wfn.org | WCC NEWS: From South Africa to Palestine, a message of peace and hope

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

>>World Council of Churches - News

>>media@wcc-coe.org 
>>Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363

FROM SOUTH AFRICA TO PALESTINE, A MESSAGE OF PEACE AND HOPE

>>For immediate release: 01 April 2010

In an Easter message, more than 60 South African church leaders
and Christian, Jewish and Muslim lay theologians have conveyed
their solidarity with Palestinian Christians in their Kairos
call. 

Recognizing Palestinian Christian “history of keeping the
faith in the Holy Land”, despite the circumstances, they urged
Palestinians to be steadfast and resist being “forced out of
your own land”. 

Responding to the Kairos Palestine document (

www.kairospalestine.ps), they recall the words of Nelson
Mandela who said: “our freedom is incomplete without the
freedom of the Palestinians”. Conveying South African
solidarity “with your cause”, they express conviction that
“justice will come to the Holy Land, as it came to us here
in the southernmost part of Africa”. 

The Kairos Palestine document was launched in December 2009 in
Bethlehem (
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=t_12910&mid=2044&aC=6689f4e6&jumpurl=2
) and reflects the Palestinian Christian’s word to the world
about what is happening in Palestine. 

Drawing on their own experiences, they define apartheid as
“the denial of the humanity of one human being by another or
the idea that there is a superior and an inferior human being”.
Yet, they observe, the practical manifestations of Israeli
apartheid are in many ways worse than South African apartheid
ever was. 

Endorsing the Kairos Palestine view that the occupation is a sin
and evil, they strike a note of hope  that “Jesus must be
weeping at the injustice that he sees in Jerusalem and we are
convinced that God is already intervening and will continue to
intervene to establish his justice in the Holy Land”. 

Rejecting Christian Zionism and Christian theologies that
justify the Occupation as illegitimate’ and heretical, they
commend the Kairos Palestine initiators for longing that those
responsible for the occupation regain their God-given humanity. 

Pledging to develop solidarity, they endorse non-violent
resistance through the Kairos Palestine call for the Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement “as a way to put
maximum non-violent pressure on Israel to lift the boot of
oppression from the neck of the Palestinians”. 

Listing what “we can learn from you”, they ask Palestinians
to be prepared to consider what process of healing would be
needed in the Holy Land once a political solution has been
reached.  Celebrating this year the 25th anniversary of the South
African Kairos Document, they invite Palestinians to share their
journey. 

Among the signatories of the message are the Archbishop Dr Thabo
Cecil Makgoba, Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern
Africa; Bishop Dr N.P. Phaswana from the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Southern Africa; Professor Tinyiko S. Maluleke, South
African Council of Churches (SACC) president and executive
director of research at the University of South Africa; and SACC
general secretary Edwin Makue. 

The South African response to Kairos Palestine is one among
others that can be found on the Kairos Palestine website
(www.kairospalestine.ps). It is significant because of the
near-parallel experiences described by the South African
theologians. 

Download the South African response to Kairos Palestine (
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=t_12910&mid=2044&aC=6689f4e6&jumpurl=3
) 

>See also:

WCC member churches in Israel/Palestine (

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=t_12910&mid=2044&aC=6689f4e6&jumpurl=4
) 

Easter message from Heads of Churches in Jerusalem (
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=t_12910&mid=2044&aC=6689f4e6&jumpurl=5
) 

Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=t_12910&mid=2044&aC=6689f4e6&jumpurl=6
) 

World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel, 29 May - 4 June 2010 (
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=t_12910&mid=2044&aC=6689f4e6&jumpurl=7
) 

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 349 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 Olav Fykse Tveit,
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva,
Switzerland.