IMEU Institute for Middle East Understanding
Q&As
Political analyst Diana Buttu provides insight on the ongoing protests by Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem provoked by increased restrictions imposed on Muslims who want to worship at the Noble Sanctuary mosque complex, the third holiest site in Islam, by Israel's occupying army.
on July 27, 2017
As a young boy growing up in Bethlehem, I was often excited when our family had company. My dad, a Christian clergyman, loved to take us and the guests to Hebron. Dad would take us to the Cave of the Machpela, situated within the Ibrahimi Mosque, where Abraham and his family are buried and would tell the story of how Abraham obeyed God’s calling even when it came to the request to sacrifice his own son.
on July 12, 2017
Testimonies
The people of Umm al-Hiran are Bedouins, Palestinian citizens of Israel. The new town of Hiran is meant to be a Jewish community. Long answer short, this man and his family face demolition and relocation because they are not Jewish.
on January 24, 2017
Since the election of Donald Trump, there has been a renewed interest across the country in Muslim-Jewish partnership. Trump's ascension to power on a platform of racism and xenophobia has caused many to fear what lies ahead. From potential policy measures, such as a Muslim registry and the intensification of the...
on January 23, 2017
Jesus has been a key moral figure in my religious upbringing. I was born in New Jersey but my parents relocated to Palestine when I was in second grade. In Palestine, I attended the Quaker Friends Boys School. Yes, there are many Palestinian Christians, including Quakers. We learned about Liberation Theology...
on December 24, 2016
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City is Christianity's most hallowed shrine. It's believed that the rock-cut tomb at the heart of the church was where the body of Jesus Christ was once laid.
on November 1, 2016
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Jerusalem, Israel, the occupied West Bank, and Gaza Strip attended prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque on the second Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, despite widespread measures taken by Israel against Palestinian freedom of movement across the occupied territory.
on June 17, 2016
United Methodists who want their church to sanction Israel are regrouping after a committee at their denomination’s General Conference rejected four divestment or investment screening resolutions over the weekend. Those resolutions “pretty much went down in flames,” said John Lomperis, the director of the Institute on Religion and Democracy’s United Methodist Action Program and an opponent of divestment.
on May 16, 2016
As an American of Palestinian Christian origin, I urge the United Methodist Church to heed the Palestinian Christian Kairos call for divestment from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation. The Kairos call is certainly one of defiance, but it is also, in its own words, truly a message of “faith, hope, and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering.” It is based on a simple premise: Righteous people ought not to profit from unjust practices inflicted upon their fellow human beings.
on May 9, 2016