By, Deacon Stephanos Khoury, St. George Greek Catholic Church

Zababdeh, Jenin

Dear friends,

Thank you for your love for Living Stones, and thank you for carrying with us the story of this land and the voices of the people who live here.

Today was a different day in Zababdeh. The soldiers did not enter the town until only a few minutes before I began writing these words. I was speaking with people about the reality of their lives and listening to what they carry in their hearts. I share with you not only what I see, but what people here experience every day.

The people of this land have learned how to live with pain. Perhaps if others had experienced these same circumstances, they would have left long ago. But the people here remain, not because life is easy, but because there is something deeper than fear that gives them the strength to endure.

The truth is that the situation here is not good. Holding on to hope has become difficult. Like many people here, I have begun to see the future as uncertain. But what keeps me standing is hope; the hope that was born from the truth of the empty tomb and from faith that Christ is risen.

When roads are closed, when there is no fuel, when families leave their homes searching for safety, when agricultural lands are confiscated day after day, and when the future becomes unclear… the question remains: Where does hope come from?

We live in a Holy Land, but it is also a wounded land.

At any moment, a stranger can come to the land of my ancestors, place a tent there, and then it is said that this land belongs to him. The painful question remains: Who gives a person the right to take another person’s land?

Does faith in the Bible mean controlling the land and taking away the rights of others?
Can God’s promise ever be used as a justification for injustice?

Our Bible is, above all, a book of salvation, justice, mercy, and love. When the sacred text is used to justify injustice, it is taken away from its true meaning, because God cannot be against the human being He created in His own image.

As Christians, we believe that the fulfillment of God’s promises was not simply in possessing land, but in the person of Jesus Christ.

We have seen God among us in the flesh. We have seen Him walking on this land, touching the sick, lifting up the forgotten, and proclaiming the dignity of every human being. We have seen Him on the cross crying:

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In that cry, the veil of the Temple was torn. Humanity was no longer separated from God; Christ opened the way to bring humanity back into the embrace of the Father. Jesus, the New Adam, fulfilled the prophecies not through power, but through love. He did not conquer with a sword, but through forgiveness. He did not possess the earth; He gave Himself for the world.

For this reason, we believe that the true promised land is wherever God dwells in the human heart, and that the Church is the Body of Christ extended throughout the whole world.

You and we are not strangers to one another. We carry the faith of the first Christian community that lived in Jerusalem, a faith that united the earthly Jerusalem with the hope of the heavenly Jerusalem.

We cannot leave this land easily. We cannot simply depart and search for a more comfortable place. Because if we leave, who will tell you the story of Jesus, the Son of this land? Who will witness that Christianity did not begin in a distant place, but here, in the streets, villages, and fields of this Holy Land?

Jesus the Galilean is still present here. And He still suffers when He sees what has happened to His homeland.

The places where Jesus walked may today contain fear, walls, or settlements. The places where He healed the sick may today contain wounded people searching for justice. The places where He proclaimed peace are still waiting for true peace.

Therefore, Jesus cries out today in the conscience of every Christian and in the conscience of every human being:

Stop injustice.
Stop the killing of innocent people.
Protect the dignity of every human person.
Seek a peace that is not built on power, but on justice.

We do not want hatred toward anyone. Jews and Arabs are brothers and sisters in humanity. Every person is created in the image of God, and every human tear has value before the Creator.

Our dream is not for one people to defeat another, but for humanity to overcome hatred. Our dream is that one day everyone will live with security and dignity, and that this Holy Land will become a place of prayer and peace rather than a place of pain and fear.

We remain here because hope is stronger than fear.

We are Living Stones. We carry the story of this land, and we witness that light can rise even from the heart of darkness.

Christ is risen… and therefore hope remains.