Catholic bishop walks length of Gaza Strip in support of calls for ceasefire

CBC
·2 min read
Bishop Bart Van Roijen walked from York Harbour to Corner Brook on Monday, which spans about the distance of the Gaza Strip. He said he was walking in solidarity with those suffering through the Hamas-Israel War, and calling for a ceasefire in the region. (Amy Feehan/CBC - image credit)
Bishop Bart Van Roijen walked from York Harbour to Corner Brook on Monday, which spans about the distance of the Gaza Strip. He said he was walking in solidarity with those suffering through the Hamas-Israel War, and calling for a ceasefire in the region. (Amy Feehan/CBC - image credit)

Bishop Bart van Roijen walked the length of the Gaza Strip on Monday in support of those suffering through the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The clergyman walked from York Harbour to Corner Brook, capping off his journey with a prayer service at the Cathedral of the Holy Redeemer on Monday evening.

It's part of a worldwide movement in which people walk 42 kilometres to call for a ceasefire.

"It's a way of joining a peaceful movement. This is a movement that doesn't want to judge or condemn as much as it is a movement that says enough is enough," he said.

The region has been in turmoil since a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed, according to Israeli counts, and about 250 people were taken hostage. Israel retaliated by imposing a total siege on Gaza and mounting an air and ground assault that has killed about 34,500 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Bishop Bart Van Roijen walked from York Harbour to Corner Brook on Monday, which spans about the distance of the Gaza Strip. He said he was walking in solidarity with those suffering through the Hamas-Israel War, and calling for a ceasefire in the region.
Bishop Bart Van Roijen walked from York Harbour to Corner Brook on Monday, which spans about the distance of the Gaza Strip. He said he was walking in solidarity with those suffering through the Hamas-Israel War, and calling for a ceasefire in the region.

Bishop Bart Van Roijen walked from York Harbour to Corner Brook on Monday, which spans about the distance of the Gaza Strip. He said he was walking in solidarity with those suffering through the Hamas-Israel War, and calling for a ceasefire in the region. (Amy Feehan/CBC)

Van Roijen said people around him feel powerless watching from afar. He said he's followed the news coverage and feels the events to date have not led "to peace, to a solution."

"I think that we all need to look at the dignity that we have as human beings and that dignity is disrespected in many different ways throughout the world, but right now it is so glaringly disrespected in in that region of the world," he said.

Van Roijen said he used the walk to reflect on the experiences of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

"Many people are forced to walk under much more difficult situations where they may well be bombed or be carrying possessions or maybe traveling with children or whatever it may be," he said. "So it also makes me mindful of what people were forced into in order to move from from north to south, or from south to north."

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