World Council of Churches - Update
Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org For immediate release - 22/05/2006 11:02:27 AM
ENDING DOUBLE STANDARDS AND UNILATERAL GAINS NECESSARY FOR PEACE IN ISRAEL/PALESTINE
For peace to be achieved, both parties to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be held to identical standards on ending violence, respecting agreements, and recognizing the other says the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee.
Any unilateral setting of borders must be excluded, a one-party cease-fire in place now needs to be extended to all parties, and the international community should engage with all elected Palestinian leaders.
The committee also asks WCC member churches to heed calls for help from the churches of Jerusalem and to address the threat of anti-Semitism.
In a statement entitled "The time is ripe to do what is right", issued at its 16-19 May 2006 meeting in Bossey, near Geneva, the WCC governing body warns that "Peace must come soon or it may not come to either people for a long time".
The statement recalls a long list of appalling disparities between the two parties, with one of them accumulating and securing "unlawful gains" and the other "being isolated and punished". Those disparities "cannot be justified morally, legally or even politically", it adds.
The WCC executive committee therefore recommends that, "as a new foundation for peace," "both parties to the conflict be held to one and the same standard for ending violence, meeting their existing agreements and recognizing each other's existence including the 1967 borders".
Amongst its recommendations, the statement encourages the Palestinian authority to "maintain the existing one-party cease-fire toward Israel and extend it to cover all parties". On the other hand, it insists on the urgency of "ending the punitive measures" imposed by Israel on the Palestinian people in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The committee encourages Israel to base its security on "the equitable negotiation of final borders" with its neighbours and "excluding the unilateral imposition of borders on those neighbours".
Affirming that "democracy must be protected where it is taking root," the committee urges the international community to "establish contact and engage with all the legitimately elected leaders of the Palestinian people," and "not to isolate them or cause additional suffering among their people".
The statement calls on WCC member churches to "share solidarity with people on both sides of the conflict," and to "use legitimate forms of pressure to promote a just peace and to end unlawful activities by Israelis or Palestinians".
The committee asks the churches to "find constructive ways to address threats experienced among the Jewish people, including the nature, prevalence and impact of racism in local, national and international contexts".
On the question of Jerusalem, the WCC executive committee pleads for "an open and inclusive city for the two peoples and three religions, shared in terms of sovereignty and citizenship". It also calls the churches world-wide to "heed calls for help from the churches of Jerusalem at this time of trial, assist them in their service to society and support church aid work with people in need".
The full text of the 19 May 2006 WCC executive committee "Statement on the conflict in Israel/Palestine" is available at: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2259
More on WCC and church-related efforts to promote peace in Israel/Palestine : http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/regconcerns-palestine-israel.html
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 promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 348 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.