Bishop Rachel calls for justice in West Bank

At the end of January 2026, Bishop Rachel returned to visit Israel and Palestine, meeting Anglicans living in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.

She travelled with the Rt Revd Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford and the Rt Revd Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich.

The three bishops joined Israeli-based Rabbis for Human Rights and Palestinian Christians to plant olive trees just outside Bethlehem, in a gesture of solidarity with Palestinian Christians under threat from settler violence in the West Bank.

On her return, Bishop Rachel spoke to the Church Times podcast about the need for justice in the West Bank.

“I came back with an even clearer sense that I need to use my voice, my feet to clear the path for Palestinians to be the ones to determine what happens, otherwise we continue that diminishing of the Palestinian life and voice.

“And for me, the starting place for this as a Christian is that all people are created in the image of God. This is about human dignity for all people…There is no place for anti-Semitism, absolutely no place for all we are seeing unfolding the UK. This is about care and respect for every human being.”