank she describes the escalating violence against Palestinians by illegal …
Easter Alert from Kairos Palestine The annual Easter Alert for 2026 has been published by Kairos Palestine with reflections and prayers from Taybeh, Beit Sahour and Gaza City in the Holy Land written by Palestinian Christians. The reflections focus on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. This year the alert comes at …
A terrible start to the year The year 2026 has started very badly for the cause of justice and peace in Palestine and Israel. OCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs situation report no. 67 (11/02/26) points out that since the ceasefire of the 10th October 2025, Israel has killed 1591 and …
Continue reading "Kairos Ireland Newsletter – Spring 2026"
Archbishop Stephen Cottrell visiting Susya Credit: Andrea Krogmann In Advent we light candles of hope in a world where the news is often a litany of war, occupation, hunger and oppression. The darkness of genocide still overshadows Gaza, where the killing and restriction of humanitarian aid continues despite the ceasefire. While the focus of international …
It was mentioned in the recent newsletter but we would like to draw your attention to the visit next week of the Rev Ashraf Tannous to Belfast. He is the pastor of the Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. This month he is visiting England and Northern Ireland. In England he is meeting with churches and …
Continue reading "Kairos Ireland – visit to Ireland by Pastor Ashraf Tannous from Bethlehem"
Martyn Turner’s cartoon sums up Trump’s Gaza Peace Plan for me. The cartoon depicts President Trump, the Don of Peace, with a laurel twig in his mouth flying past some birds. One bird says of the plan, ‘It’s crazy.’  The other bird says, ‘But let’s hope it works.’ After two years of death, destruction and displacement in Gaza of course we all want the peace plan to work. We want hostages and prisoners to be freed, the killing to end and a full resumption of aid for the people of Gaza. But we also want an end to the occupation of Palestinian territory by Israel and the right to self-determination for the Palestinian people. Without justice and freedom for Palestine a permanent peace is unlikely to be forthcoming from this plan.Â
The grim news about events in Gaza gets worse with the decision of the Israeli war cabinet to extend the scope of the war to a full military occupation of the Gaza strip. Gazans are still being starved. Hostages have not been freed. Journalists are being assassinated. People seeking food are being shot. At least …
Continue reading "Kairos Ireland August 2025 – No end to the suffering"
