The archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally, came to the Holy Land this week on a visit to show solidarity with Palestinian Christians. In Birzeit, she spoke of seeking the peace Palestinians desire and the freedom they deserve.
As a Palestinian Christian, a minister and a son of Bethlehem, I received her words with gratitude. In a season when many Palestinian Christians feel forgotten by the global church, her presence matters.
In a land where our communities are shrinking and young people wonder whether they have a future, her visit can be viewed as a sign of hope.
But Christian hope must be honest. The Holy Land is not only a place of pilgrimage; it is a place where real people live under the burdens of a brutal occupation.
The archbishop’s meeting with Layan Nasir, a young Palestinian Christian recently released from Israeli prison, was a reminder that Palestinian freedom is not an abstraction; it is lived in families, courtrooms, checkpoints and prison cells.
