wfn.org | WCC - Consultation on Israeli-Palestinian conflict

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

decides on coordinated ecumenical action

World Council of Churches
Update, Up-01-25
For Immediate Use
8 August 2001

Consultation on Israeli-Palestinian conflict decides on
coordinated ecumenical action

cf.  WCC Press Release, PR-01-26, 0f 6 August 2001

Painfully aware of the urgent need for the churches to move from
affirmation to action in solidarity with the Palestinian people
at this critical time, 50 participants at an international
ecumenical consultation on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have
identified seven potential areas for coordinated action as a
beginning of a joint process of ecumenical planning and
strategizing for a concerted international response.  

The 6-7 August 2001 consultation on the Israeli-Palestinian
issue was convened by the World Council of Churches (WCC) general
secretary at the Ecumenical Centre, Geneva. The moderator of the
WCC Central Committee co-chaired the sessions. Building on
long-standing WCC attention to the Palestinian question, the
consultation's aim was to strengthen broad international
ecumenical support for a comprehensive peace, based on justice
and security for the Palestinian and Israeli people.  

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser noted at the
conclusion of the meeting that the exchange of ideas was
important in "beginning to identify where the particular
dynamics, urge and competence for action lie among us". He drew
particular attention to the recommendations contained in a report
released on 6 August of an end-June  WCC delegation visit to
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), saying
that they would also help guide decisions on appropriate action. 

Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem
and the Middle East, the preacher at the consultation's opening
worship, declared: "Thank God Jesus said 'Blessed are the
peacemakers.' He did not say 'Blessed are the peace-talkers.'...
Peace, as all of you know, is not the absence of war nor the
cessation of hostilities. Peace is that relationship between the
so-called enemies, from which all the causes that made for war
are no more. Making peace requires greater courage than going to
war." Following this injunction, consultation participants
declined to draft a concluding communique in the form of a public
statement. "Action is not another statement, no matter how
dramatic," Raiser affirmed. "We need to map out a way for us to
actually work together."  

Decisions

The main outcome of the consultation was the decision to form a
small consultative group to develop realistic proposals for
action with local and international partners in seven areas:
- coordinating advocacy with governments
- boycotting goods produced in Israeli settlements in the
occupied territories
- strengthening the "chain of solidarity" through prayer vigils
- resisting the destruction of property and uprooting of people
from their homes and land
- encouraging and enabling the presence of ecumenical monitoring
teams 
- improving communication, interpretation and media reporting on
the conflict and its causes
- increasing church, ecumenical, and interreligious delegations
to and from Israel and the OPT.  

It was also agreed that, together with the Middle East Council
of Churches (MECC) and local churches, the WCC will develop a
coordination point for ecumenical action in Jerusalem, and
explore the possibility of linking it with an international
coordination centre.  

Picking up on a recommendation of the visiting delegation, it
was agreed to propose to the WCC Executive Committee meeting
11-14 September that it consider a special focus on "ending the
violence of occupation in Palestine" in the framework of the
Decade to Overcome Violence, and possibly to call for an
international conference on the subject. As Jean Zaru of the
Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Centre in Jerusalem noted,
"Occupation is violence, and in the Decade to Overcome Violence,
we have to expose the structural violence of occupation."  

The specific contribution to peace and reconciliation of
churches and religious communities was emphasized throughout the
consultation. "Being members and representatives of faith
communities entails a commitment to a basic moral, ethical
stance, to an integrity of the rights approach... that we hope
will rescue the conflict from becoming totally embroiled in a
pure power struggle," Raiser noted in his concluding remarks.  

Sharing

Participants shared news on local and international initiatives
being planned or underway related to the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict. They also heard from a representative of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Darka Topali, who
reported on actions and mechanisms in relation to human rights in
Israel and the OPT.   

In addition, Professor John Dugard, chairperson of the Human
Rights Inquiry Commission and newly-appointed Special Rapporteur
on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories
Occupied since 1967, reviewed his mandate and emphasized the
unique legal environment in which human rights violations in the
context of military occupation are addressed.  

Professor Richard Falk, a member of the Human Rights Inquiry
Commission, summarized the findings and recommendations of the
Commission. Respect for existing human rights and humanitarian
legal norms, he said, needs to be part of and not an outcome of
the peace process.  

Consultation participants included moderators and members of the
WCC governing and advisory bodies, Jerusalem church leaders,
representatives of WCC member churches and ecumenical partners
from around the world, and a selected number of partners working
on peace initiatives in Israel and the OPT. The permanent
observer of the Holy See to the UN office in Geneva also
participated in the session. Several Palestinian participants
were unable to attend due to travel restrictions imposed by the
Israeli government.  

Summing up the value of the meeting, WCC Central Committee
member Bishop Aldo Etchegoyen of the Evangelical Methodist Church
of Argentina said: "Many people have lost hope in this moment.
Many people think peace is impossible. Hope is necessary because
this is more than a programme, this is our commitment in favour
of life, justice, peace and people."  

Photos are available through Photo Oikumene on 
http://wcc-coe.org/photo/events/events.html 

----------------------------------------
International Ecumenical Consultion on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict
Convened by the World Council of Churches
6-7 August, 2001, Geneva, Switzerland

Participants:

Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal, Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the
Middle East

Mr Erik Ackerman, ICCO, The Netherlands

Mr Ian Alexander, Church of Scotland

Monsignor Maroun Al-Laham, Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem

Mr George Awad, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan

Rev. Canon Trond Bakkevig, Church of Norway, member of WCC
Central Committee

Ms Clarissa Balan/ Ms Ghada Haddad, World YWCA

Mr Marwan Bishara, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, member of the
Commission of the Churches on International Affairs

Ms Judy Blanc, Bat Shalom 

Mr Jaap Breetvelt, Uniting Churches in the Netherlands 

Rev. Mark Brown, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,
Churches for Middle East Peace USA, member of ecumenical
delegation to Israel and the OPT in June

Very Rev. Emmanuel Clapsis, Ecumenical Patriarchate, member of
the Decade to Overcome Violence reference group, member of
ecumenical delegation to Israel and the OPT in June 

Rev. Jean Arnold de Clermont, president, French Protestant
Federation

Bishop Aldo M. Etchegoyen, Evangelical Methodist Church of
Argentina, member of the WCC Central Committee

Prof. Richard Falk, Princeton University, member of the Human
Rights Inquiry Commission

Mr Uffe Gjerding, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark,
DanchurchAid, member of ecumenical delegation to Israel and the
OPT in June

Dr Christa Grengel, Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD),
Germany

Ms Katia Delay Groulx, Swiss Interchurch Aid (EPER)

Mrs Claudette Habesch, Department of Services to Palestinian
Refugees/Middle East Council of Churches

Mr Jeff Halper, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

Rev. Dr Bernice Powell Jackson, United Church of Christ, member
of the WCC Central Committee and a member of the ecumenical
delegation to Israel and the OPT in June

Rev. Dr Riad Jarjour, general secretary, Middle East Council of
Churches

Ms Jorunn Kapstad, Norwegian Church Aid

Mr Adam Keller, Gush Shalom 

Amb. Bethuel Kiplagat, Anglican Church of Kenya, moderator of
the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs 

Fr Paul Lansu, Pax Christi International 

Dr Victor Makari, Presbyterian Church, USA

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, permanent observer of the Holy See
to the UN Office in Geneva

Rev. Dr Maake Masango, University of Pretoria, South Africa;
member of the WCC Executive and Central Committees and a member
of the ecumenical delegation to Israel and the OPT in June

Ms Sumaya Naser, Birzeit University

Mrs Fadwa Abla Nasir, general secretary, YWCA Palestine

Mr Daniel Ntoni-Nzinga, Inter-Ecclesial Committee for Peace in
Angola

Dr Judo Poerwowidagado, rector, Krida Wacana Christian
University, Indonesia

Mr Peter Prove, Lutheran World Federation

Dr Audeh Quawas, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, member of the WCC
Central Committee

Mr Goran Rask, Church of Sweden Aid/Mission 

Fr George Tsetsis, Ecumenical Patriarchate, member of the WCC
Executive and Central Committees 

Ms Sue Turrell, Christian Aid

Mr Rob van Drimmelen, general secretary, APRODEV (Association of
WCC-related development organizations in Europe)

Mr David Weaver, Church World Service/National Council of
Churches of Christ in the USA

Mr Peter Weiderud, Church of Sweden, member of ecumenical
delegation to Israel and the OPT in June

Mr David Wildman, General Board of Global Ministries, United
Methodist Church

Ms Glenda Wildschut, Anglican Church, South Africa; member of
the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs

Ms Jean Zaru, presiding clerk, Society of Friends; Sabeel
Ecumenical Liberation Theology Centre, Jerusalem

For further information, please contact Media Relations Office,
Tel:  (+41.22) 791.61.53

**********
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from
virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is
not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The
highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately
every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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