wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Gaza: Christians mobilize for ending violence

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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 - 09/01/2009 14:19:22

CHRISTIANS MOBILIZE FOR ENDING VIOLENCE IN AND AROUND GAZA

Individuals, groups, churches and councils of churches from Kenya to  Sweden to the United States to Australia are carrying out hundreds of  advocacy actions involving Christians concerned about the Gaza crisis,  especially the collective punishment of the people of Gaza, and the need  for a just and lasting peace between the Israeli and Palestinian  peoples.

The WCC has received reports of church-related advocacy in some 20  countries ( http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=6549#c23029 ), including  statements, public demonstrations and letter campaigns addressed to  government officials and parliament members. They are usually accompanied  by vigils and prayer services and collection of funds to support humanitari an relief work.

Their goals include an immediate cease-fire that ends violence against  civilians on both sides of the border, free access for humanitarian aid,  lifting of the blockade on Gaza, and internationally sponsored negotiations  under the framework of international law as the basis for peace.

Two weeks after the Israeli army launched the current attack on Gaza, an  estimated 770 Palestinians have been killed, several thousands have been  wounded and many have been made homeless. Four Israelis have been killed  by cross-border rocket attacks and seven members of the Israeli Defense  Force (IDF) have died in the fighting, four of them killed by friendly  fire.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says the IDF is failing to  fulfill its obligation under international law to help wounded civilians  in Gaza. A United Nations relief agency suspended aid operations in Gaza  after some of their facilities were targeted and two of their local staff  killed by the IDF. Church-related facilities are not spared, as three  DanChurchAid-supported mobile clinics bombed by the IDF show.

See a list of church-related advocacy actions for ending violence in Gaza
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=6549#c23029

>WCC statements and actions:

WCC invites prayers and advocacy for peace in Gaza, 7 Jan. 2009
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1722/wcc-inv ites-prayers-and-a.html

WCC general secretary statement on the Gaza crisis, 29 Dec. 2008
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1722/violenc e-against-gaza-mus.html

WCC central committee minute on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza  Strip, Feb. 2008
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=5614

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

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 Samuel Kobia, from  the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.