WCC NEWS: Palestine/Israel: WCC delegation seeks just and inclusive peace

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World Council of Churches - News

WCC DELEGATION SEEKS JUST AND INCLUSIVE PEACE IN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL

For immediate release: 27 August 2010

At a time when there are signs of hope emerging from the churches in 
the
Middle East around the conflict in Palestine and Israel, a World 
Council
of Churches (WCC) delegation led by WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav
Fykse Tveit will be travelling to the region to emphasize the need 
for a
“just peace”.

While planning for the visit was initiated several months ago, it now
coincides with the start-up of peace negotiations 2 September in
Washington, D.C., United States.

“The purpose of this visit is to support the churches in the region 
and
to encourage all actors involved to make needed changes to the 
situation
there,” Tveit said prior to the visit.

The delegation, which includes WCC staff members and the moderator of 
the
WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, Rev. Kjell 
Magne
Bondevik, will be visiting with WCC member churches, ecumenical 
partners
and leaders from the Jewish and Muslim communities as well as WCC 
partner
agencies and political leaders. The visit is 28 August to 2 September.

“We want to reaffirm that the WCC as a fellowship of churches is 
working
and praying for peace and justice for all people in the Holy Land,”
Tveit said. “The conflict in the region requires a political solution.
All religious institutions and communities should work together for a 
just
peace. This is essential for a reconciliation and healing process.”

“We are aware of the extreme difficulties facing the negotiations
beginning 2 September,” he said. “We pray for those in charge of this
important work and believe that the negotiations must be inclusive of 
all
in the region who suffer because of this conflict and be based on
principles of international law.”

During the visit Tveit will also say that the Kairos Document
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=7b92c94241a56b16baef 
), which was developed
by Palestinian Christians in late 2009, is resonating in WCC member
churches around the world.

“The WCC member churches are viewing this document as cry for justice
coming from Palestinian Christians, whose human dignity is being
diminished and denied,” Tveit said.

The WCC has been encouraging its member churches to develop and 
coordinate
active advocacy plans to address government, international bodies,
interfaith partners and churches in the region to end the occupation 
of
Palestinian territories and the suffering of both Israeli and 
Palestinian
people.

The visit is also one part of an overall effort within the WCC 
leading to
the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=115c4509d9bb078ba382 ), to be 
held in Jamaica, May 2011,
where nearly one thousand people will gather to move forward the
Ecumenical Declaration for Just Peace (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=679e23062096038009b4 ).

The WCC delegation will visit with the Ecumenical Accompaniment 
Programme
in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), which is a WCC-sponsored programme 
that
brings people from around the world to Palestine-Israel to provide a
protective presence to vulnerable communities. The ecumenical 
accompaniers
monitor and report human rights activities and abuses and support
Palestinians and Israelis working for peace.

Media contact: Mark Beach, +41-79-50.76.363

WCC member churches in Palestine and Israel (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=665ff9be0ea05f8fbe06 )

Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=c4ff167cc607f9750e2a )


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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