| | CMEP Weekly Bulletin: Holy Fire Celebrated by Christians in Jerusalem Amid Israeli Police Restrictions A look at Lebanon’s elections, Syrian truffle hunters, and more news in this week’s bulletin. CMEP’s Bulletin is a weekly round-up of news from the Middle East and represents an array of perspectives on the issues we cover. CMEP does not necessarily agree with all the views expressed in the articles, and they do not speak on CMEP’s behalf. | | | |  | Image: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre - the site of the Holy Fire ritual. (Getty Images) | | | Holy Fire celebrated by Christians in Jerusalem amid Israeli police restrictions BBC “Thousands of Christians filled Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday (April 15) for an important Orthodox Easter ritual, despite restrictions by Israeli police. The Holy Fire ceremony drew huge crowds to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in occupied East Jerusalem, where Israeli Police control security.” | | | | | |  | Image: Israeli police forces in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, following a shooting attack, Tuesday. (Olivier Fittousi) | | | Two Israelis wounded in shooting attack in East Jerusalem Haaretz “Two Israeli men were moderately wounded in a suspected shooting attack from a passing vehicle in East Jerusalem on Tuesday (April 18) morning. The two, a 48 and a 50-year-old man, were shot while inside a car as they were leaving the Tomb of Simeon in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. According to the Hadassah University Hospital on Mt. Scopus, at least one of them was in stable condition.” | | | | | |  | Image: Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri heads a parliament session in Beirut, Lebanon April 18, 2023. (Lebanese Parliament/Handout via Reuters) | | | Lebanon postpones local elections by a year to avoid more paralysis Reuters “Lebanon's parliament on Tuesday (April 18) voted to extend the terms of municipal councils and other local officials, delaying elections to avoid further political paralysis in a country still in the throes of an economic meltdown. Lebanon's state institutions are already in a power vacuum, with the presidency empty since Michel Aoun's term expired in October 2022 and no agreement as to who should replace him.” | | | | | | | | | | | |  | Join the largest Israeli-Palestinian peace event in history. On April 24, 2023, we will gather in Tel Aviv and online to call for peace, freedom, and human rights for all. The Joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony is hosted by Combatants for Peace and The Parents Circle–Families Forum, providing a unique opportunity for Israelis and Palestinians to grieve and heal together. We are proud that Churches for Middle East Peace is an official sponsor this year. By unifying our pain and longing for peace, we demonstrate to the world our power to co-create a safe and free future. | | | | |  | CMEP is seeking a Development Intern to support the Development Portfolio of CMEP, including conducting funder research, contacting donors, administrative support for grants, maintaining our donor database, producing data reports, meeting project-based needs as they arise, and offering day-to-day administrative support. | | | | |  | | | Faces from Palestine: Fellowship, Narratives, and Advocacy. Please join Churches for Middle East Peace and St. Peter and Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church (Potomac, MD - in person only) on Sunday, April 30th at 1pm for this unique opportunity to connect with Palestinian and American Christians in the D.C. area that are working for peace and justice in Palestine and Israel. The event will provide opportunities to hear stories from Palestinian Americans and learn about opportunities to engage in advocacy from CMEP staff. A light, traditional Middle Eastern lunch will be served at the start of the event. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Support CMEP: This month is National Volunteer Month! Volunteers are vital to CMEP's work. Please contact info@cmep.org for more information. | | | | | | | | | | CMEP in the News CMEP is deeply concerned about the challenges affecting Christians in the Holy Land and the shifting of the historic agreement of the status quo. Read this recent article by our executive director Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon published by CMEP member communion Christians for Social Action (CSA) called "Protecting the Freedom to Worship in the Holy City." | | | | | | | | | |  | Image: A youth hands a man a truffle at a merchant's stall in a market in the city of Hama in west-central Syria on March 6, 2023. (AFP) | | | IS Attack on Syria Truffle Hunters Kills at Least 26 VOA “Suspected Islamic State group fighters killed at least 26 people Sunday (April 16) in Syria, a war monitor said, the latest in a spate of attacks targeting people foraging for desert truffles… Since February, more than 200 people — most of them civilians — have been killed in IS attacks targeting truffle hunters or by landmines left by the extremists, according to the Observatory.” | | | | | |  | Image: Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) wields the speaker's gavel as members of Congress gather on the House floor (Reuters/Leah Millis) | | | Kevin McCarthy to be first US House Speaker to address Knesset in 25 years
Jerusalem Post “United States House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy will give a speech in front of a full session of the Israeli Knesset during his upcoming trip to Israel later this month, he announced on Tuesday (April 18). McCarthy, a Republican from California, will be the first US House speaker to address the Knesset in 25 years. In 1998, Newt Gingrich was the first and last to do so.” | | | | | |  | Image: The UN estimates women like Umm Adel are the main breadwinners for one in three families displaced by the fighting. (BBC) | | | Yemen war: Women facing daily struggle to survive BBC “Female-headed households - like Umm Adel's - face the highest levels of food insecurity, as only a tiny percentage of women work outside their homes in Yemen. And yet the United Nations Population Fund estimates women are the main breadwinners for one in three families displaced by the fighting.” | | | | | | | | | | CMEP's Bulletin is a weekly round-up of news from the Middle East and represents an array of perspectives on the issues we cover. CMEP does not necessarily agree with all the views expressed in the articles, and they do not speak on CMEP's behalf. | | | | Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
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