wfn.org | WCC NEWS: UK Methodist resolutions on Israel and Palestine "important and forward looking"

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>World Council of Churches - News

UK METHODISTS "DARE MORE THAN WORDS" FOR JUST PEACE IN PALESTINE  AND

>ISRAEL

>For immediate release: 02 July 2010

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav  Fykse
Tveit has congratulated the United Kingdom's National Methodist  Conference
“important and forward looking resolutions by your church  around the
question of a just peace for Palestine and Israel.”

The conference, which met on 24 June to 1 July in Portsmouth, has  received
a report entitled “Justice for Palestine and Israel (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=2d06bc9506ccc7267dec
)” and voted on 11 resolutions pertaining to it. These include  a request
to the Methodist Faith and Order Committee to “undertake  further work on
the theological issues, including Christian Zionism, raised in the  report
that are needed to guide and support the approach of the Methodist  Church
to the Israeli/Palestinian situation”.

On a more practical ground, the Conference called on the Methodist  people
“to support and engage with [the] boycott of Israeli goods”  emanating
from illegal settlements as their response to a call of the WCC  in 2009
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=098c618e81bbbbee4ef7  ) supported
by Palestinian Christians in the "Kairos document (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=7d8ec752fb22241b58af )"  and a growing 
number of Jewish
organizations, both inside Israel and worldwide. The Conference  also
called for a full arms embargo as an important step towards a just  peace
in the region.

Tveit underlined the “thoroughness of the process that preceded  the
inclusive decision making” and stated how the UK Methodists  “have set
parameters which will be a model worth replicating in many arenas.”

In his letter of congratulation to the president designate of the  Methodist
Conference, Rev. Lionel Osborn, and to the vice-president designate  Ruth
Pickles, Tveit expressed deep satisfaction with the “transparent  spirit
that can provide a genuine space for a church body to develop church
policy that embodies the Christian understanding that ‘we  are all one’
in the Spirit and one in the Lord.” This oneness was symbolized  when the
conference prayed the Lord's Prayer together following the vote.

“Palestinian Christians will certainly take courage and  strength from the
implementation of the report’s resolutions. They will be  more courageous
in denouncing all forms of violence and to invoke the need for enforcing
international law by bringing an end to the Israeli occupation of
Palestinian territories,” Tveit added. “We trust  that Methodists in
Great Britain and, indeed, people everywhere will be influenced  and
impacted by your call to boycott goods from illegal Israeli settlements  as
a pathway to a lasting and sustainable peace in the region.”

Such actions, he stated, “are visible proof of your irreversible
conviction that God demands that we dare more than words.”

Commending the spirit of the resolution, Tveit also recognized "that  your
agenda is neither divisive in spirit nor in intent. The approved
resolutions of the conference are a clear response to the aspirations  for
a just peace both by Palestinian Christians as well as a growing  number of
Jewish organizations, both inside Israel and worldwide.”

The Conference also resolved to commend the Palestine/Israel report  to
local churches, circuits and districts “for reflection and  action” and
to support the “vital work” of the WCC Ecumenical  Accompaniment
Programme in Palestine and Israel (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.p 
hp?RDCT=fc4371558e7f51c90c47
) (EAPPI), encouraging Methodists to volunteer in the programme.

The Methodist Church is the 4th largest Christian denomination in  the
United Kingdom.

More information on the Methodist Conference in Portsmouth
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=c4cd679d272ab047cb6d  )

Full text of the WCC general sercretary's letter (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=78b3d2dbd9757632eab1 )

WCC Central Committee statement on Israeli settlements in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=546b52f2e2087d21c09b )(Septembe r 2009)

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.

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