Indiana Center for Middle East Peace, Inc.

08/21/2026

Journalist Clarissa Ward, CNN Chief International Correspondent, explores the "mounting pressure" on Palestinian Christians. In this piece, she seeks to understand how "a fringe, extremist ideology" in increasing Israeli settler violence, and "nearly three years of war are reshaping Christian life in the Holy Land."

You can find the piece in its entirety here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WxFJiT3aJ0&list=WL&index=3

08/18/2026

Clarissa Ward, CNN Chief International Correspondent, with an incredible and comprehensive piece on the increasing settler violence in the West Bank, capturing both the facts on the ground, and in many ways what it 'feels' like in the West Bank in this moment.

For 2,000 years, Christians have called the Holy Land home. CNN’s C...

08/17/2026

Sarah Nahar, MDiv, PhD, PhD teaches in the University of Michigan’s Program in the Environment. Sarah is a nonviolent action trainer and theologian. Previously she worked at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and was Executive Director of Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT). Jonathan is a Palestinian American, co-founder of Christians for a Free Palestine. He was an activist with Community Peacemaker Teams.

Plymouth Congregational Church
Sunday, August 30th, 3:00pm EST

Free, open to the public. This program is live-streamed, and posted as a video a few days after the event, on our YouTube Channel: youtube.com//videos

08/17/2026

On September 12, in Fort Wayne, IN!

Next month, join us for a very special event in Fort Wayne, IN. On Saturday, September 12 at 10:30 am, Rev. Sara Ofner-Seals (Plymouth Congregational Church of Fort Wayne) interviews Sheikh Hamzah Sharif, the spiritual leader of the Universal Education Foundation of Fort Wayne - UEF Masjid, one of Fort Wayne's prominent mosques. Sheikh Hamza recently wrote an important and strong response to Indiana's lieutenant governor Micah Beckwith's Islamophobic rhetoric in which Beckwith said he “hates Islam”, and described it as a “demonic death cult.” https://www.21alivenews.com/2026/06/01/fort-wayne-imam-responds-lt-gov-beckwiths-comments-islam/?fbclid=IwY2xjawTpvqtwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR4RfOErEkIqYJtr_4pYP1SfIRZAG4yRk6nG6XonBaJdy2Rb06k21PJrGqqmJw_aem_YoEnwjRCrnuzbaGfnDnt0g

After a free lunch, supplied by Halal Eats, we hear from Imam Ayman Soliman, Muslim chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Imam Soliman was granted asylum under the first Trump administration, then detained by ICE under the second Trump administration for ten weeks. Part of his talk will cover the fear of deportation, abuse, isolation, and the community that fought for his release in September 2025.

Free and open to the public. Co-sponsored with Indiana Center for Middle East Peace, Plymouth Congregational Church and Universal Education Foundation.

Live-stream: www.youtube.com//videos

08/12/2026

Next month, join us for a very special event in Fort Wayne, IN. On Saturday, September 12 at 10:30 am, Rev. Sara Ofner-Seals (Plymouth Congregational Church of Fort Wayne) interviews Sheikh Hamzah Sharif, the spiritual leader of the Universal Education Foundation of Fort Wayne - UEF Masjid, one of Fort Wayne's prominent mosques. Sheikh Hamza recently wrote an important and strong response to Indiana's lieutenant governor Micah Beckwith's Islamophobic rhetoric in which Beckwith said he “hates Islam”, and described it as a “demonic death cult.” https://www.21alivenews.com/2026/06/01/fort-wayne-imam-responds-lt-gov-beckwiths-comments-islam/?fbclid=IwY2xjawTpvqtwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR4RfOErEkIqYJtr_4pYP1SfIRZAG4yRk6nG6XonBaJdy2Rb06k21PJrGqqmJw_aem_YoEnwjRCrnuzbaGfnDnt0g

After a free lunch, supplied by Halal Eats, we hear from Imam Ayman Soliman, Muslim chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Imam Soliman was granted asylum under the first Trump administration, then detained by ICE under the second Trump administration for ten weeks. Part of his talk will cover the fear of deportation, abuse, isolation, and the community that fought for his release in September 2025.

Free and open to the public. Co-sponsored with Indiana Center for Middle East Peace, Plymouth Congregational Church and Universal Education Foundation.

Live-stream: www.youtube.com//videos

08/11/2026

Roughly 90 people came out last Thursday to hear on-the-ground stories from Indiana members of a US/UK delegation which visited the West Bank in June. The Hoosiers met with three Nobel Peace Prize nominees, Palestinian and Israeli human rights advocacy organizations, Bethlehem-based nonprofits, and organizers in Jerusalem, Hebron and Ramallah.

They shared stories focusing on the resiliency of places like Tent of Nations / Nassar Farm, community supports of Alrowwad Cultural And Arts Society-جمعية الرواد للثقافة والفنون, justice work of Wi'am: The Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center, and peace advocates like Munther Isaac and the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice. They also shared stories of witnessing the illegality of Israeli settlers confiscating land, the Separation Wall and “checkpoints” dividing communities, and the work to maintain justice through science and cultural history at the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability.

If you are interested in joining the trip in 2027, contact ICMEP executive director Michael Spath at [email protected]

https://www.indianacmep.org/

08/10/2026

"My late father used to tell me everybody was living there happy, as a family, Palestinian Christians, Muslims, even the minority Jews at that time." - Rev. Ashraf Tannous, Pastor, ELCJHL

"Palestine before '48, which is the war, it was a very good and wonderful place to live in. It was paradise. And I hope that those days will come back, because we were in a very peaceful time." - Nuha Awwad (Im Shadi)

Check out "Stolen Stories," a 5-part documentary series by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Sumud. In “Stolen Stories,” Palestinian Christian pastors, bishops, and scholars offer important contextual, historical, and theological framework that continues to shape life in Palestine and Israel today.

download: https://bit.ly/4fNjLGPHow do Palestinian Christians tell...

08/04/2026

This Thursday (8/6), 6:30 pm at Plymouth Congregational Church of Fort Wayne. All are welcome.

More info: https://www.indianacmep.org/events/

In June, an international delegation (including five people from the Fort Wayne, IN area) joined ICMEP director Michael Spath on his 19th Solidarity Tour to Palestine. They witnessed much -- the actions of illegal Israeli settlers, military police, community support, legal advocacy, work for democracy and more.

Come hear stories about what they witnessed, the work (and peril) of Palestinians and Israelis working for human rights at this moment, tales from life on the ground in the West Bank, and the work for freedom happening in the land.

Thursday, August 6, 6:30 pm at Plymouth Congregational Church of Fort Wayne 501 W. Berry St., Fort Wayne, IN 46802

The program is free and open to the public. It will be livestreamed as well, and available at the ICMEP YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/