Reflections from the Holy Land
A Journey over 45 years
In a few short days, I will hand over the responsibility of the Chief Executive Officer to my successor Mr. Johny Zeidan whom I had the privilege of meeting during my early career at Bethlehem University in the mid-eighties and proud to call him a bright former student. Johny comes to the LPJ with a well-rounded experience and ready to continue the journey that started in 2016 when His Beatitude assumed his responsibilities at the LPJ and asked me to join the team in 2017. I leave the LPJ with a great sense of accomplishment of what we were able to do in the administrative and financial areas, but more importantly with full confidence in my colleagues in the General Administration along with Johny to continue to excel in their work and provide the much-needed support to all of the LPJ educational, pastoral and humanitarian initiatives. I wish them all the best of luck in the coming years.
As I move towards retirement, and looking back at the last 45 years, my professional career that started in the corridors of Bethlehem University in teaching and various administrative positions, led me to the exposure of the wider Christian institutional presence as well as Gaza through my work at CNEWA-Pontifical Mission, and for the past decade more intensively through the direct work of the Church in serving the community at large through the LPJ. I consider myself very lucky to have served most of my career in the Church and its various institutions that provide educational opportunities, pastoral care, and humanitarian and developmental support to the most marginalized in society. Looking back at those 45 years, I would not change any one of the smallest experiences and encounters I have had. It has truly been an enriching and rewarding experience.
One cannot look at a span of 45 years and not reflect on the changes that happened on the ground during that period while living in constant crisis mode characterized by intifadas and wars. What was a more contained conflict resulting from the lack of a just solution to the Palestinian people has now become a regional conflict involving immediate neighbors like Lebanon and Syria, but also involving far away ones like Iran, Yemen and Iraq. The continued failure to give the Palestinian people their rightful rights and allow them to live a dignified life like all other nations of the world has led to the continued instability and the forever wars that are waged in the region. The equation has been simple for decades, but Israel refuses to see it and the whole world are deaf silent with limited will to push to reach the settlement that is aspired. There will be no stability in the Middle East until this chronic issue is dealt with and unless the Palestinian people get their freedom and be allowed to live with dignity.
Traveling the roads of the West Bank, one cannot help but make comparison to 45 years ago when there was hardly any settlement activity. Today, the same drive reveals a scary change on the ground. Instead of driving freely through mainly Palestinian villages and towns with a few sporadic small settlements along the way, one drives through major blocks of settlements that have overshadowed the Palestinian presence. The landscape is dominated now by settlements, even in areas that Israel did not eye since the occupation in 1967. The landscape is one thing, but the ugly scenes of gates at the entrance of every Palestinian town and village that could turn them into small prisons overnight at the whim of a soldier or a settler is most disturbing. The violence directed at anything Palestinian by violent armed settlers accompanied and protected by the army, under the clear direction of the current right-wing government is simply unbelievable. The sad part is that in today’s social media everything is documented and goes viral to the world to witness. Palestinians feel betrayed with
few by their side to protect them. If the tens of thousands of innocent lives lost in Gaza and its total destruction and deprivation of millions, did not push the world to act, will some settler violence gain much attention?
I know I painted a relatively gloomy picture of our day-to-day life, but that is not the end of our story. Over my 45-year career, I witnessed a people who are resilient and creative and most importantly filled with faith and hope. Yes, there were and are some waves of immigration which is very painful. However, for the majority of our people, they realize the gravity of being born in the Holy Land and the heavy burden that comes with it. The resilience one sees in the eyes of young families, the joy in the eyes of school children, the wise reflections of our elderly give us hope that the Christian presence is not going anywhere. Like any other society, it will change and adapt to its new realities and with the Lord’s blessings keep moving forward and continue to carve a way to play a critical role in building our communities and society with the same value set that has led the lives of our parents and grandparents.
This is an opportunity to reflect on 45 years of intimate knowledge of the Church and what it is doing to support its communities while living in constant crisis mode in the areas of education, pastoral care, and humanitarian support. The Church’s critical institutional presence will undoubtedly remain strong and will only grow and continue to adapt to new realities and design programs well beyond the definition of the traditional work of the Church elsewhere in the world. On the drawing board at the LPJ are various housing projects, expansion of services, job creation, capacity building, and income generation programs, not to mention the expansion of pastoral programs aiming at spiritual formation to strengthen the faith and hope. I will watch from a safe distance the development and expansion of the role of the Church in continued crises mode and will help in any way possible to capitalize on my experience. At the same time, I hope I can find the energy to pursue a retirement dream to write a book about my journey through the Church and its institutions operating in constant crisis mode. Stay tuned!
Allow me to close by thanking each and every one of you recipients of this reflection for your kind support, encouragement, and most importantly for your continued prayers for me and all my brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. The journey could not have been possible without you all out there somewhere in the world. In the coming few months as I adapt to retirement, I will continue to be involved with the LPJ to provide support as needed during the upcoming CEO transition and to assist His Beatitude in any special tasks as he may deem necessary. I can be reached at my new LPJ email at [email protected]. I look forward to staying in contact.
Sami El-Yousef
Outgoing Chief Executive Officer
25 August 2026
