 Hello, I'm Bishop Susan Johnson from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada last November I was one of four of our delegation who had the opportunity to go to Gaza, although I've been in the West Bank about 20 times it was my first time being in Gaza and I was horrified by what I saw and what I learned This year the population in Gaza a very small Geographical area will top 2,000,000 40% of the population is unemployed 62% of the population is 15 to 29 years old So you know what that does on youth to have that high incidence of unemployment 80% of the population at least is on Partial at least partial dependence on international age. So that gives you a sign of the poverty in the region There's problems with all kinds of ins for structure The electricity is controlled by Israel and is turned on and off. They only get a few hours a day Fuel to run generators is expensive and diesel fumes Contribute to the the air pollution in the region The sewer systems are inoperable raw sewage is being dumped into the Mediterranean There is a fresh water or there was a fresh water aquifer under Gaza But it has been over pumped in competition between the Gazans and the Israelis and is now 96% salinated and undrinkable people buy water But the water is not always safe that they buy and in the end It's poor people who can afford the least to end up drinking unsafe water This polluted water the salinated water has led to a lot of waterborne diseases and a very high incidence in of kidney failure in the population do of course to the salination in the water The schools are also overcrowded. They are running three shifts a day But of course that means a very short school day for every child not enough education We saw great work being done by churches and NGOs, but there is not enough work to take Misery in that place. I think one of the moments that made the greatest impression on me is when we were visiting a social Psychosocial program with 11 year old girls We saw them going through singing and dancing and playing and they looked like happy little campers And then we realized that they have already in their lives gone through three incursions into Gaza And that still every time a rocket goes off every time a bomb drops those girls are Retramatized as is much of the population Those young people grow into adults moving forward and I can't imagine the lifelong trauma that they're going to experience My deepest concern is about the future for gassins, but also the future for those in the West Bank Annexation will have the effect of continuing to take away land in making the landmass for Palestinians in the West Bank smaller and smaller like it's happened in Gaza It also means that the very best of locations of resources of arable land of old producing all of The fields are being taken away all the resources and it's going to mean increasing poverty into Palestine increasing taking away of Infrastructure and resources like electricity and water which already affect the West Bank And I worry that the West Bank in the end is going to be more and more like Gaza It's time for us to intervene and advocate We need to ask the Israelis not to go ahead with annexation We need to speak out to our government and to our elected members of Parliament to take a stand and speak out for Palestinian people at this time Thanks very much for your participation in this webinar. Thanks very much for helping us work to keep peace with justice between Israel and Palestine God bless you