In Israel and Palestine for six months to study, visit churches and make his pilgrimage to ancient Christian sites, video journalist Cole Martin has witnessed everything from the historic Christian festivals and holy sites of Jerusalem, to the daily harassment and violence of Palestinian friends struggling to live normal lives under occupation.

Cole opened his talk for the 80 people gathered at All Saints' Dunedin on Sunday 9 November with images of pilgrimage sites and services, including from the holy Easter fire raised high in the streets around Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Theodore Rose from St Paul's Cathedral was among the Anglican, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist and wider community that turned up and was delighted to connect with Jerusalem's Christians in the origins of his own Easter traditions.

"I never knew they passed the fire round at the Easter vigil, just like we do at St Paul's. It was beautiful to feel that connection with our Palestinian Christian siblings in the liturgy of the light."

Next came an introduction to the many friends Cole had made during his visits to Israel and Palestine, including the families of farmers, teachers and community workers who had offered generous hospitality to Cole as a stranger in town.

But as the 90 minute-long presentation went on, Cole reflected on the increasing pressure Palestinian communities now live under from aggressive settlers backed by Israel's military presence.

 In Palestinian villages he visited, including Christian-majority towns, he saw Palestinian families face daily physical, psychological and legal harassment and violence, which at times escalated into serious injury and even death as Israeli forces drove into towns in armoured diggers to destroy roads, infrastructure, homes and community buildings.

He also witnessed firsthand the Israeli settlers' disturbingly regular attacks on Palestinian property and people. In one such attack Cole's friend Awdah Hathaleen was killed by a settler and Cole was there to document his funeral after the many days (and a hunger strike) it took for the Israeli authorities to return his body. Unlike attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, these stories never made the news nor saw the sentencing of a court, as the perpetrator walked free to return and repeat. 

Dunedin Anglican Dominic Barlow was taken aback by the stark video footage he saw in Cole's talk.

"What stood out to me was the heartbreaking clip of the houses being bulldozed and then overhearing the children crying as they watched their houses being pulled down and broken before them." 

"And then we flicked to the next picture, and we saw an Israeli soldier just staring at his phone, not giving an absolute crap at all. And yeah, it completely shattered me." 

Cole challenged the Christians present to think theologically about why it matters that God chose the people of Israel, and what it means to distinguish that truth from the relations between the political state of Israel and the peoples of the Holy Land today. 

"So the Israelites are God's chosen people – but chosen for what?" he asked.

"Were they chosen as some ethnically superior racial group, because God's a racist God?" I think not – they were chosen and called to live in a particular way as an example of what right relationship looks like, between one another, between us and Creation, and between us and God."

Cole believes much of what the political state of Israel is doing to Palestinians today does not reflect right relationship at all.

Rev Lisa Barlow asked how to talk to Christian friends and whānau about the West Bank, especially those that back Israel no matter what degree of violence against civilians its forces and settlers undertake.

"That's one reason why I have shared these stories about Palestinian Christians," said Cole. "Not because they suffer any more than other Palestinians, but because many Christians don't even know they are there."

Cole gave the example of a New Zealand street preacher he spoke to a few weeks back. 

"I think I almost gave him a stroke when I mentioned Palestinian Christians. He just couldn't grasp it." 

"He didn't know there were Palestinian Christians who are descendants of our earliest Christian communities, who literally have carried our faith since Acts chapter two through to today in the land." 

Rev Lisa Barlow said she worried not only about Christians, but the thousands of Muslims in Palestine, who she finds that some friends risk reducing to caricatures. 

"What I want to ask is this: Is there a God that only creates Christians? And is there a God that only creates Muslims? Or is it one God who creates all of us in God's image? What then?" 

Dunedin Palestinian solidarity organiser Pip Laufiso MNZM said there are some difficult conversations to be had on Israel and Palestine in her community. 

"What sits with me as a Pacific woman, as a Samoan woman, is the work of talking with our own people and our community, and particularly with Christians and as Christian activists. There is a lot of misinformation around." 

For Christians who want to take action to end abuses in the West Bank, Cole suggested one practical tip is to write to MPs and avoid settler-backed computing companies HP and Dell, as well as switching from Sodastream canisters to the same-sized alternative made by 'O Bubbles'. 

Cole Martin is heading to Auckland later this week to share his insights from the Holy Land in talks at: St Matthew's in the City: 7pm Friday  28th November, and
Cityside Baptist Church: 7pm Saturday 29th November

For more video and photo stories from Cole Martin's visit to the West Bank this year go to: 'Cole in a Box' on Instagram