Mitri Raheb

Background

Mitri Raheb was born in Bethlehem, in 1962. He pursued his higher education in Germany, first at Hermannsburg Mission Seminary (1980–1984) and then at Philipps University in Marburg, Germany (1984–1988), where he completed his graduate studies including a doctorate in theology. He returned to Bethlehem in 1988 to serve as the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church (Christmas Lutheran Church), and serving as the managing editor of the Al-Liqa’ Journal for religious and heritage studies in the Holy Land (1992–1996).

Since 1992, Raheb has founded and led a number of projects and institutions serving the social needs of Palestinians living in the Bethlehem area, focusing specifically on women, children, youth, and the elderly.

He is one of the co-authors of Kairos Palestine document together with Patriarch Michel Sabah, Rev. Naim Ateek, Rifat Kassis and others. Israeli diplomats have criticized Raheb's work on the document, claiming that it is "an extremist and racist document which does not contribute to reconciliation and peace between the Palestinians and Israelis." Raheb has been critical of Western support for Christians of the region and their lack of support against the Israeli occupation: “There is talk as if the West is genuinely interested in Christians, but most of the time they only use them for their own political ends."

In 2010, at the "Christ at the Checkpoint" conference in Bethlehem, Raheb stated that "Israel represents Rome of the Bible, not the people of the land. ... I'm sure if we do a DNA test between David, who was a Bethlemite, and Jesus, born in Bethlehem, and Mitri, born just across the street from where Jesus was born, I'm sure the DNA will show that there is a trace. While, if you put King David, Jesus and Netanyahu, you will get nothing, because Netanyahu comes from an East European tribe who converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages." Tricia Miller denounced this as a "racial theory to support his belief that Jews are not the true people of the Land of Israel," adding that "the idea that Jews of European descent are not really Jewish is an old anti-Semitic fabrication used to delegitimize the connection between modern Jews, their Israelite ancestors, and their historic ties to the Land of Israel."

He currently lives in Bethlehem with his wife and two daughters.

Official Positions

Organizations

Beginning with the Abu Gubran Guest House and the Authentic Tourism Program in 1992, Raheb has founded a number of institutions serving the Bethlehem area.

The Diyar Consortium

The Diyar Consortium is an umbrella organization that is responsible for the administration of its component institutions: the ICB, the Dar Al-Kalima Health & Wellness Center, and the Dar Al-Kalima College. “Diyar” (Arabic: ديار‎‎) is the plural of “dar” (Arabic: دار‎‎), meaning “house” or “homeland” in Arabic. It is headed by its president, Raheb, who is responsible for the overall vision of the consortium and securing funds for continuous growth. The consortium is governed by a Board of Directors, whose members come from diverse religious and vocational backgrounds, and administered by an executive committee and three program committees (for health, culture, and education).

The International Center of Bethlehem (Dar Annadwa Addawliyya)

The International Center of Bethlehem, or Dar Annadwa Addawliyya (Arabic: دار الندوة الدولية‎‎), meaning “The House of Worldwide Encounter”) is located in Madbasseh Square, in central Bethlehem, about half a mile (.8 km) from Manger Square.

A number of initiatives operate under the aegis of the ICB. These include:

The ICB complex comprises the old Lutheran School building, the former church offices, and three other buildings. The Ad-Dar Cultural and Conference Center and other modern parts of the building were designed by Finnish architect Juha Leiviskä. The ICB complex sustained significant damage when it was occupied for 3 days by the Israeli army during the siege of Bethlehem in April 2002. Reconstruction and restoration costs totaled more than US$500,000.

The Dar Al-Kalima Model School

The Dar Al-Kalima Model School (Arabic: مدرسة دار الكلمة النموذجية‎‎), meaning “The House of the Word”) is located on the hilltop Mt. Murair campus and serves students in grades K-12. The school is coeducational and Lutheran-based, serving both Christian and Muslim students from the towns, villages, and refugee camps of the Bethlehem area. The Extra-Curricular Program after school offers students the opportunity to receive instruction in their specific, chosen areas of interest from professionals in those fields. The Bright Stars program (run through the ICB) is similar to the ECP program, but it meets once a week and is open to children who attend schools other than Dar Al-Kalima.

The Dar Al-Kalima Health & Wellness Center

The Health & Wellness Center is also located on the hilltop Mt. Murair campus, on the ground level of the building that houses the Dar Al-Kalima Model School. It houses health clinics (audiology, nutrition, endocrinology, cardiology, and psychotherapy) as well as fitness facilities and programming, including a swimming pool and sauna, yoga and aerobics classes, and exercise machines. The aims of the Health & Wellness Center are prevention through promotion of healthy lifestyles, and providing specialist care not available elsewhere in the southern West Bank.

The Dar Al-Kalima College

The College began operating in 2006 from the ICB complex in Madbasseh Square, offering diploma courses in documentary film-making and glass and ceramic art. The College received accreditation in 2007 from the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education for Bachelor’s degree programs in contemporary fine art, multimedia and tourism studies.

Publications

Raheb has written 16 books and numerous articles on issues relating to interfaith dialogue, social transformation, contextual theology, and culture, many of them available in over 10 languages, including Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, English, German, and Arabic.

Awards

Many Jewish groups protested the granting of the 2011 Deutscher Medienpreis to Raheb. Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center stated, “It is an outrage that the organizers of the German Media Prize would bestow their highest honor on a religious bigot who is re-introducing Replacement Theology to de-legitimize the Jewish people and its right to pursue its spiritual and national destiny.” B’nai Brith International stated, “Dr. Raheb is distinguished by an extensive record of highly offensive statements that, any positive work notwithstanding, make him ill-suited to receive the endorsement implied by a prestigious German honor … Experts have seen in Dr. Raheb’s views an echo of the widely eschewed replacement theology maintaining that Christians have superseded Jews in the Divine plan and have inherited God’s promises to Jews.” Deidre Berger, head of the Berlin office of the American Jewish Committee, said, “It is outrageous to consider Raheb a partner for peace as long as he engages in anti-Israel invective,”

Raheb's work has been recognized by the Luther Institute in Washington, DC (Wittenberg Award, 2003), Concordia University in River Forest, IL, USA (Honorary Doctor of Letters, 2003), Spirituality and Health Magazine (50 Best Spiritual Books of 2004 for Bethlehem Besieged: Stories of Home in Times of Trouble), and the Central Islamic Archive Institute (Mohammed Nafi Tschleibi International Peace Award, 2006). In 2008, he was awarded the Aachen Peace Award.

Press

Raheb’s work has attracted attention from major media networks, including the BBC, ABC, and HBO, and has been featured in publications such as the Washington Post, the Economist, Newsweek, the New York Times and the Boston Globe. He has also been interviewed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, CNN and CBS.