World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org For immediate release - 20/10/2006 03:08:39 PM
TWENTY-FIVE NEW ECUMENICAL ACCOMPANIERS, INCLUDING A HINDU AND A MUSLIM, GET TO WORK
A new group of 25 ecumenical accompaniers have just begun three months of working with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The group includes the first Hindu and the second Muslim to participate in the programme, the former from South Africa and the latter from the UK.
The group comprises 15 women and 10 men from eight countries (Germany, Finland, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA). The new arrivals bring the total number of accompaniers to have participated in the programme to 329.
The accompaniers will be based in six areas: Bethlehem, Hebron, Jayyous, Tulkarem, Yanoun and Jerusalem; the Jayyous position has just been re-opened.
Ecumenical accompaniers, who serve a minimum of three months, work in various capacities with local churches, Palestinian and Israeli NGOs, as well as Palestinian communities to try to reduce the brutality of the Israeli occupation and improve the daily lives of both peoples.
More information on the EAPPI and profiles of the current group of ecumenical accompaniers are available on the EAPPI website at: http://www.eappi.org ( http://www.eappi.org/ )
Media contact in Palestine/Israel:
+972-(0)-2-628-9402 +972-(0)-54-737-9766 eappi-co@jrol.com
The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) was launched in August 2002. Ecumenical accompaniers monitor and report violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, support acts of non-violent resistance alongside local Christian and Muslim Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, offer protection through non-violent presence, engage in public policy advocacy, and stand in solidarity with the churches and all those struggling against the occupation. The programme is co-ordinated by the World Council of Churches.
Additional information: Juan Michel, +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
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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 348 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 Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.