wfn.org | WCC: Jerusalem visit

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release PR-02-14
For Immediate Use
2 April 2002

Expression of worldwide ecumenical solidarity: WCC delegation to
meet with patriarchs and heads of churches and Christian
communities

The deputy general secretary of the World Council of Churches
(WCC), Georges Lemopoulos, is travelling to Jerusalem 2-4 April
to meet with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, His
Beatitude Irineos I.

Lemopoulos will also meet with the other patriarchs and heads of
churches and Christian communities in Jerusalem to discuss,
amongst other issues, the recent ecumenical efforts with regard
to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Lemopoulos will be
accompanied by Salpy Eskidjian from the WCC International
Relations team. 

They will meet with local members of the Ecumenical
Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), as well
as with Israeli and Palestinian non-governmental organizations,
to support the local preparations for the first accompaniment
group, scheduled for June.  

Although the last visit of a WCC delegation dates back to June
2001, Lemopoulos stresses the permanent involvement of the WCC in
the region: "We have accompanied the churches and their
communities and advocated for their rights on a daily basis since
the beginning of the Second Palestinian Uprising", he explained.

"With the support of its governing bodies and member churches,
the WCC has intensified its actions over the past year, focusing
on removing the root causes of the present conflict. At the same
time we have continued to do our utmost to alleviate the daily
suffering of the Palestinian people", Lemopoulos added.

Eskidjian is "extremely concerned that the situation in
Palestine and Israel has deteriorated radically since our last
visit. Only in the last few weeks, Israeli defence forces
launched their most expansive military operation since 1982. In
one month, over 180 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been
killed, bringing the death toll since the start of the Second
Intifada to over 1200. The Israeli death toll, now over 300, has
also risen sharply in the past month."  

"We strongly believe that Christians all over the world have a
moral obligation to speak out in the face of so much suffering",
Eskidjian said. "While the statistics of human rights violations
is horrendous, we need to go beyond this to address the causes
and the remedies."

Referring to WCC's ecumenical campaign to "End the Illegal
Occupation of Palestine: Support a Just Peace in the Middle East"
as the first focus of the Decade to Overcome Violence: Churches
Seeking Reconciliation and Peace (2001-2010), Eskidjian sees the
visit as an expression of solidarity: "We are going to Jerusalem
to express the solidarity and prayers of the ecumenical family
worldwide, which is mobilizing together to break the conspiracy
of silence against a people languishing under the last remaining
military occupation in history."

For further information, please contact Karin Achtelstetter,
Media Relations Officer,
Tel.:  (+41.22) 791.61.53   Mobile:  (+41) 79.284.52.12

**********

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from
virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is
not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The
highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately
every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

World Council of Churches
Media Relations Office
Tel: (41 22) 791 6153 / 791 6421
Fax: (41 22) 798 1346
E-mail: ka@wcc-coe.org 
Web: www.wcc-coe.org 

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