Steve France, a PJN representative at the Summit, wrote this report for PJN on the Go, published May 14, 2026: “I can say that this was the most energized and inspiring [Washington] Summit that I have experienced during my time at CMEP,” Kyle Cristafalo, director of advocacy and government relations of Churches for Middle East Peace, said the day after its Joint Christian Advocacy Summit in Washington concluded.
Attendance at the May 5-7 annual gathering doubled its previous levels, Cristafalo said, estimating “about 300 attendees,” with 15 exhibitor tables, and participation of at least 35 denominations and sponsoring organizations. This compared to a norm of 100-125 attendees in years past. He attributed the jump to CMEP’s move to organize jointly with other Christian groups for the first time, which “allowed cosponsoring groups to feel more ownership over the event and encouraged increased participation within their respective communions.”
The Summit culminated in a day of attendees lobbying their respective state congressional members from at least 28 states and DC, along with a lively final demonstration in front of the Cannon House Office Building that overflowed to the point that the police ordered participants to disperse on pain of potential arrest.
Notably, the assembled Christians were particularly inspired by the conversation between commentator and author Peter Beinart – an observant Jew who is beloved of the Palestine solidarity movement for calling out Israel’s apartheid and genocide -- and Mohsen Mahdawi, a practicing Buddhist Palestinian student leader of the Columbia University protest movement, where he worked with Jewish groups to create a reconciliation outreach to critics of the Palestinian cause.
With CMEP executive director Mae Elise Cannon moderating their encounter, each told his story. Mahdawi described growing up in the Far’a refugee camp near Jenin in the West Bank, enduring severe structural and physical Israeli violence and living into the generational Palestinian struggle for justice. Beinart, raised in a strongly Zionist family, told of his gradual awakening and disillusionment as he discovered the abyss of Palestinian suffering at the hands of Israel. The key objective for both men was the same but from opposite sides of the confrontation: to center Palestinian voices. Only by hearing their voices will the dehumanization of Palestinians be overcome.
As PJN member Cliff Cutler of Grace Church, Salem, Mass., explained, “Mahdawi declared humanity is foremost. Trauma needs a safe place to tell one’s story and a community to hold it.”Both Cutler and Leila Richards, a Pittsburgh Presbyterian, were struck by Beinart’s observation that the Jewish narrative following the October 7 Gaza incursion was “Jews are the world’s eternal victims, and this is just the latest example,” even comparing it to the Nazi holocaust. A more apt comparison, Beinart said, is to native American attacks in response to massive U.S. encroachment on their lands.
A dramatic example of U.S. governmental silencing of Palestinians occurred just after Mahdawi addressed the Summit, as he was informed that the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals had reinstated deportation proceedings against him. His response was, “The government is trying to punish me because it opposes my peaceful advocacy for human dignity and equal rights for Palestinians. But I remain unafraid and faithful that justice will prevail in America and in Palestine.”
PJN member Melissa Yarbray of St. Margaret’s Church in Palm Desert, Calif., said the impact of centering Palestinian voices “came alive for our nine-person lobby team in a meeting with staff of Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA). His staffer seemed bored as we began to present. But he quickly leaned in to listen when one of our Palestinian members personally asked for help getting urgently needed aid, and medical access to his people and an end to the bombs.”
In an entertaining performance to prepare attendees for their congressional visits, two expert lobbyists of the solidarity movement brought audience members on stage to gamely role-play opposite the two veterans posing as jaded legislative staffers: Josh Paul, who famously quit his high-level State Department post in protest in October 2023 and lobbies continuously on Palestine-related issues for A New Policy, the NGO which he afterward co-founded, and Hassan El-Tayyab, the multi-talented Legislative Representative for Middle East Policy of the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
Yarbray, who is California coordinator for CMEP, stressed that “being with so many denominations, and clergy and religious leaders was exciting. Hearing about their challenges and struggles with issues we confront gave us perspective and encouragement. It was powerful to hear the problems and struggles many clergy experience in advocating for Palestinian justice in their congregations.” Cutler highlighted the close collaboration of PJN with its Lutheran counterparts, the U.S. Lutheran Palestine Israel Justice Network (US-LPIJN), as they shared an exhibitor table with information about both groups and the needs of Palestinian justice and peace. He counted eight Lutheran bishops in attendance, a fact that Episcopalians can only envy.
It seems likely that CMEP and friends will again team up together next year. Indeed, at a concluding prayer breakfast, they set a goal to draw more than 500 participants to Washington in 2027. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), joining virtually, solemnly endorsed the effort, telling the breakfasters to “go forth and multiply.”
