Annual Gathering of United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel (UNJPPI)

In line with our United Church call to ‘Bold Discipleship, Deep Spirituality, Radical Justice’, the theme of this year’s UNJPPI Gathering is “Responding to a Cry for Hope”. That is the Call which was issued in 2019 by Kairos Palestine and Palestinian Christians.

The UNJPPI Gathering will be in London, Ontario from May 6 to 8, with a community event at King’s College on May 5.

In an attempt to work in the spirit of decolonization, most of our leadership will be Palestinian as we try to decolonize our work and listen to Palestinians talk to us out of their experience. They include:
• Yara Shufani – a Palestinian Canadian on “Unity Uprisings 2021 – A Year Later”
• Shadia Qubti – whose home is Nazareth and who has been studying in Canada since 2020. “Peace-building beyond dipping humus”.
• Amal Alhaddad – who lives in Victoria and has recently emigrated from Gaza.
• Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, from Bethlehem, in via technology speaking on “Jesus’ call to be peace-builders”
• Dr. Gabor Mate will also address our gathering by zoom on “Would you rather be illusioned or see things as they really are”.
• Mariam Barghouti – a journalist from Ramallah on “What is happening right now? How are voices of Palestinians being silenced”.

We will learn together from what our resource people have to say as well as from each other as we share our experiences, insights and understanding.
We hope to be encouraged and re-vitalized in our support of human rights for Palestinians and justice and peace for Israelis and Palestinians.

For more information, check the Gathering website at https://unjppi.ca or email George Bartlett at g.bartlett@sympatico.ca.