That justice and peace might embrace
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 …
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.
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"
Ongoing Nakba The 15th of May marked the 77th anniversary of the Nakba, when Zionist forces ethnically cleansed Palestinians from over 500 Palestinian villages in 1948. Nakba continues today with the genocide in Gaza. Under the leadership of the suspected war criminal, Netanyahu, Israel has become a pariah state. It continues to bomb schools and …
Kairos Palestine Easter Appeal This year, Palestinian Christians in their Easter appeal ask the existential question, will the ‘living stones’, the indigenous Christian community of Palestine, endure or fade into history. The appeal says – ‘The threats facing us and all Palestinians—land confiscation, forced displacement, physical assaults and violent arrests, targeted killings, movement restrictions, economic …
An appeal from Kairos Palestine The Palestinian Christian organisation, Kairos Palestine, has issued an appeal for people worldwide to support a petition by FOSNA (Friends of Sabeel North America) to the American administration not to support policies of forced displacement in the Holy Land. I copy the email from Kairos Palestine below. This petition is …
Continue reading "Kairos Ireland – petition against forced displacement in Palestine"
Introduction According to the Irish Calander Spring has arrived and the first early flowers are beginning to bloom. Sadly, in Gaza the genocidal assault of Israel continues to bring death, destruction and misery to people who have no safe place to shelter. UNOCHA (the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) issues daily bulletins …
One wonders what level of killing must occur before Western political leaders in North America, the EU and UK call for a ceasefire to end the barbaric assault on Gaza. Yesterday (31st October) OCHA (The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) reported that the death toll in Gaza since the Hamas attack …
Continue reading "Kairos Ireland All Hallows 2023 – Responses to the war on Gaza"
