The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation

HCEF's Mission

HCEF is committed to maintain the presence and growth of the Arab Christians in the Holy Land, and to develop bonds of solidarity between them and the Christians in the world.

HCEF is committed to its mission by witnessing the teaching of our Savior Jesus Christ:

• Educate people around the world about the presence of the Arab Christians in the Holy Land, and to remind them of their moral obligation to the Mother Church.
• Build community between Christians throughout the world and Arab Christians through pilgrimages, publications, and communications.
• Develop a bond of solidarity through church-to-church, family-to-family, and person-to-person partnership programs in order to bring Christians together in community for future cooperation.
• Promote Peace and Justice in the Holy Land by removing the causes of the human suffering and to replace despair with hope, fear with security, and humiliation with human dignity.
• Select and oversee specific projects designed to provide better living conditions for the Arab Christians in the Holy Land. Project areas will focus on creating employment, advancing education, building and rehabilitating houses, and developing the growth of children of the Holy Land.

Organizational History

The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded by an ecumenical group of American Christians to preserve the Christian presence in the Holy Land. It began as collaboration between Mr. Rateb Y. Rabie, a Palestinian American Christian, and Father Emil Salayta, a Jordanian priest serving in Palestine. They believed that if American Christians were told of the desperate situation of the Christians in the Holy Land, American Christians would reach out to help. They were right. Very quickly, highly respected individuals expressed an interest in serving on the Board of Directors and/or Advisory Board for HCEF. Father Emil also organized a Holy Land Coordinating Committee to set up and supervise HCEF's local projects. The two boards and the Holy Land Coordinating Committee are comprised of known, respected and active Holy Land community members (both lay and clergy) from the three Christian traditions -- Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant. HCEF serves all of the Christian denominations within the Diocese of Jerusalem in Palestine, Jordan, and Israel.

Soon after HCEF was formed, it became apparent that the foundation would need local representatives in American cities where the foundation's work was taking root. As a result, the Holy Land Christian Support Network (HCSN) was formed.