Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage is a global network of 40 + autonomous Christian groups (including Peace Catalyst) who are engaging in a peaceful and prayerful show of solidarity with the people of Gaza by walking the length of the Gaza strip in cities around the world during Lent.

What we’re calling and praying for:

1. An enduring and sustained ceasefire

2. An immediate flow of life-saving food, water, aid, fuel, and humanitarian assistance

3. A release of all hostages – both the Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the Palestinian hostages held in the Israeli prison system

4. An end of occupation so a just peace can begin

WHERE WE’LL BE WALKING

Join us for as much of the route as you’d like. The Twin Cities Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage will begin at sunrise at Brooklyn Park River Park and head south along the Mississippi River. Our prayerful, nonviolent walk will follow paved, accessible paths along River Road, making stops at Kroening Nature Center, Boom Island Park, Minnehaha Falls, and churches along the route. At times the route will cross over the Mississippi, staying near the river as a reminder of the Gazan coast. The pilgrimage will end near Bdote, the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. This site is not only sacred to the Dakota people as the location of the Dakota creation story; it is also a site of historic trauma, where many Dakota were interned and died in a concentration camp following the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. The sacred Indigenous sites along the route are a reminder that our pilgrimage takes place against a backdrop of violent settler colonialism perpetrated by European Americans in the United States. As we journey in solidarity with Gaza, we also recommit ourselves to the work of healing justice with the Indigenous people of Mni Sota Makoce..

The full Twin Cities pilgrimage route approximates the mere 22 miles from Gaza City in the north of Gaza, to Rafah in the south. Hundreds of thousands of Gazan civilians were forced to navigate this distance last fall, fleeing violence and following Israel’s false promise of safety from bombardment and combat. Our pilgrimage will take the full day until sunset to allow time for breaks, prayer and song, meals, and the inclusion of people of all abilities and ages. This route brings home the geography of the horror taking place in Gaza, where only the distance between Brooklyn Park and Fort Snelling encompasses the entire geographic area of Gaza. In a single day, our pilgrimage and our bodies will map the reality that no place within Gaza is safe for the 2 million displaced civilians surviving without shelter from aggression and deprivation for the past 140+ days.