One basic action that church can take in relation to violence in the Palestinian society in Israel is training poor and marginalized segments of society, including those who do not attend the Church schools and providing spaces and platforms for Palestinians to cultivate their art, build their identity independently and teach their history.

The good news this Christmas is that the stories recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke are stories of hope for the hopeless. Their message is clear: God comes to save, rescue, and redeem his people. He comes to collide with the powers of political, military, and economic structures that oppress the poor to bring them freedom and peace.

Eight PhD scholars who are considered among the top Evangelical leaders in the Arab world worked with the editor on this book to help Arab Evangelical Seminaries to develop their hermeneutical lenses. The focus is to help Arab Evangelicals to construct a multifaceted hermeneutical tool that can empower them to perceive maturely and form their faith contextually.

As Palestinian Christians, we are engaging in peace because we know a better world is possible because being agents of change if part of our faith duty to get there. We are engaged in different forms, be it advocacy, civic participation and nonviolent protest, because of our ability to imagine “Peace on earth” (Luke 2:14).

While our colonizer still controls the land, we still see Palestinian Evangelicals embracing this attitude within our small “bubble” and stalling prophetic calls for justice. Those who attempt to have dialogue about this are labelled “trouble-makers” and are blamed for causing disunity.

(1) As Palestinians, we will be better able to love our Jewish neighbours when we learn to love and embrace ourselves. This means refusing to accept the inferior position, status, or role the European Zionists, rabbinical Jews, and sometimes Western Christians place upon us

Palestinian evangelicals engagement in peacemaking is an example of the intersection between faith and context. This involves contribution to the existing theological thought on faith and the Israeli-Palestinian context. It involves advocating for peace as well as engaging the community. In general, these efforts join civil society’s efforts to challenge behaviors and policies that hinder a lasting and just peace in Israel and Palestine, and specifically, they challenge theologies within the global church that also hinder a lasting and just peace in Israel and Palestine.

Unfortunately, the theology of lament has disappeared from our churches today. What a strange reality this is, as lament is weaved into the pages of the Bible. Our church services lack lament prayers and our sermons and songs centre around positive thinking and victory in Christ. Of course, declaring victory in Christ is important and necessary, but it has to be coupled with a real engagement with the painful reality of a broken society.

More than twenty-five contributors worked together in order to honor the contributions of Dr. Salim Munayer, founder of Musalaha and a professor who taught at Nazareth Evangelical College and Bethlehem Bible College. They took advantage of the occasion of his retirement and surprised him with this book.