A Black Day to Remember the Nakba

By Maria C. Khoury

As a little girl I use to pray for the president of the United States every Sunday in the Eastern Orthodox Liturgy never really understanding why I should do so. But finally in my old age after waking up to the bloodiest day I have seen in Palestine in over twenty-five years, I realized the president of the United States needs emergency prayers by all people to be guided by the True Light of Christ.

We simply need a president that will stand up for justice and human rights. Not a president who stands up for Israel because he is the beneficiary of 30 million dollars for campaign and inauguration donations from the famous Zionist Sheldon Adelson. Following a two day slaughter of Palestinians, America has just lost its place in being a mediator for a just peace in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

“Congratulations Israel” is what President Trump said for moving the Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. So I sit speechless why Israel should be congratulated for 59 Palestinians shot dead and over 2700 severely injured while peacefully protesting the intolerable conditions in Gaza and seventy years of displacement since the Nakba which was Israel’s great glory in being established and Palestine’s great catastrophe in having more than five hundred villages wiped from the face of the earth in massacres.

Palestinian Refugees from 1948 and 1967 have never received justice in Israel or in the American court system. Photo courtesy of the United Nations

So I guess in my brain I hear: “congratulations Israel! It is 1948 all over again” A very dark and black day in Palestine which will go down in history as a two day massacre at the Gaza boarders with over forty thousand unarmed protestors. The local hospitals are over floated and missing basic supplies due to the cruel eleven year blockade.

I am simply disgusted that Israel is rewarded for colonizing Palestinian land. The decision to move the Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was simply putting gas on the fire for anyone living behind the wall. It was indented to provoke Palestinians and it succeeded to do so while condoning an Apartheid regime. Among the buried today are an eight month baby and a young man in a wheel chair named Fadi Abu Saleh having lost his legs in 2008 from Israeli rocket fire are examples of the threat Israel feels in using deadly force. We simply need the international community to pressure Israel to end the occupation.

As many people believe, Jerusalem is a very special location, holy to many and should be a place of peace, justice, and reconciliation. We ask our friends around the world to continue to pray for a just solution and in accordance with international law.

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Maria Khoury

Palestine Christian Writer, Blogger at St. George Greek Orthodox Church

Maria C. Khoury

Palestine Christian Writer, Blogger at St. George Greek Orthodox Church
Maria (Kouremenou) Khoury is the author of Orthodox Christian children's books including Christina Goes to the Holy Land, walking the footsteps of Christ. She is a graduate of Hellenic College (1982), Harvard University (1985) and Boston University (1992) with a doctor of education degree. Born in Tripoli, Greece, she was raised in Denver, Colorado. On Dec 31, 2009 she was included on the top 4 Human Rights Champions list by DC Human Rights Examiner including the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Hilary Clinton.

Maria is the author of Witness in the Holy Land (distributed by www.HolyCrossBookstore.com), a publication reflecting personal experiences living under military occupation with her husband the former Mayor of Taybeh, David Canaan Khoury and three children Elena, Canaan, and Constantine. Her articles have been published world-wide in numerous newspapers and magazines and have been translated to various languages bringing awareness of the Christian presence in the Holy Land.

Maria Khoury has been the Taybeh Oktoberfest organizer since 2005.She divides her time between her homes in Boston and Taybeh, travels throughout the world promoting the Christina Books and making presentations about the dwindling Christian community in Palestine.She encourages people to stay at the new Taybeh Golden Hotel and experience rural life in Palestine.