 |  | November 21st News Bulletin Here’s what’s upcoming and what you may have missed at CMEP and in the news. | | | | 1. Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 32 Palestinians, as Hamas warns of ‘dangerous escalation’ CNN "Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 32 Palestinians in the latest escalation of violence since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said 12 children and eight women were among those killed in the strikes, which continued from Wednesday into Thursday morning, while a further 88 people sustained injuries." | | | | | | 2. Israeli airstrike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon kills 13 people NPR "An Israeli airstrike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed 13 people and wounded several others, state media and government officials said. It was the deadliest strike on Lebanon since a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war a year ago. The drone strike hit a car in the parking lot of a mosque in the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp on the outskirts of the coastal city of Sidon, the state-run National News Agency said. The Lebanese Health Ministry said 13 people were killed and several others wounded in the airstrike, without giving further details." | | | | | | 3. BBC visits US-led Gaza ceasefire monitoring centre in Israel BBC "US and Israeli soldiers as well as military representatives from more than 20 other countries, diplomats and aid workers, are now based at a warehouse in southern Israel, monitoring the almost six-week-old ceasefire in Gaza. The US-led Civil-Military Coordination Centre (CMCC) is tasked with managing the next stages of President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan, including the entry of humanitarian supplies and plans for reconstruction. However, there is no formal Palestinian representation there, which has prompted criticism." | | | | | | 4. UN Security Council adopts US resolution on Trump's Gaza plan Reuters "The UN Security Council on Monday voted to adopt a U.S.-drafted resolution endorsing President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza and authorizing an international stabilization force for the Palestinian enclave. Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed last month to the first phase of Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza - a ceasefire in their two-year war and a hostage-release deal - but the UN resolution is seen as vital to legitimizing a transitional governance body and reassuring countries that are considering sending troops to Gaza." | | | | | | | | Still Active: ACTION ALERT "Block the Bombs Act" On May 21st, 2025, House Resolution 3565 was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives, also known as the "Block the Bombs Act." The resolution calls for a limit on the sale of bombs, ammunition (including white phosphorus), and ammunition manufacturing capability. The act comes as Israel has strengthened its assault on Gaza and the West Bank, with an estimated death toll since October 7th, 2023 standing at 54,000 Palestinian men, women, and children. Congress needs to pressure the Trump Administration to protect Palestinian civilians through the passage of HRes. 3565. Your voice can push your representative to support this vital resolution and limit offensive weapon capabilities of Israel, protecting Gazan civilians from relentless bombs. Contact your representative and urge them to support the initiative. | | | | | | | | Peacebuilding Lessons from the Middle East February 16, 23, March 2, 9, 2026 | Noon–2 PM
Instructor: The Rev’d Mae Elise Cannon, PhD, Executive Director of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
Offered at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale In a time of deep global division and conflict, this course invites participants to learn from the lived witness of Christians in the Middle East who embody faith, resilience, and hope amid adversity. Taught by the Rev’d Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, Executive Director of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), the course focuses on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, exploring how the church in the Holy Land seeks justice, reconciliation, and spiritual renewal in the face of ongoing struggle. Through an interdisciplinary blend of theology, history, and practical ministry, participants will engage in spiritual formation, examine models of conflict transformation, and gain tools for peacebuilding and advocacy. Together, we will explore what it means to “love one’s enemy” and move from apathy to action in the pursuit of justice and peace in the Middle East and in our own communities. | | | | | | Call to Prayer for Shadi Khoury On Sept, 8th 2025, after two years and eleven months of procrastination in the corridors of the occupation's courts, after an arrest accompanied by torture, Shadi's steadfastness during interrogation, a full year of house arrest, and thirty-seven consecutive court sessions, the judge issued his decision convicting Shadi. Please join us on Wednesdays 12:30pm EST as we pray for Shadi and all other affected by unjust violence. | | | | | | Call to Prayer Layan Nasir The cautious relief brought by news of a ceasefire deal for Gaza was shattered today with the devastating report that Palestinian activist Layan Nasir has been taken directly to prison following a court appearance. Layan and her family now face the pain of an additional eight-month sentence within Israel’s harsh prison system. The timing of this decision underscores the ongoing suffering and injustice faced by Palestinians, an unrelenting reality that persists even as hopes rise for peace in Gaza. | | | | | | Prayers4Peace: A Jerusalem Voice for Justice: Another resolution? In this piece, A Jerusalem Voice for Justice reflects on Resolution UNSC 2803, which was passed on 11/17/2025. The Resolution approves the Trump Peace Plan for Gaza, including the implementation of an International Stabilization Force (ISF). The piece reflects on the positive and negative aspects of the ceasefire deal, while rejecting the colonial division of Palestine that has continued since the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The faith-leadership calls on the implementation of a system for a "multi-cultural and pluralist society that ensures equality, justice and peace for all who live in Palestine/Israel today." | | | | | | Press Release: Launch of "Kairos Palestine II: A Moment of Truth – Faith in a Time of Genocide" Bethlehem – Friday, November 14, 2025 At its 16th conference held in Bethlehem, the Palestinian Ecumenical Christian Initiative is launching today the second Kairos Palestine document under the title:
"A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide." This document comes more than fifteen years after the release of the first Kairos Palestine document in 2009, which then represented a heartfelt proclamation of faith, hope, and love from the Palestinian experience of suffering. The document received strong support and recognition from local and international church leaders, including the heads of churches in Jerusalem. | | | | | | | | Support CMEP’s Work for Peace
If you value the programs and advocacy efforts highlighted in the bulletin, we invite you to partner with us. Your generosity makes it possible for CMEP to continue hosting events, leading education initiatives, and amplifying voices for justice and peace in the Middle East. If you would like to support CMEP in expanding this important work, please consider making a donation today. Thank you for standing with us. | | | | | | | | | | Receive the Name of a Palestinian Child Alive Today and Lift them up
in Prayer and Advocacy "Let Children Live" More than two million children in Gaza and the West Bank live under brutal oppression, their lives too often reduced to statistics. Yet each child is beloved by God. The Let Children Live campaign invites you to receive the name of a Palestinian child alive today and lift them up in prayer and advocacy. Together, we can remind the world of their dignity, hope, and right to a future. Join Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) and our global partners in this urgent call to stand with children who deserve to live and thrive. | | | | | | | | 5. Report: Abuse in Israeli jails caused deaths of more than 90 Palestinians Al-Jazeera "In the report, PHRI reveals the details of at least 94 Palestinian prisoners killed while in Israeli detention. The true number is likely far higher, the report’s authors concede. All of those killed died from either torture, assault, wilful medical neglect or malnutrition. The report builds upon a tranche of evidence of abuse and torture published by a variety of human rights organisations, both inside Israel and internationally." | | | | | | 6. Trump welcomes MBS for White House visit with fanfare for Saudi crown prince and military flyover CBS "President Trump welcomed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, to the White House with an elaborate military display Tuesday, praising the crown prince and insisting the U.S.-Saudi relationship has never been better as the two countries look to sign major business and national security deals." | | | | | | 7. Syria condemns Netanyahu's visit to its Israeli-occupied south Reuters "Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli troops deployed in southern Syria, drawing strong condemnation from the government in Damascus, which denounced the trip as a violation of sovereignty. Israel expanded its military presence in southern Syria after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad last December, seizing positions east of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syrian territory." | | | | | | 8. US Christians Should Look Past the Wall of Distortion to See the Truth About Palestinians in the Holy Land Word and Way "As the fragile ceasefire in Gaza barely holds, the future for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including the remaining community of Palestinian Christians, continues to look anything but bright. The world needs to understand the truth about the systematic oppression facing this community — and see past the bad-faith efforts to deny and conceal it." | | | | | | | | | | November 20, 2025 CMEP Let Children Live Vigil On November 20, 2025, Churches for Middle East Peace held an online World Children’s Day vigil through its “Let Children Live” campaign, gathering Christians to pray for Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank. Participants received the name and age of a living child, wrote that name and a blessing on a card, and lifted those names together in a communal moment of prayer. The vigil featured live reflections from leaders such as Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, Rania Maayeh of Ramallah Friends School, Humberto Tinsman, Bill Forbes of World Vision, and Shane Claiborne, alongside messages from Archbishop Elpidophoros, Rev. Eddie Aleman, and children from Ramallah Friends School. Through Scripture-shaped prayers, attendees interceded for children’s safety, dignity, education, and protection from violence. The vigil concluded with an invitation for each person to take one concrete act of advocacy for the child whose name they carried. | | | | | | Contact Us Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
110 Maryland Ave NE, Suite 505
Washington, District of Columbia 20002
(202) 543-1222 info@cmep.org | | | | | | | |
