To Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, the staff and students of Dar al-Kalima University College
Bethlehem, Palestine
Dear Friends in Christ,
I write to you on behalf of your partner, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), to say that we join you and stand with you in grief and anger concerning the September 16, 2024 attack on Dar al-Kalima University College.
We were alarmed and disturbed to learn of the unprovoked attack and damage inflicted on Dar al-Kalima University College by the Israeli Army during its incursion into the Bethlehem Governorate and the surrounding community, particularly the Dheisheh Refugee Camp.
We share your alarm and ongoing concern for the faculty and staff and their well-being as they have experienced and witnessed the attack, including the wanton destruction of parts of the campus. We give thanks that none of your students nor staff were harmed during these attacks.
We share your anger at the humiliation of the young man taken from the refugee camp by the Israeli soldiers. Depriving anyone of their dignity cannot be condoned, and we deplore it.
All of you remain in our prayers. We pray for God’s strength and guidance for all of you and give thanks for your perseverance and steadfastness. It has been our privilege to accompany you on the journey as you have built Dar al-Kalima to where it is today — a center of education, learning, and hope in the midst of so much destruction and despair. As your partners, we will continue to tell your stories of hope and success.
You remind us, “destruction may be; continuity shall be,” and we offer this encouragement back to you as we stand with you during this dark chapter of an ongoing story of destruction, desecration, and injustice.
"In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. [God] shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more." Isaiah 2:2, 4
Rev. Jihyun Oh
(she/her/hers)
Stated Clerk
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
오지현 목사
미국장로교 총회 정서기
Secretaria Permanente
Asamblea General de la Iglesia Presbiteriana (EE.UU.)
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