May Compassion Offering: Middle East Children’s Alliance

Orchard Ridge UCC on May 1, 2024

Showing Compassion for Children in Gaza

Our May Compassion Offering —  Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) — was identified and recommended by the ORUCC Palestine Justice Mission Team. After researching and considering many options, the Team unanimously approved sponsoring MECA as the Compassion Offering, in light of the current, urgent situation in Gaza.  MECA has staff on site in Gaza to respond immediately and directly upon receiving our support. 

MECA was founded in 1988 in Berkeley, California as a private, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to deliver vital supplies and humanitarian services to children in Gaza.  As MECA’s work has progressed over the years, its activities have included providing direct aid to refugee children in Lebanon and Iraq; water projects in Gaza that bring clean water for children and their families;  assistance to community organizations that help meet Palestinian children’s needs; scholarships for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank; and educational/cultural programs in the USA to increase understanding about the lives of children in the Middle East and the impact of US foreign policy on people in the region.

Compassion Offering funds raised in May will be directed entirely to MECA’s emergency appeal for the humanitarian needs of Gazan children and their families. Our donations will quickly provide food, water, healthcare and shelter for children in Gaza who are hungry, injured, orphaned and/or homeless.

MECA video:  https://youtu.be/dVVbRQIocKk

The Stones Cry Out Solidarity Delegation

Orchard Ridge UCC on April 29, 2024

Rev. Diane Dulin, member of ORUCC, traveled to the West Bank and Washington DC February 26-March 6. The following is Diane’s report. Read, pray, and consider sharing the link with a friend.

And some of the Pharisees in the multitudes said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”  Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” Luke 19:39-40

The Stones Cry Out Solidarity Delegation to the West Bank and Washington, D.C. consisted of 23 American Christians – faith leaders (both lay and ordained) representing 12 different denominations – who traveled to Palestine to hear the people of that place describe their reality and send us home with a direct and urgent message. Among our delegation were four UCC participants: our trip leader Rev. Dr. Michael Spath of Ft. Wayne, Indiana; Stephanie Gilstrom of Olympia, Washington; Sarah Klokowski of Belmont, Massachusetts; and Rev. Diane Dulin of Madison, Wisconsin.  

Organized by the Indiana Center for Middle East Peace and sponsored by eight nationally recognized advocacy groups1, our delegation met with religious and civil society leaders, Christians and Muslims and Jews, community leaders and everyday residents. We visited a refugee camp, a privately owned farm, churches, non-profit and advocacy NGOs, and public spaces such as the Apartheid Wall and Nelson Mandela Square in Ramallah. We passed through military checkpoints and traveled both Israeli-only highways and Palestinian roads of dirt and stones. 

The message given to us by those we met is this: “The genocide in Gaza is unspeakably horrific. And the violence and strangulation of daily life in the West Bank is crippling. Tell this to your elected officials and public servants in Washington. Tell it to your church leaders. Tell it to your communities back home.”

From those we met, we heard words of fearfulness, anger, grief, and discouragement. Palestinians living in the West Bank feel invisible, abandoned, dehumanized. 

Over and over again, the people we encountered thanked us for coming. They told their stories trusting we, in turn, would return home to speak the truth.

While in the West Bank, we shared lunch at the Tent of Nations farm, owned and worked by the Nasser family, whose deed to the land originated during the Ottoman Empire, long before the founding of the State of Israel. During our meal, two Israeli settlers with semi-automatic rifles strode through the grounds. Upon seeing the two settlers, Daoud Nasser rose, saying, “This is private property.” In response, the settlers made a sweeping gesture as if to take in the entire hillside and proclaimed, “All this belongs to us.” Later, during our advocacy in Washington, D.C., we informed our legislators about settler violence and impunity in the West Bank – always a problem, exponentially worse now, and off the radar for most of the world.

We met with Adam Bouloukos, UNRWA Director for the West Bank.  He told us the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is worse than anything he has seen throughout his long career of first-hand experience with war and disaster. He is worried UNRWA will cease to operate very soon without a reversal of the brutal actions by the United States and other nations to cancel UNRWA funding due to accusations (without evidence) that 12 staff members (out of 13,000 staff in Gaza) were involved in the October 7 attack by Hamas militias. In our meetings with elected representatives in Washington, D.C., we pleaded for resumption of funding for UNRWA.

In Occupied East Jerusalem we visited the Silwan neighborhood. We stood by the rubble of Fahkri Abu Ziab’s family home of generations. His prized home had been demolished by Israel two weeks earlier, on Ash Wednesday, despite legal documents that prove his ownership. He suspects his home was chosen for demolition due to his community leadership and non-violent resistance. Others in the Silwan neighborhood have seen their homes destroyed by Israel to make room for a biblical theme park.

We met with Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, and worshiped at his church on Sunday morning. Like many others we met, Isaac was perplexed by the brutal, heartless disregard for Palestinian life now on full display by our country. We Americans lavishly fund this genocide with one hand and drop a paltry number of meals from the sky with the other hand. Pastor Isaac was discouraged and angry, insisting that our churches need to do more to oppose this great wrong. In Washington, D.C. we made the case for following US law which prohibits providing military aid to countries engaged in human rights violations.

The Washington, D.C. portion of our journey expanded in size as area activists descended to join us in advocacy and public witness. UCC PIN chair Rev. Dr. Allie Perry joined us for this political advocacy. In addition to our visits with legislators, we held a vigil in front of the White House, and some of us engaged in nonviolent direct action. The next night, some gathered again, joining other protesters to cause a traffic delay and rerouting of the President’s motorcade on its way to the State of the Union speech.  

On our final evening together, we gathered for interfaith worship, joined by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who wept while describing the children of Gaza killed, maimed, orphaned, and starved. Rev. Graylan Hagler of Plymouth UCC in Washington gave us a powerful commission to prove faithful to our promise of conveying the message we received from Palestinians we met – the Living Stones of Palestine. A final benediction was delivered powerfully by Rev. Shari Prestemon, Associate General Minister and Co-Executive of Global Ministries.                                      

                                                                    

1 Sponsors of the Stones Cry Out Solidarity Delegation:

Webinar Recording Available

Orchard Ridge UCC on February 29, 2024

A webinar, “Declaration for a Just Peace Between Palestine and Israel” A Study of the 2021 UCC Resolution hosted by the Wisconsin Conference of the UCC was presented Wednesday, January 3rd. The recording is available here.

This webinar will explores UCC’s 2021 Resolution of Witness describing Israel’s military occupation of Palestine an apartheid system. Note: This is a condensed version of the in-person presentations in July 2023 at ORUCC, with added information about the situation in Gaza. 

Petition mailed to President Biden

Orchard Ridge UCC on February 29, 2024

Motivated by the urgent need to prevent death by starvation of masses of Palestinian men, women and children, members of ORUCC’s Palestine Justice Mission Team sent an urgent petition to President Joseph Biden.

The petition recognizes the vital role that UNRWA (the United Nations Refugee and Works Administration) plays in the lives of everyday Palestinians, including Palestinian families in Gaza facing starvation and imminent death from lack of UNRWA-supplied food. The petition recognizes that President Biden himself has cut off funds for UNRWA, and requests that he restore these critically needed funds. The petition concludes with this call to action:  

“Your administration’s decision to cancel UNRWA funding was taken despite calls from the United Nations and numerous humanitarian organizations to increase aid to Gaza, in the face of a rapidly rising toll of deaths by starvation and disease. This action to cancel UNRWA funding, taken on the flimsiest of excuses, makes the US complicit in the very genocide the ICJ has warned against. It also highlights the gap between your administration and the overwhelming majority of US citizens, many of whom have marched in the streets demanding a ceasefire, demanding an end to US funding of Israel’s longstanding military occupation, and showing care for and solidarity with the men, women and children of Gaza. We request that you restore funding to UNRWA.”

Read the full text of the petition below. We signed this petition as individual members and friends of ORUCC, and not on behalf of the entire congregation.

February 27, 2024

The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Request that you restore US funding to UNRWA to its historic level prior to the election of Donald Trump as president   

Dear President Biden:

We write to you as members and friends of the Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ congregation in Madison, Wisconsin. 

We urgently request you restore funding to UNWRA to its historic level prior to the election of Donald Trump as president. 

The United Nations Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA) is a hardworking, respectable agency created in 1949 to meet the immediate needs of Palestinian refugees who had been ethnically cleansed from their homes in 1948. The organization runs refugee camps for displaced Palestinians in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank, and Gaza. It has three major areas of service: Education (through UNRWA schools), Health (through its clinics), and Social Services. The organization undertakes essential, urgently needed work which is performed by UNRWA staff most of whom are, themselves, Palestinian refugees. Today, UNRWA serves about 5.7 million Palestinian refugees. 

On January 26 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to take steps to prevent acts of genocide and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Yet, the very day after this decision was announced, US funding was pulled from UNRWA.   

In an effort to divert attention from this powerful, bold decision by the ICJ, Israel announced without furnishing any proof that 12 out of the 13,000 employees of UNRWA were involved in the attacks of October 7. In response to these accusations, UNRWA fired the 12 accused employees. Yet, this dismissal was not enough for those in the US (and elsewhere) who demanded UNRWA be punished, possibly dismantled, and prevented from continuing its humanitarian mission. 

Your administration’s decision to cancel UNRWA funding was taken despite calls from the United Nations and numerous humanitarian organizations to increase aid to Gaza, in the face of a rapidly rising toll of deaths by starvation and disease. This action to cancel UNRWA funding, taken on the flimsiest of excuses, makes the US complicit in the very genocide the ICJ has warned against. It also highlights the gap between your administration and the overwhelming majority of US citizens, many of whom have marched in the streets demanding a ceasefire, demanding an end to US funding of Israel’s longstanding military occupation, and showing care for and solidarity with the men, woman and children of Gaza.

We request that you restore funding to UNRWA. 

Thank you.

Sunday, April 7, 9 a.m. – Meet Palestinian Christian Usama Nicola

Orchard Ridge UCC on February 20, 2024

Sunday, April 7 at 9:00 a.m. join us (from home or in the Swan room) for a Zoom interview with Usama Nicola. Usama (pictured below, right) is a tour guide extraordinaire and co-runs an organization–Wi’am: The Palestine Transformation Center — that helps Palestinian children and youth cope with the trauma of occupation. Usama is a deeply committed Christian living in Bethlehem, just blocks from the Church of the Nativity. ORUCC members Diane Dulin and Tom Beilman have met Usama several times, benefiting greatly from his insights as a tour guide and staying at the hostel his family runs.

Usama Nicola (right)

Come and learn about the many obstacles families in the West Bank face as they try to live their daily lives. See and appreciate Usama’s steadfast determination (Arabic: sumud) to persevere in the face of such obstacles. The Zoom link will be posted in the church announcements April 4.

Quilts for Gaza: Quilters Invited

Orchard Ridge UCC on February 15, 2024

The war in Gaza has left thousands of people homeless, injured and critically ill. Many of these people are newborn infants, young children, or teenagers.

Although shipments of humanitarian aid for Gaza are very limited right now, in time it will become possible to send quilts to Gaza. A group of quilters from Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ is preparing for this opportunity by making small quilts for distribution to Gaza via our United Church of Christ Global Mission Partner, the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.

Can you help?

  • Make a quilt (40″ x 40″ for babies and young children, slightly larger for teens)
  • Share extra fabric, thread, or lightweight batting
  • Donate to help with materials and shipping costs
  • Pray for the people of Gaza
  • Spread the word to others

Contact Diane Dulin for more information. We welcome your questions, ideas, and involvement.

How can I contribute now to help the people of Gaza?

Orchard Ridge UCC on February 2, 2024

You may be wondering how you can help meet the needs of people in Gaza. Here is an annotated list of nonprofits serving Gazans. All are proven, trusted organizations.

Urgent petitions sent to Mark Pocan and Tammy Baldwin

Orchard Ridge UCC on February 1, 2024

Motivated by a need for action, members of ORUCC’s Palestine Justice Mission Team mailed time-sensitive petitions to Mark Pocan and Tammy Baldwin. The petitions highlight Israel’s deliberate blockage of humanitarian aid to Gaza—blockage that has led to ordinary men, women and children of Gaza starving and even dying of starvation. The petitions explain that this blockage of aid violates core provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which to this day is the most important document governing the protection of civilians in areas of military occupation. 

The petitions conclude with a call to action: “Unfortunately, this deliberate blockage of humanitarian aid is supported diplomatically, militarily and financially by the United States government. We request that you partner with other congressional (or senatorial) representatives in taking a visible stand in support of uninhibited flow of food and medical supplies into Gaza. We need your leadership on this issue.”

Read the full text of the petitions below for Mark Pocan and for Tammy Baldwin. We signed these petitions as individual members and friends of ORUCC, and not on behalf of the entire congregation.

Request you take a visible stand in support of uninhibited flow of food and medical supplies into Gaza

Mr. Pocan,

We write to you as members and friends of the Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ congregation in Madison.   

We thank you sincerely for your years of support for the rights of Palestinian citizens living under Israeli military occupation. Unfortunately, we have entered a new period of intense ethnic cleansing by the State of Israel, so more action is needed.    

Right now, today, ordinary men, women and children in Gaza are starving and even dying of starvation, due to Israel’s deliberate blockage of humanitarian aid to Gaza. 

This deliberate blockage of humanitarian aid is in direct violation of core provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which to this day is the most important document governing the protection of civilians in areas of military occupation. Israel’s deliberate blockage of humanitarian aid violates these provisions of the Convention: 

  • Article 33, which prohibits “collective punishment” 
  • Article 50, concerning the provision of food and medical care for children, expectant mothers, and mothers of children under seven
  • Article 56, concerning an occupying power’s requirement to ensure hygiene and public health in the area it occupies.

Israel signed the fourth Geneva Convention in 1949 and ratified it “without any reservation” in 1951. As one of 196 states to sign onto the Convention, Israel is required to follow its provisions. 

Unfortunately, this deliberate blockage of humanitarian aid is supported diplomatically, militarily and financially by the United States government. We request that you partner with other congressional representatives in taking a visible stand in support of uninhibited flow of food and medical supplies into Gaza. We need your leadership on this issue. 

Thank you.

Request you take a visible stand in support of uninhibited flow of food and medical supplies into Gaza

Senator Baldwin,

We write to you as members and friends of the Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ congregation in Madison.   

We thank you sincerely for the actions you have taken in response to the emergency in Israel and Gaza. Unfortunately, we have entered another period of intense ethnic cleansing by the State of Israel, so more action is needed.    

Right now, today, ordinary men, women and children in Gaza are starving and even dying of starvation, due to Israel’s deliberate blockage of humanitarian aid to Gaza. 

This deliberate blockage of humanitarian aid is in direct violation of core provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which to this day is the most important document governing the protection of civilians in areas of military occupation. Israel’s deliberate blockage of humanitarian aid violates these provisions of the Convention: 

  • Article 33, which prohibits “collective punishment” 
  • Article 50, concerning the provision of food and medical care for children, expectant mothers, and mothers of children under seven
  • Article 56, concerning an occupying power’s requirement to ensure hygiene and public health in the area it occupies.

Israel signed the fourth Geneva Convention in 1949 and ratified it “without any reservation” in 1951. As one of 196 states to sign onto the Convention, Israel is required to follow its provisions. 

Unfortunately, this deliberate blockage of humanitarian aid is supported diplomatically, militarily and financially by the United States government. We request that you partner with other congressional representatives, including Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, in taking a visible stand in support of uninhibited flow of food and medical supplies into Gaza. We need your leadership on this issue. 

Thank you.

With appreciation

Orchard Ridge UCC on January 31, 2024

Out of budgeted church funds in 2023, our Ministry of Christian Witness and Service (CWS) awarded $2,000 in response to the Urgent Appeal extended by UCC Global Ministries. The Appeal was supported by churches across Wisconsin and the entire UCC.

Funds raised have been (and continue to be) forwarded to our Mission Partners actively working in Gaza: the Department of Service for Palestinian Refugees (DSPR) of the Middle East Council of Churches, the and Al-Ahli Hospital (a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem).

The Palestine Justice Mission Team is thankful for this support for the people of Gaza. You can also make additional individual donations to support organizations working in Gaza.

Movie Discussion, Tues, Nov 21, 7 p.m.

Orchard Ridge UCC on November 17, 2023

Many books, films and study guides are available for people trying to make sense of the Israel/Palestine conflict. The ORUCC Palestine Justice Mission Team recommends the widely acclaimed film Roadmap to Apartheid, narrated by Alice Walker. We invite you to watch this film on-line at a time convenient for you. Then join us for a discussion of the film on Tuesday, November 21 from 7:00 pm-8:00 pm at the Alfred Swan Room at church. You can also join via Zoom with this link.

Roadmap to Apartheid is an historical document on the rise and fall of apartheid in South Africa, and a film about why Palestinians feel they are living today in an apartheid system – a view that many people worldwide have come to share. View the film on YouTube, Prime Video, and Apple TV.