The Middle East Council of Churches and the Palestinians

 The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) has maintained a longstanding commitment to the Palestinian people, rooted in the history of the ecumenical movement in the Middle East. This relationship predates the formal establishment of the MECC in 1974 and began through Christian churches and ecumenical organizations responding to Palestinian displacement following the Nakba.

For the MECC, the Palestinian cause is therefore not an external political issue but part of its historical memory, pastoral responsibility, humanitarian mission, and Christian witness. Its engagement has developed through three interconnected dimensions: service, advocacy, and awareness building.

Humanitarian service began through church-related committees assisting displaced Palestinian communities in Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank, Nazareth, Amman, and Beirut. These initiatives eventually developed into the Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees (DSPR), which continues its work today with autonomy. During the Lebanese war, MECC-related programs provided assistance to Palestinians in refugee camps while also responding to the suffering of Lebanese communities. Over time, the Council's humanitarian mission expanded to other displaced populations, including Iraqis and Syrians, while Palestine remained a central concern.

Humanitarian assistance gradually evolved beyond emergency relief toward long-term commitments to development, dignity, resilience, and social responsibility. At the same time, the MECC understood that service alone could not address the conditions producing suffering. Advocacy consequently became an essential expression of Christian responsibility.

For the Council, advocacy means defending human dignity, confronting injustice, and seeking a peace founded upon justice and reconciliation. Through statements, conferences, seminars, international interventions, and cooperation with the global ecumenical movement, the MECC has sought to ensure that Palestinians are recognized not as statistics or political arguments but as people possessing dignity, rights, memory, and legitimate aspirations for justice and peace.

Since 2022, the MECC has organized seminars addressing Palestinian prisoners, refugees, enforced disappearance, violence against children, war, abduction, and liberation from Christian perspectives. These initiatives examine Palestine through theological, ethical, humanitarian, legal, and social perspectives while creating space for Palestinian voices and regional specialists.

The Gaza war beginning in 2023 intensified this commitment. Following the attack on Al-Ahli Anglican Hospital in October 2023, the MECC called for an end to violence and siege, humanitarian access, and protection of civilians and humanitarian institutions. Its response emphasized that Christian solidarity extends beyond Christians: defending hospitals, civilians, children, and vulnerable people means defending the universal dignity of human life.

The MECC Executive Committee subsequently called for a ceasefire, the release of prisoners, an end to occupation and siege, and international action for peace. Its Christmas 2023 message placed Palestinian children at the center of its theological reflection, connecting their suffering with Bethlehem and challenging Christians to confront the contradiction between affirming the sacredness of life and accepting the normalization of children's suffering.

The Council has also carried Palestinian concerns into the global ecumenical movement, including discussions within the World Council of Churches. In 2025, its editorial “Have You Heard of Gaza?” warned against the normalization of suffering and emphasized the destructive effects of hunger, thirst, disease, displacement, and the collapse of essential services. Its contribution to Kairos Palestine 2025, “Will Future Generations Believe?”, similarly presented Palestinian suffering as an assault upon human dignity.

Starting 2026, the MECC's weekly bulletin, Momentum, has included a permanent Palestine Observatory documenting humanitarian and social developments and keeping international ecumenical awareness focused on Palestine.

Throughout this history, service and advocacy have remained two dimensions of one Christian mission. Service without addressing the causes of suffering is incomplete, while advocacy without concrete solidarity risks becoming rhetoric. The MECC therefore understands its vocation as both presence and witness: accompanying displaced families, treating the wounded, educating children, defending the vulnerable, and speaking internationally for justice.

The enduring principle underlying this commitment is clear: Where human dignity is wounded, the Church must be present; where justice is denied, it must speak; where people suffer, it must serve; and where peace appears impossible, it must continue to work and pray for peace.