It has been one year since fighters from Hamas and other militant groups fired rockets and crossed the border from Gaza into Israel, brutally killing nearly 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 more, ripping apart families and traumatizing the country. It has been one year since Israel retaliated with airstrikes against the crowded cities of Gaza, soon to be followed by a ground invasion and blockade that cut Gaza’s access to food and fuel. Why do we care? Why don’t we just look away and trust these far-off countries to sort it out themselves? 

The war in Gaza has been going on for almost a full year. At Peace Catalyst, we believe that God’s mission is to build a holistic and just peace and that our calling as Christians is to follow Jesus in the work of peacebuilding. Watch this video to hear our peacebuilders talk about what the Church should be learning and doing, and how everyday people can be engaged.

How do we understand the shared need for justice in both Minneapolis and Palestine? And how should the church be showing up and speaking out? Watch this conversation with Palestinian pastor Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac and local Twin Cities clergy and racial justice activists about liberation and solidarity across borders.

In a time of unimaginable violence in the Middle East, how can the Church imagine a future reconciliation? What wisdom can Christians gain from Jewish, Muslim, and Middle Eastern Christian concepts of justice? In this conversation, we talked with Palestinian Christian Salim Munayer about his latest book, Reconciling Justice: Concepts of Justice in the Multireligious Context of Palestine/Israel.

After everything that has already happened, Gaza’s Christians may now be facing their biggest challenge since the war began.

Daoud Nassar and his brother Daher own the Tent of Nations farm that sits on a hilltop outside Bethlehem and is surrounded by five Israeli settlements. The settlement bloc seeks to expel the family from the land so that another settlement can be built there. The Nassars have been fighting a legal battle within the Israeli legal system for 34 years to re-register the land in their name, and they have an upcoming hearing on July 2 in the Israeli Supreme Court.

Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage is a global network of 40 + autonomous Christian groups (including Peace Catalyst) who are engaging in a peaceful and prayerful show of solidarity with the people of Gaza by walking the length of the Gaza strip in cities around the world during Lent. As peace catalysts, we’re helping to organize a few walks around the United States. So far, we have one scheduled in the Twin Cities on March 23rd and one in San Diego on March 30th.