kul `am wa antum bikhair
Seasons greetings from me and the miniscule communities of Palestinian and Arab Christians, especially the Arab Christian community here on dailykos.
Some of us are from Bethlehem. Others are from Jaffa, some from Lebanon and some from Iraq. I am from the Galilee, my clan is from the villages that surround Nazareth. I am about to return to celebrate with my family in the ancient Churches.
We are all leftist, we are all secular. I am an atheist with a particularly progressive outlook.
Yet this Christmas matters to me and it matters to us.
It matters to us because of the hungry in Gaza, the poor in Jaffa, the silenced poets in Haifa, the dry wells of Nazareth, the caged in Bethlahem, the crying in Nablus, the suffering in Iraq, those that languish in the camps of Lebanon;
and the crying mothers in the mangers across the Middle East.
The Mother and her Child who cry for
the dispossessed, may they return to their homes.
the infants burned with Chemical weapons, may they be healed.
the refugees in the Ain al-Hilwa, tal-alza`tar, Sabra and Shatila camps of Lebanon.
May this year's Church bells once again sing along with the sounds of the Minarets
May this year's Church bells ring so loud that the wall falls in Palestine
May the Jordan river flood and quench the thrust of those who have been left without wells
This year I shall enter my ancient Church in the Galilee for the first time, and I shall pray
I will not pray for my community. I shall not pray for the Christian Palestinians who languish in refugee camps, may God protect them, I will not pray for Christians ethnically cleansed from Kufr Ber`im and Iqrit, God be with them.
But I shall pray for the child in Gaza who has probably never met a Christian Palestinian. She along with millions of others languish, are herded surrounded by fire.
She probably does not know that there is such a thing as a Christian Palestinian. She probably was born in Gaza and has never been allowed to leave Gaza. She is a prisoner, born into prison. Incarcerated at birth.
She does not know that our hearts and minds are with her and that there is a silent determined community that loves her and would sacrifice all for her and the prisoners of Gaza.
To her I say you shall be liberated, and I pray that God agrees. This Christmas we are all in Gaza.