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Bishop of Chelmsford finds joy at fragile peace in Middle East

24 January 2025

People relieved, but weary, Dr Francis-Dehqani reports after visit to Jerusalem

DIOCESE OF CHELMSFORD

Dr Francis-Dehqani with the Archbishop in Jerusalem, Dr Hosam Naoum

Dr Francis-Dehqani with the Archbishop in Jerusalem, Dr Hosam Naoum

THE Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, was in Jerusalem last week when the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal was agreed. On Sunday, she told the Church Times that the reception of the deal among those she met was mixed: relief and joy, combined with “a real understanding of how fragile this is”.

“Several people did express anxieties that the ceasefire and the hostage deal could also be accompanied by an intensification of military activity in the West Bank, and that it could be a precursor to partial annexation of the territory,” she said.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces entered Jenin in the occupied West Bank, with local media reporting airstrikes in the area. At least ten people were killed and 40 injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In a statement, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, described the incursion as an “extensive and significant military operation to defeat terrorism”.

The governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Rub, told the AFP news agency that “what is happening is an invasion” of the refugee camp in the city.

Dr Francis-Dehqani’s time in the Holy Land included visits to Bethlehem and Birzeit, in the West Bank, Nazareth, and Jerusalem.

She made a previous visit last May (Podcast, 17 May 2024). On Sunday, she said that she was struck by the “sheer exhaustion, a real weariness”, of the people she met, most of whom were Palestinian Christians.

After her May visit, Dr Francis-Dehqani pledged to pray every day for Layan Nasir, a young Anglican woman from Birzeit who was incarcerated without charge or trial by Israeli authorities. Ms Nasir was released in December, after eight months in “administrative detention” (News, 13 December). On Thursday of last week, Dr Francis-Dehqani visited her at her family home in Birzeit.

Living conditions during her detention were poor, Ms Nasir explained. With five other women, she shared a cell designed for three people, from which they were released for a maximum of an hour a day.

Diocese of ChelmsfordDr Francis-Dehqani with Layan Nasir

She told the Bishop that she had no access to books, radio, or TV, and was refused a Bible until the last days of her imprisonment.

Dr Francis-Dehqani described her lunch with the Nasir family as “one of the really joyful occasions of the trip”.

On the efficacy of advocacy by church leaders in cases such as Ms Nasir’s, Dr Francis-Dehqani said that “none of us can know” how much difference such pressure made.

She suggested, however, that it did undoubtedly have an impact on people suffering in the region: she recognised “the extent to which they appreciate knowing that they’re supported, that they’re being thought about, that people are praying for them”.

The Church of England’s response to the outbreak of the war in Gaza had been too slow, she said, and “left some of the Christian communities in Palestine deeply hurt. . . There is a lot of fear around saying the wrong thing, but in the end it’s about a longing and a desire and a call for peace with justice for everyone.”

On the prospects for long-term peace in the region, Dr Francis-Dehqani said that she remained hopeful, because “the alternative is to despair.”

She said: “As a Christian and as a person of prayer, I have to continue to hope that people of peace, people who want to see reconciliation, people who believe in justice, will find a will and a way to work together eventually to lead to a peaceful solution.”

Ceasefire was a necessary first step in this much longer process, but she insisted that a “peaceful resolution where there is justice on all sides for everyone . . . should be possible”.

On the part played by the Church in this process, Dr Francis-Dehqani said, it should seek to be “an influence for good”, but it “doesn’t need to be large and powerful in order to be able to do that, because change, in the end, can begin in small ways in communities”.

She referred to the Anglican Church in Iran, which, despite being subject to a “slow suffocation” and lacking “political power, or any kind of power”, is still “an influence for good in how it exists and lives out its life there”.

Both Dr Francis-Dehqani’s father and grandfather served as the Anglican Bishop in Iran. Her father, the Rt Revd Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, was the first Persian bishop of the diocese.

The see is currently vacant, and during her trip Dr Francis-Dehqani spoke with the Archbishop in Jerusalem, Dr Hosam Naoum, about the complexities of finding a new bishop, and thanked him for his care for the Anglican community in Iran.

Dr Francis-Dehqani was born in Iran, leaving as a refugee at the age of 13 after threats to her family, and the assassination of her brother. She has not been able to return, but said on Sunday that her heart “in many ways, is still there”.

The experience of being forced to leave was in her mind when she met members of the Kisiya family, whose land in the Al-Makhrour valley, near Bethlehem, was seized by Israeli settlers, despite the family having legal documentation showing ownership.

Her own experiences might, Dr Francis-Dehqani said, give her “a particular lens” on the situation, but “you only have to be a human being to be able to try and understand and come alongside the suffering of others.”

This week’s Church Times podcast features an interview with Dr Francis-Dehqani about her trip, the prospects for peace in the Middle East, and the part played by the Church.

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