And some of the Pharisees in the multitudes said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Luke 19:39-40

The Stones Cry Out Solidarity Delegation to the West Bank and Washington, D.C. consisted of 23 American Christians – faith leaders (both lay and ordained) representing 12 different denominations – who traveled to Palestine to hear the people there describe their reality and send us home with a direct and urgent message. Among our delegation were four UCC participants: our trip leader the Rev. Dr. Michael Spath of Ft. Wayne, Indiana; Stephanie Gilstrom of Olympia, Washington; Sarah Klokowski of Belmont, Massachusetts; and the Rev. Diane Dulin of Madison, Wisconsin. 

Organized by the Indiana Center for Middle East Peace and sponsored by eight nationally recognized advocacy groups, our delegation met with religious and civil society leaders, Christians and Muslims and Jews, community leaders and everyday residents. We visited a refugee camp, a privately owned farm, churches, non-profit and advocacy NGOs, and public spaces such as the Apartheid Wall and Nelson Mandela Square in Ramallah. We passed through military checkpoints and traveled both Israeli-only highways and Palestinian roads of dirt and stones.

The message given to us by those we met is this: “The genocide in Gaza is unspeakably horrific. And the violence and strangulation of daily life in the West Bank is crippling. Tell this to your elected officials and public servants in Washington. Tell it to your church leaders. Tell it to your communities back home.”

From those we met, we heard words of fearfulness, anger, grief, and discouragement. Palestinians living in the West Bank feel invisible, abandoned, dehumanized. Over and over again, the people we encountered thanked us for coming. They told their stories trusting us to return home to speak the truth.

Continue to read the rest of Diane's article here. To read the full report issued by the Stones Cry Out delegation on their return, go here. To read the sermon that Michael Spath preached on his return, go here.