Call and Commitment

The Reverend Canon Naim Ateek, a Palestinian and an Episcopal priest, writes of the Palestinians' dispossession of their land during his lifetime leading Canon Ateek to embrace a groundbreaking theology of liberation for his people. Told in his own words, Canon Ateek weaves his personal story within the context of ever-increasing injustices endured by the Palestinian people under Israeli rule and occupation. His story is a gift to all those who wish to understand what justice requires in the seventy-five years since the Nakba (catastrophe) that befell the Palestinian people in 1948 in the creation of the State of Israel, and the enduring occupation that has been imposed on them since 1967.

Naim Stifan Ateek, an Episcopal priest of the diocese of Jerusalem, is cofounder and former director of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center based in Jerusalem, with a satellite office in Nazareth. He served as Canon of St. George's Cathedral in Jerusalem and is the author of the groundbreaking book, Justice and Only Justice, a treatise of liberation theology for the Palestinian people which, according to Sabeel's website, is "based on love, justice, peace, nonviolence, and reconciliation for the different national and faith communities."