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World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 11/01/2005

BETWEEN BALLOTS AND BARBED WIRE : ACCOMPANYING ELECTIONS UNDER OCCUPATION
Free photos available, see below
“I would like to express my thanks to this group of Christian leaders
and volunteers who are here to promote the principles of the prince of
peace,” said former US president Jimmy Carter. Present in the region as
an international monitor for the Palestinian elections, Carter was
speaking at a 10 January gathering in Jerusalem of members of the World
Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine
and Israel (EAPPI), local church leaders, and local Jewish and Muslim
partners. Also attending the gathering was US congresswoman Lois Capps
who, like Carter, had served as an election monitor.

Presenting a report entitled "Accompanying elections under occupation:
between ballots and barbed wire", EAPPI members shared their observations
of the recently-concluded Palestinian elections, while Carter, Capps and
local church leaders praised the work of EAPPI and its volunteer "ecumenical accompaniers" in helping to bring peace to both Palestinians and
Israelis.

“You have been our eyes and ears here," said Lutheran Bishop Munib
Younan. "And when you return home, we hope you will be our mouth too, and
express yourself in your own countries and churches.”

Capps emphasized the church's efforts to show that justice for the
Palestinians does not entail the opposite for the Israeli people. “You
don’t suppress one and lift the other,” she said. “You keep both up
in harmony. You are not wishing ill on one side.

“Don’t be pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli. Be pro-justice, pro-peace,
and pro-reconciliation,” added Bishop Younan, underlining Capps
words.

The ecumenical accompaniers were present in various locations throughout
the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the election process. In Jayyous,
they escorted the eligible voters in a Bedouin family which lives on land
cut off from the village by the “Separation Fence" across and then back
again so that they could vote.

Describing the election day scene in the town of Beit Sahour near
Bethlehem, an accompanier from Great Britain, Brian Shackleton, noted
that: "It was the younger generation which expected the most. Because they
want peace, not violence. Because they want to build a community. Because
they want security and to end corruption. Because they want their children
to go to school, not in fear. Because they want to visit their cousins
when they choose. Because they want to farm their fields which are now on
the other side of the Wall."

Katja Tolstrup, an accompanier from Denmark, reported on the unusual ease
of travel through the Kalandia checkpoint, the main barrier between
Ramallah and Jerusalem, on election day. One day later, “The checkpoint
was closed for around two hours, and when the huge crowd finally was
allowed through, the firing of a sound grenade[…] underlined the truly
terrifying and dangerous conflict.

Voting in the Jerusalem area was complicated by the fact that it is
annexed territory. Some Jerusalem residents refused to vote because they
were afraid the Israeli authorities would use that as an excuse to strip
them of their rights in the city. In fact, voting in East Jerusalem had to
be done at Israeli post offices, with ballots having to be filled out in
front of Israeli postal workers. Some residents found that they could not
vote due to problems with their registration. These potential voters could
have travelled to a West Bank polling station, but were not always
informed of this possibility.

Skepticism about whether the election would change much led some Palestinians to decide against voting. Reporting on a conversation with a man who
had refused to participate in the democratic process, “His view was that
the presidential candidates were not representing the Palestinian people
but outsiders,” said Lydia Gall, an accompanier from Sweden.

But amidst the skepticism and the refusal by many to vote, there was also
a flush of pride in the spirit of democracy exhibited by the Palestinian
people. The only democratic elections ever held in the Arab world have
just been held in Palestine - a fact in which the Palestinian people take
great pride.

Capps was particularly impressed by the fact that two-thirds of those
eligible voted despite the many difficulties. She was inspired, she said,
"by people in an occupied land going across a separation barrier and great
obstacles, knowing what the outcome [of the election] would be. […]The
election was a belief in the power of people to govern themselves.

With members of the Jewish and Muslim communities present at the 10
January gathering in Jerusalem, there was also discussion on the work the
three faiths can do together towards the common goal of peace for both
peoples.

“I take my hat off to the ecumenical accompaniers for all the work you
do," said Gila Svirsky, a member of the Israeli peace groups Women in
Blackand Women’s Coalition for Peace. "I know how important it is for
you to return and be ambassadors for peace in the countries you come from.
[…] I believe in the importance of the liberation of Palestine. It is
not only important for Palestinians, but important for the liberation of
Israel and for Israel to be the country we always wanted it to be.
Everyone’s success here [with EAPPI] is our success.

Mahdi Abdel Hahdi, the director of the Palestinian Academic Society for
the Study of International Affairs, issued a challenge to Muslims and
Christians to join forces to represent the people of East Jerusalem in
legislative elections upcoming this summer. “I am looking for a priest
and a sheikh to run for the legislative elections in East Jerusalem in
July,” he said. “I want the church and the mosque to be visible, to
help represent the Muslims and the Christians and all East Jerusalem.

More information on the role of EAPPI accompaniers during the Palestinian
elections, and the texts of speeches by President Carter and Latin
patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah at the 10 January gathering, is
available on the EAPPI website : http://www.eappi.org/
High resolution photos available in the EAPPI photo gallery: http://www.eappi.org/eappiphotos.nsf

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org

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