wfn.org | WCC UPDATE: Palestine/Israel: 200+ accompaniers in 3 years,

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World Council of Churches - Update
Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 10/08/2005

EAPPI: INCLUDING THE FIRST MUSLIM EVER, NEW GROUP BRINGS TOTAL NUMBER OF
ECUMENICAL ACCOMPANIERS SINCE 2002 TO OVER 200

Counting the 20 new volunteers who recently arrived in Jerusalem, the
total number of people to have participated in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) has now passed the 200-mark, as
the programme completes its third year of existence.

The latest group of ecumenical accompaniers includes a Muslim participant
for the first time. She comes from South Africa.

There are two other accompaniers from South Africa, four from Sweden, four
from Norway, one from Canada, two from Switzerland, three from the UK,
including Northern Ireland, and two from the USA. The EAPPI is also
pleased to welcome the first EA from Finland. The thirteen women and seven
men in the new group range in age from 24 to 65.

Ecumenical accompaniers, who serve a minimum of three months, work in
various capacities with local churches, Palestinian and Israeli NGOs, as
well as Palestinian communities, to try to reduce the brutality of the
Israeli occupation and improve the daily lives of both peoples. Accompaniers will continue to be placed in Bethlehem, Hebron, Jayyous, Jerusalem,
Ramallah, Tulkarem and Yanoun.

Since the programme was launched in August 2002, 217 accompaniers have
participated from more than 30 churches and ecumenical partners in 13
countries: Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, New
Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.

More information on the EAPPI and profiles of the current group of
ecumenical accompaniers are available on the EAPPI website at:
http://www.eappi.org/

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) was
launched in August 2002. Ecumenical accompaniers monitor and report
violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, support
acts of non-violent resistance alongside local Christian and Muslim
Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, offer protection through
non-violent presence, engage in public policy advocacy, and stand in
solidarity with the churches and all those struggling against the
occupation. The programme is co-ordinated by the World Council of
Churches.

This material may be reprinted freely.

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org
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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 347, in
more than 120 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
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which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally
inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.