Speaking outside the Anglican Church in Nazareth yesterday (November 10th), on the last day of his Pilgrimage of Prayer and Solidarity with the Living Stones of the Holy Land, and reflecting on the Annunciation to Mary, Archbishop Stephen Cottrell spoke of the amazing women he had met on his visit.
Among them was the mother and family of Layan Nasir, the only Christian Palestinian woman currently in Israeli captivity. The archbishop visited them at their home in Birzeit, near Ramallah in the West Bank, and heard their harrowing story of how Layan was arrested by fifteen armed soldiers early in the morning, blindfolded, handcuffed and taken away to they knew not where, under what is known as administrative detention. This means that she has not been charged with any offence, and her family say she has committed none.
Archbishop Hosam and the Rev’d Fadi Diab, Parish priest at their home parish in Birzeit, have consistently raised her case and asked for her release. Approximately 3,558 Palestinians have been held in administrative detention, including about 40 children, and more than 19 women, according to one account, though the situation changes rapidly.
Canon Dr Don Binder, Archbishop Hosam’s Chaplain who is accompanying the visit said, “Archbishop Stephen and his wife Rebecca listened to Layan's family tell of the many hardships that she has faced in prison, both now and last year, when she served an initial eight months: no visitors, meagre portions of food, not even a Bible to read.”
Previously, the Archbishop had experienced at first hand the problems being faced by farmers in the West Bank attempting to harvest their olive crop. Armed and masked settlers arrived to disrupt the visit to Um al Khair in the South Hebron Hills. They were only dispersed when police arrived and told them that the Archbishop was present.
During the pilgrimage, the two archbishops met with church leaders, local clergy, and lay communities, including youth and women’s ministry representatives, and visited key Christian sites. Archbishop Cottrell said he had come “to pray with and listen to local Christian communities of the region, often called the ‘Living Stones’ of the Church. and to express the Church of England’s ongoing commitment to supporting justice, peacebuilding and reconciliation.”
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