‘Gaza, but in slower motion’: Winnipeggers share stories of violence, intimidation from West Bank

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This article was published 26/01/2025 (248 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“Stand with us — we’re suffering.”

That’s the message Palestinian Christians in the West Bank have asked four Winnipeg Mennonite church members who visited that region in November to share.

“Palestinian Christians said they feel abandoned by Christians in the West,” Byron Rempel-Burkholder, one of the four who made the trip, said. “They asked us to come and hear about their lives under occupation and then share that with people back home.”

Rempel-Burkholder and the others — Dan Epp-Tiessen, Joanna Bergen and Chloe Bergen — will speak about their visit during a webinar titled Stories of Lament and Hope at 7 p.m. on Jan. 29. Attendance is free, but participants must register at wfp.to/lament.

The webinar is sponsored by the Mennonite Church Manitoba Palestine-Israel Network.

The four visited the region at the invitation of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Centre in East Jerusalem. They were part of a larger group of people from Canada, the U.S. and the United Kingdom who met with church leaders, peace activists and other Palestinians during the trip.

While in the West Bank, the four Winnipeggers heard stories about how Palestinian farmers are being forced from their land by settlers, how their homes are being demolished to make way for highways and about being cut off from their olive groves by the separation wall.

“They said it’s similar to what’s happening in Gaza, but in slower motion,” Epp-Tiessen said.

The Palestinians they spoke with used the word “genocide” to describe what is happening in Gaza, he said, adding by that they meant not just being killed, but how the foundation of Palestinian life and society has been destroyed by the bombing of schools, universities, homes, hospitals and businesses.

The big fear of Palestinians is what happened in Gaza will happen in the West Bank, too, said Rempel-Burkholder.

“There has been a ramping up of violence against Palestinians there since Oct. 7,” he said of Palestinian homes and farms being taken over for settlements since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. “They are losing their land and being forced into cities,” Epp-Tiessen said.

While in the West Bank, the four also visited Sderot, an Israeli community near Gaza that was attacked by Hamas, to pray, contemplate and pay their respects. While there, they could see smoke rising from bomb strikes in Gaza, about five kilometres away.

While condemning the Hamas attack and wanting a release of all the hostages, Rempel-Burkholder and Epp-Tiessen also say Canadian Christians should condemn the violence being perpetrated against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

“As Christians, we need to stand in solidarity with other members of the body of Christ,” Rempel-Burkholder said. “When one part suffers, we all suffer. We can’t turn our backs on our spiritual kin and others who are oppressed … pastors there are worried what will happen to the Christian witness in the land where Jesus walked.”

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