February 18th

In Solidarity with Palestine

In November, several members of the Mennonite Church Canada Palestine-Israel Network (PIN) joined a solidarity pilgrimage led by the Sabeel Liberation Theology Centre in East Jerusalem. These included people from Mennonite Church Manitoba’s PIN.

In a recent webinar sharing about the pilgrimage, Byron Rempel Burkholder (Home Street) described the participants and their itinerary. Fifty people, including fifteen Canadians (see image), joined in the pilgrimage to five different locations throughout the West Bank and one location overlooking Gaza. The tour included meetings, lectures, vigils, and devotional times.

Dan Epp-Tiessen (Home Street) highlighted the work and words of Munther Isaac, a pastor in Bethlehem. Isaac has challenged the western church to tell the truth about what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza. This includes recognizing the disparity between Palestinian and Israeli experiences of protection of their land and access to basic services. It also includes clearly naming the excessive Israeli military response to the terrorist actions of Hamas on October 7, 2023, a response that has left tens of thousands of Gazans dead, many thousands more wounded, and massive destruction of infrastructure. Isaac suggests “apartheid” and “genocide” are not too harsh to describe these realities.

Byron also pointed to the work of Issa Amro, a long-time advocate of nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation. This “Gandhi of Palestine,” as he is sometimes called, shared with Byron and Dan about his life and work (see image).

Chloe Bergen (Hope) described the Palestinian response to the pilgrimage. The Palestinians they talked with expressed profound gratitude for the visit, but their words probed deeper than that. “We heard that they are afraid,” Chloe said, “afraid that Israel will do in the West Bank what they’ve done in Gaza, afraid of the West Bank being annexed, afraid of being arrested or shot—they are tired, and they are alone.”

Nevertheless, they have hope. “We have to have hope,” Chloe described them saying, “because we have children to hope for. We have to have hope because hope is all we have left.”

Please pray for the ceasefire in Gaza to hold, and pray for the people of Gaza as they seek to rebuild. Learn about, pray for, and advocate on behalf of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. When Palestinian Christians were asked what western Christians can do, they said, “Get uncomfortable.” See MCM PIN’s web page at www.mennochurch.mb.ca/pin.