Manitoba women attend Bethlehem conference on plight of Palestinian Christians

Two Manitoba women were in Bethlehem last month to witness the launch of a call to action about the plight of Palestinian Christians who live in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Titled “Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide,” the call was issued Nov. 14 at a six-day conference at Bethlehem Bible College held by Kairos Palestine, a Palestinian Christian ecumenical movement that aims to raise “a prophetic voice against the ongoing oppression in Palestine.”

“Kairos” is a Greek word that means “the right or opportune moment,” or “critical time” for action.

Jan McIntyre, 68, a lifelong United Church member from Clearwater, in southwest Manitoba, and Esther Epp-Tiessen a member of Home St. Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, were among 300 people from 23 countries who attended the conference. The two returned home from the region last week after also participating in tours and visits in the area.

“I went because I wanted to see for myself the situation on the ground,” said McIntyre, who is a member of United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine/Israel, a network of mainly members of the United Church of Canada that works for peace in Palestine and Israel.

It was also important for McIntrye, who has visited the region five times and was last there in 2017, to get updated information on the situation facing Christians in the region.

“I wanted to hear about their situation, so my message is current and not dated,” she said, adding “I wanted to understand what my Christian brothers and sisters in Palestine are experiencing, and what they are calling us to do.”

Epp-Tiessen went as a board member of the Canadian Friends of Sabeel, a national ecumenical response to the call of Palestinian Christians for solidarity, and the Mennonite Church Manitoba Palestine-Israel Network.

“I felt it was important to go to see the situation on the ground,” she said, noting she was last there in 2016.

While there, Epp-Tiessen learned that the situation facing Palestinians “is increasingly desperate,” with rapid expansion of Israeli settlements, settler violence, homes being demolished and their land confiscated.

Both women lauded the call from Kairos Palestine, which was updated from a 2009 document by the same organization.

The new call was issued during what the organization called “a time of genocide, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement unfolding before the eyes of the world. This moment — a moment of truth — demands from us a new stand unlike any before it.”

At this time, the call states, “we look at our reality and take a renewed stand, responding to the voice of the Holy Spirit deep within us, listening to the call of faith in this time of genocide.”

The document references the conflict in Gaza, where there is “mass displacement, starvation, the destruction of every sector of life, and the burial of families under rubble.”

It condemns all forms of antisemitism and concludes with a call for Christians around the world to stand with Palestinian Christians and share with others about their plight, adding the goal is for everyone in the region to be able to live together “in true peace and reconciliation founded on justice and equality for all God’s creation.”

As she reflects on the conference, McIntyre said she is bringing home the message “there is a systematic and co-ordinated effort to make Palestine unlivable for Palestinians… it’s very important to name what is happening for what it is.”

The expansion of settlements and settler outposts since the last time she was there was “shocking,” McIntrye said, adding “we need to hold the state of Israel accountable to international law.”

Epp-Tiessen plans to also spread the word about the perilous state of the church in Palestine, the land that was home to the first Christian church.

“Many Christians are leaving, although they don’t consider it emigration but ‘forced displacement,’” she said, noting reports there may be no Christians left in Gaza by 2030 or in the West Bank by 2050.

“As Canadian Christians, we need to stand with them, support them, advocate for them,” she said, adding Palestinian Christians feel abandoned by Christians in other parts of the world.

While the document is written out of desperation, it also affirms hope, Epp-Tiessen said. “It speaks of a God who is with the people in their suffering, who cowers in the rubble with them.”

The Kairos II document can be read here.

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