GAZA —U.S. Christians for Ceasefire engaged in a powerful, disruptive, and prayerful nonviolent action in a military zone near the crossing into Gaza today. The 12 U.S. and 3 Palestinian Christian leaders appealing for a just peace through song, prayer, scripture, kneeling, and signs were confronted by Israeli guards at the Kerem Shalom crossing with the wall to Gaza in the background as trucks with tanks came in and out of the lot. Soldiers in jeeps drove in and around us as a show of intimidation.
Before the action, the delegation joined an Interfaith Prayer Service with Rabbis for Human Rights and a Muslim sheikh at the Ancient Maon Synagogue, 2428 Eshkol Regional Council near Gaza 1 km from Khan Younis. As they prayed with passion and tears, piercing bombs were heard in the background and an air siren went off. The participants laid flat on the ground with hands over their heads before finishing their prayer.
Previously, on August 16th, the delegation offered a nonviolent protective presence to a community in the West Bank facing Israeli settler violence. The Christian leaders visited Uum Jamal (20 miles south of Bet Shean), a Bedouin Community which decided to evacuate from the valley after facing sustained Israeli settler violence for a week. Even while trying to evacuate, the village still faced the settlers’ attacks. Children were frightened to the point of vomiting. The people were beaten physically and women sexually harassed. The settlers were young men bearing clubs, sticks, and other weapons who acted with impunity, given recent policy shifts in Israel granting settlers more control in the occupied territory. The Christian delegation stayed with the community for a period of time, experienced intimidation and harassment by Israeli soldiers, and then engaged in rapid advocacy with the U.S. State Department and U.S. Embassy to exert pressure on the Israeli government to stop the settler violence. The latest update is the settler violence at Uum Jamal subsided, though only enough that it has allowed them to be forced from their homes.
As the U.S. Democratic National Convention begins this week, we expect many disruptions and demonstrations for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. We urge President Biden and Vice President Harris to not merely urge a permanent ceasefire, but also to withhold further arms shipments to Israel for the leverage to achieve such a ceasefire.
Members of Christians for Ceasefire in the U.S. and Palestinian Christian partners, such as Sabeel, were participating in a just peace delegation in Palestine from August 13-20, 2024, in response to the mass atrocities taking place in Gaza and the West Bank. Sabeel is an Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center focused on justice, inclusivity, and nonviolence. Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA) assisted in the planning and in facilitating logistics. There was a direct invitation from Christian leaders in Palestine to the delegation.
Committed to the dignity of all people, the delegation seeks a just and lasting peace for everyone. This includes, at minimum, a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all political prisoners and hostages, and an end to the Israeli occupation.
This just peace delegation of solidarity and accompaniment has met with key religious leaders, families of Palestinian prisoners, and Palestinian communities under threat, as well as visiting the organization supporting families of the hostages and meeting with Israeli organizers. They also packed food for truck shipments into Gaza. They sought to offer some forms of nonviolent protective presence in the West Bank, in addition to their prayerful nonviolent witness action. The delegation seeks to help expose human rights violations, while strengthening and encouraging U.S. Christian advocacy for a just peace.
This effort is one in a series of religious delegations to Palestine, including Rabbis for Ceasefire, Christians for Ceasefire, and multi-faith delegations.
Participants in the delegation include: Mercy Aiken, Network of Evangelicals for the Middle East; Prof. Ken Butigan, DePaul University, Catholic; Rev. Larry Clark, Methodist; Rev. Paul Jeffrey, Methodist; Prof. Kelly Johnson, Catholic; Prof. Eli McCarthy, Georgetown University, Catholic; Rev. John Paarlberg, Reformed Church of America; Levi Pierpont, Air Force veteran (friend of Aaron Bushnell), Quaker; Robert Shine, Pax Christi USA, Catholic; Jessica Sun, Leadership Team, Pax Christi Young Adult Caucus, Catholic; Dr. Rev. Lewis Tait Jr., Village Church DC; Scott Wright, MDiv., Pax Christi Ambassador of Peace, Catholic.
