I was last in Jerusalem and the West Bank in January 2024. At that time, I wrote about the anxiety Palestinians were feeling and the increased tensions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This on top of the horrors the world was seeing in Gaza. How could it possibly be worse?
In mid-April of this year, I paid another solidarity visit with Bishop Elizabeth Eaton of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and a small delegation from our two churches. Gaza continues to be beaten down, flattened into dust. Sadly, all eleven universities have been destroyed, introducing me to a new word, scholasticide. Aid is not being allowed in and there is no fresh water. As one person told us, the only choice Gazans have left is how they want to die. By bomb or bullet, by starvation or lack of water, or by some small infection or disease that cannot be treated.
The incursions into the West Bank are increasing. Settler violence continues to rise. Refugee camps are targets. People are referring to the “Gazafication” of the West Bank.
There are increased gates and checkpoints around each city. There are ninety new gates just around Bethlehem. The city now can be totally cut off.
The old city and East Jerusalem have their own challenges. There is settler violence and an increase in the incidence of harassing members of the clergy, such as spitting on them.
For me the hardest thing to witness was the increased lack of hope. Hope that the war will end. Hope that there will be a place for Palestinians within the Holy Land. A huge concern is that the presence of the indigenous Christian church will be lost. More and more Christians are giving up and leaving. Will there be a Christian presence other than that of tourists in the future?
Over and over again, I heard words of thanks that we had come to visit. Thanks for our advocacy. Thanks for our support. Thanks for our prayers. Thanks for our presence with them, that they are not alone or forgotten.
I had the honour to preach on Palm Sunday. On the one hand I wondered aloud how can we shout hosannas, praise to God at this time. But the resilience of the people, their faith in God allowed them to whisper, say and shout hosannas with me.
In the statement (https://elcic.ca/2025/04/16/north-america-holy-land-solidarity-visit-statement/) issued by myself, Bishop Eaton and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land Bishop Azar following the trip, it states, “We call upon the people of our three churches to remain steadfast in our solidarity, witness and advocacy for justice—for the sake of our life together and in support of the indigenous Christian presence in the Holy Land. By doing so, we greet the One whose arrival in Jerusalem continues to unite us in our “Hosannas.”
Rev. Susan Johnson
ELCIC National Bishop
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