UK ‘must do more’ to help Middle East, experts urge after Holy Land visit

‘There is much more that the UK government needs to do around sanctions, banning trade with illegal settlements, and pushing to hold Israel to the finding of the International Court of Justice,’ said Dr Ruth Valerio of Embrace the Middle East.

The United Kingdom needs to recognise its historical and ongoing complicity in the conflicts in the Middle East, a gathering at Our Lady of Victories Parish Centre was told.

Bishop James Curry, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster and lead bishop for the Holy Land for the Catholic bishops’ conference, hosted a conversation with Dr Harry Hagopian, an international lawyer and Middle East expert, and Dr Ruth Valerio from Embrace the Middle East, an ecumenical charity which supports marginalised communities across the region.

Bishop Curry and Dr Hagopian have collaborated on the Middle East Analysis podcast produced by the bishops’ conference for 17 years, which released its final episode on 13 February.

The event, held on 19 February, was entitled “Are the Living Stones still alive?” and focused on the pressures facing the indigenous Christian communities of the Middle East.

Bishop Curry spoke of his time in Israel and Palestine during the Holy Land Coordination visit from 18-23 January. He said he witnessed “communities paralysed in a state of absolute shock and trauma” where “conversations have stopped”, although there are “small seeds of hope”.

The speakers emphasised that Christians around the world have a responsibility to listen to the plea of Palestinian Christians expressed in the ecumenical Kairos document released by the churches of the Holy Land in November 2025, “even if its language makes us uncomfortable”.

A testimony of Christians on the ground, the Kairos document shines a light on their experience of the “genocidal war on Gaza, ethnic cleansing, settler colonialism, occupation, and apartheid”.

Dr Valerio said, “The UK needs to recognise our complicity in this absolute mess. There is much more that the government needs to do around sanctions, banning trade with illegal settlements, and pushing to hold Israel to the finding of the International Court of Justice that the occupied territories are occupied, giving them specific responsibilities under international law.

“Statements are not enough. They mean nothing unless they are backed up by concrete action. The Israeli government approved new settlements in the occupied West Bank after European countries recognised the state of Palestine. Each one of us could be contacting our MP and asking them to put more pressure on the government.”

She said, “All of us have a responsibility to take action in some way, including through peaceful resistance and peaceful civil disobedience.”

Dr Valerio encouraged Church leaders to be “more outspoken and brave” when speaking out about the plight of Palestinians and to raise awareness that it is not antisemitic to criticise the actions of the Israeli government, adding that she personally has relatives who were killed in the Holocaust.

She said that Embrace the Middle East has released a resource entitled “Gracious Dialogue” to help churches engage with the complexities of the situation in Israel and Palestine.

The speakers said that examples of transformative peacebuilding efforts from Northern Ireland and South Africa can give hope to Israel-Palestine, but that it will need visionary leaders who are willing to go the extra mile, which the current Israeli government makes impossible.

Dr Hagopian said, “If one side has all the power and Palestinians can’t get out of their house – how can you have a peace agreement?”

The speakers noted that the Christian population of Palestine has plummeted from 25 per cent in 1948 to 2 per cent today, primarily because they cannot put food on the table for their children under occupation, leading to a very real fear that the Holy Land could become a “Disneyland” for tourists.

They nevertheless warned that the narrative of “Christian persecution in the Middle East” can be amplified in the West out of financial motivations, to appeal to Christian donors.

Dr Valerio said that the Middle Eastern Christians she works with “don’t see themselves as persecuted; just as Christians living in fraught and difficult circumstances”.

Both speakers emphasised that the situation of Christians varies enormously across the Middle East, and that Christians in Iraq and Syria experience violence from militants, whereas in Palestine “Muslims and Christians have lived in peace for decades, united in their shared situation under the occupation”.

Dr Valerio said that Lebanon is “a nation of trauma and resilience”, living under the sound of Israeli drones, where people are “desperate for some stability and normality to come back, and just want to live their lives”.

The speakers noted that Lebanon is the largest per capita refugee-hosting nation in the world, especially Syrian and Palestinian refugees. Dr Valerio said that the Lebanese Christian community faithfully serves some of the poorest communities, working in refugee camps and with children with disabilities.

Dr Hagopian said, “Continue with your prayers, your charity work, your solidarity – but always remember that Middle Eastern Christians know their story a tiny bit better than we know it here.”

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