Bulletins

When ABCD was formally established in 1986, we could not have imagined that 40 years later the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would remain intractable, nor that our work would be even more necessary. Gaza has been destroyed, and conditions in the West Bank continue to deteriorate for our partners and the communities they serve.

This is a momentous week for Israel/Palestine and for all who have hoped and prayed for peace over the past 2 years. We welcome the release of the hostages and the cessation of hostilities in Gaza: it should never have taken so long to reach this stage but we thank God that we are here.

We continue to live through incredibly difficult and depressing days for those of us who believe in peace and reconciliation in the Middle East. The daily news leaves us reeling and it is hard to imagine what impact this volatility must have on Palestinians and Israelis.

It certainly feels like that as we review 12 months of conflict in Gaza and reflect on another year of collective punishment and arbitrary restrictions in the West Bank. It is true that the news is almost entirely bleak: no real progress can be made until a ceasefire is in place; but there appears to be no will from either of the warring parties to implement a cessation of hostilities.

In our autumn Newsletter, which came out before the shocking atrocities of October 7th, we wrote of our deep concern about the well-being of our Palestinian local West Bank partners who were being constantly challenged by hostile conditions, stretching them often beyond their limits. Little did we know then how much more their faith and