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Guest Preacher: Jonathan Kuttab

  • Writer: FUMC
    FUMC
  • 4 days ago
  • 3 min read

On Sunday, May 18th we are privileged to hear a message from Jonathan Kuttab, Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA)

Jonathan Kuttab is a co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and co-founder of Nonviolence International. A well-known international human rights attorney, Jonathan practices in the US, Palestine and Israel. He serves on the Board of Bethlehem Bible College and is President of the Board of Holy Land Trust. Jonathan was the head of the Legal Committee negotiating the Cairo Agreement of 1994 between Israel and the PLO. After graduating with his Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD) from Virginia Law School, and practicing a couple years on Wall Street, Jonathan returned home to Palestine. Jonathan was visiting scholar at Osgoode Law School at York University in Toronto in the Fall of 2017, and is a founding director of Just Peace Advocates Mouvement pour une Paix Juste, a Canadian based international law human rights not-for-profit organization. Jonathan is currently the executive director of Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA).

You can learn more about Jonathan at his site: https://jonathankuttab.org/

You can read Jonathan’s 2024 op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette detailing “What Christians Should Know about Gaza”: https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/guest-columns/2024/03/09/gaza-palestine-israel-war-hamas-kuttab-christian-morality/stories/202403120006

Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA), the organization Jonathan directs, is a nonprofit Christian ecumenical organization seeking justice and peace in the Holy Land through education, advocacy, and nonviolent action.

FOSNA promotes the vision of Sabeel, an international peace movement initiated by Palestinian Christians who seek a just peace in the Holy Land. The name “Sabeel” means “the way” in Arabic. The name can also signify a spring or channel of living water. Sabeel strives for a spirituality based in the liberating reign of Christ, centering values of justice, peace, nonviolence, liberation, and reconciliation. It also promotes a more accurate awareness of Palestinian Christians.

The Justice for Palestine Advocacy Team here at First Church works closely with the local chapter of FOSNA. You can find them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FOSNAPGH/

Jonathan’s book, Beyond the Two-State Solution is a short introduction to the current crisis in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Zionism and Palestinian Nationalism have been at loggerheads for over a century. Some thought the two-state solution would resolve the conflict between them. Jonathan explains that the two-state solution (that he supported) is no longer viable. He suggests that any solution be predicated on the basic existential needs of the two parties, needs he lays out in exceptional detail. He formulates a way forward for a one-state solution that challenges both Zionism and Palestinian Nationalism. This book invites readers to begin a new conversation based on reality: two peoples will need to live together in some sort of unified state. It is balanced and accessible to neophytes and to experts alike.

Or watch Jonathan discussing his vision for a one-state solution here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq8c4Q-aDJg

He has also published a memoir, The Truth Shall Set You Free: The Story of a Palestinian Human Rights Lawyer Working for Peace and Justice in Palestine/Israel

Can two people exist under two different flags – when just the sight of those flags incites rage?

What will it take?


Jonathan Kuttab, a Palestinian Human Rights lawyer—and Christian pacifist—believes there is a way. In this moving, harrowing memoir, he takes us on a personal journey from anger and thoughts of violence to his deep commitment to unrelenting peaceful activism. Be forewarned:

This is not the journey of a starry-eyed idealist. It’s a true-life story of a man who has witnessed violence, terrible injustice, suffering and heart wrenching losses.

As a lawyer, Kuttab has worked with those who are wrongfully imprisoned, sometimes with no charges, those who have seen their homes bulldozed and hectares of olive and fruit trees seized to make way for others’ settlements. He has argued tirelessly in courtrooms challenging oppressive practices and working for human rights.

It is also the story of a man committed to following the Way of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—the way of surrender only to the Prince of Peace. It is as much about a spiritual journey as a saga of political activism.

If you want to be inspired and informed. If you want to look past the rhetoric of opposing sides. If you want to witness the fact that there are still good people in this world working for justice, equality, and peace in the face of violence…This is the story you don’t want to miss.

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