JERUSALEM (OSV News) – Susanne Raschman arrived in Israel from Germany on June 11, prepared to take part in a 13-day course titled "Women as Peacemakers: Daughters of Sarah, of Hagar, of Mary," scheduled to begin the evening of June 14 at the Echo Homme convent of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion in the Old City of Jerusalem.
But instead of studying about peace, she and her husband found themselves scrambling down to a bomb shelter in the Beit Joseph Guest House of the Benedictine Dormition Abbey early June 13, as Israel launched what it said was a preemptive strike against Iran's nuclear program.
"I have never before experienced war alerts, sounds of explosions," said Raschman. Having visited Israel and the Palestinian territories almost 20 times, they have friends here and are aware of the "long, complicated and multi-perspective complexity" of the conflict, she said.
Her plans to attend the course was in no way meant to be seen as her condoning the war already raging in Gaza, she added. "In the beginning I couldn't believe into which kind of reality I had fallen."
As Israel closed its air space and flights were canceled, the couple was found stranded at the Dormition Abbey with eight other guests with initially no way to reach her home in Freiburg, Germany, where she is a New Testament scholar and the deputy director at the Catholic Center for Retreat and Script Formation in the Archdiocese of Trier.
But one of the biggest personal losses for her was not being able to continue with the women peacemakers course, which sorely needs to be studied at the moment, she said.
"It would have been so urgent to do what we had planned and especially also look at peacemaking from the female perspective," she said, noting that they were to have met Jewish, Muslim and Christian women peacemakers. "We have the idea that women act differently in peacemaking, in encounters trying to solve conflicts. And now this is like set aside. It turns out this is not the time for peacemakers. And I am feeling so helpless and so sorry, like right now I am lacking words."
Benedictine Abbot Nikodemus Schnabel told OSV News the fighting began shortly after Pentecost which had been celebrated together with all the monks of the abbey – but most had gone to their homes for vacation and so only three remained at the abbey as of June 24, including himself. All the guests who had arrived for Pentecost had also returned to their homes, he said.
This past week as the warnings alarms ring out on mobile phones and later the air raid sirens blast warning of missile attacks, the three monks and eight guests join what has become almost a nightly ritual in Israel as people make their way to bomb shelters. The monks wind their way down the stairs to the bottom floor of the abbey and the guests go down to the basement of the guest house -- where there are well-supplied and fortified bomb shelters to wait out the attack.
Early on June 24, at least four people were killed in an Iranian missile strike on a residential building in Be'er-Sheva, Israel, moments before a ceasefire, which U.S. President Donald Trump announced – was due to come into effect, CNN reported.
An Israeli strike June 23 on Iran’s city of Karaj near Tehran killed seven members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, including two generals with the paramilitary force, the state-run IRNA news agency reported, according to The Associated Press.
Israel has been able to intercept most of the missiles with its advanced defensive systems, missiles have fallen in the north and center of the country destroying homes and buildings including the Soroka Hospital in Be'er-Sheva – with patients and staff evacuated to shelter on time.
So far, no missiles have fallen in Jerusalem though shrapnel from intercepted missiles has fallen in the area, including in the West Bank in Ramallah, Hebron and Beit Sahour where a man was injured.
As of June 22, according to the Israeli National Public Diplomacy Directorate since the beginning of the operation 24 people have been killed and 1,272 injured – which does not count the wounded and killed in Be'er-Sheva June 24.
Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 950 people and wounded 3,450 others, a Washington-based Human Rights Activists group said June 23.
On June 18, Franciscan Father Francesco Patton, custos of the Holy Land, issued an invitation to pray for peace to all the world, saying that prayer is the only "weapon" one is allowed to use.
"It is a weapon that does not cause destruction, does not bring death, does not shed blood, but rather produces good in people's consciences. So I invite all of you who care about the Holy Land to pray insistently for peace. I would also like to invite the world of politics to make choices in favor of peace. Saint Francis reminded the powerful of his time that one day they would have to appear before the judgment of God," he said.
Land crossings with Jordan and Egypt remained open and Raschman and the other guests were able to arrange for transportation to the Jordanian border and from there to the Amman airport for a direct flight to Europe on June 20.
"I've tried to look at the situation more from the perspective of being aware that God … can't prevent humans from acting in a bad way, from starting war. He more like accompanies us through a situation like that," she said, acknowledging the privilege she has had of staying at the abbey with its protective surroundings and hermetic bomb shelter. "He gives us strength to walk through that."
Fr. Schnabel said he has reached out to other members of the Christian and German community to offer them lodging at the abbey if they feel the need, including to the German-speaking Catholic community and German diplomats living in the center of the country.
They have all expressed thanks for the invitation, and many in the German-speaking community have come by in the afternoons, to eat together, for a listening ear and bit of company, he said.
Supporters of the abbey in Germany have also reached out to him, and he has begun to record short video clips in German from different locations of the abbey compound to speak about the situation and the history of the place, prior to the regularly recorded noon prayer. The recordings are available on the abbey's social media channels including Instagram and Facebook.
"We have the enormous privilege to be here at a place where it's really safe and secure," he said. "I see there is really a need. I try to offer that they feel really safe, secure, that they feel comfortable. It's also very important that we continue with our prayers."
