FOSNA: What’s New in Fall 2021?

With the holiday season fast approaching, we at Friends of Sabeel North America are happy to announce that we have been moving forward with a number of new projects, including our brand new website, and are excited to introduce the newest members of our team. We are honored to have you here with us on this journey. Our goal has always been the pursuit of freedom and justice in Palestine through education, advocacy, and nonviolent action. As we do all in our power to work towards this end, it is important to us to keep you all engaged and continuing in the good work you are doing for liberation, justice, and peace in Palestine and beyond.

New Initiatives

After the success of Keep Awake: Preach Palestine 2020, FOSNA is calling on faith leaders across North America to commit their congregations to Preach Palestine this Advent season for Be Alert: Preach Palestine 2021. We have gathered resources for worship planners from a diversity of traditions and voices, with resources now being updated. Be it an entire service or a single prayer, we are asking your congregation to once again Preach Palestine and lift up the Palestinian people such that they would come to experience the joy, justice, and peace of Christ's liberating reign, as a very real light in the present darkness. Can you commit (or speak to your congregational leaders about committing) your community to Preach Palestine in 2021?

Last year more than 100 churches presented sermons, offered prayers and litanies, or read poems about Palestine on Nov. 29, the first Sunday in Advent. It would be amazing to see this number and more again this year, but you are also free to preach, pray, or speak about Palestine on any of the other Sundays in Advent if this date is not suitable. 

We have also launched our #Justice4Halabi campaign. Palestinian prisoner and humanitarian Mohammed El-Halabi, former head of World Vision in Gaza, was wrongly imprisoned on false charges of redirecting millions of dollars of aid money for Gaza to Hamas. Halabi has been kept in prison for the past five years, despite there not being any physical evidence for the charges against him. As we saw just this past week, such accusations have become standard practice in the effort by Israel to silence Humanitarian and Civil Society organizations in Palestine. In an interview with Halabi’s lawyer, Maher Hanna, we obtained important information regarding the absurdity of the charges being leveled against Halabi, which you can read about at the link below:

In addition, Executive Director Jonathan Kuttab has been reaching out to the leadership and members of our local FOSNA affiliate groups to hear directly about their vision, their concerns, and their hopes for FOSNA as we move forward together. So far, he has visited in person or spoken over Zoom with FOSNA groups in Pittsburgh, PA, Southern California, Northern California, Claremont, CA, and Colorado. His plan is to continue reaching out and meeting directly with each of our affiliates.

FOSNA, however, would also like to hear directly from you about your vision, concerns, and hopes moving forward. For this reason, we have created the survey below. Please take 2-3 minutes to answer the questions and let us know your thoughts at the following link:

New Members of the FOSNA Team

Working diligently alongside Executive Director Jonathan Kuttab are team members Jesse Wheeler and Jenin Kiswani.

  • With an extensive background in history and theology, and experience living in the Middle East, Jesse Wheeler (“Abu Nimer”) serves as Executive Administrator / Development Director. Jesse’s positive energy as well as his love for his faith and the Palestinian people makes him a great addition to serve FOSNA’s mission as “a Christian voice for Palestine.”

  • Jenin Kiswani, our new Communications Director, has always had a love for Palestine and an irrepressible passion for justice. It has always been her dream to work in the field of advocacy, specifically in service to the Palestinian cause. She has experience working one-on-one with former Palestinian prisoners and is continuing research into the long-term effects of imprisonment as a form of both physical and psychological occupation.

  • In addition, we are incredibly happy to announce the appointment of  Saleem Alhabash to our FOSNA Board of Trustees. As Associate Professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at Michigan State University, Saleem’s research and teaching examines the role of social media in movements for justice, particularly it’s role in promoting Palestinian narratives.

  • Finally, Rev. Naim Ateek, founder of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, has happily accepted the offer to serve as President of the Board of Trustees. We couldn’t be more honored to work so closely with a scholar and practitioner so important to our history, mission, and message as a movement for justice in Palestine.

You can read more about Jesse, Jenin, Saleem, and Naim on our new website here.

We are so happy to share with you about the above people and projects and to have all of you with us as we move forward in this journey together. Once again, make sure to check out our new website: www.fosna.org, and to follow us on Facebook as well as Instagram and Twitter: @fosnalive. We understand how important it is to keep up with everything happening in the world, and with your help we can all make a positive and lasting impact in our communities here in North America and for the people of Palestine.

Many blessings,

The FOSNA Team

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New Campaign: Respecting the Bodies of the Deceased

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The Absurd Case against Muhammad El Halabi: an Interview with The Defense