wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Living Letters team to visit Israel and Palestine

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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 - 05/03/2009 16:42:00

LIVING LETTERS TEAM TO VISIT ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

Peace-building initiatives and housing and education issues will be  highlighted when a team of ecumenical representatives from around the  world visits churches, ecumenical organizations and civil society  movements in Israel and Palestine from 7 to 14 March.

Organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) as part of the Living  Letters ( http://overcomingviolence.org/iepc/living-letters-visits.html  )initiative, the visit reflects the WCC's focus on the troubled region,  where it sees the ongoing presence and witness of churches as crucial in  the struggle for a just peace.

Although they are a minority in Israel and Palestine, Christians are  active and visible in public life. The delegation will learn about the  role of the churches in the area, including the work of the Ecumenical  Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The EAPPI aims to  work alongside Palestinians and Israelis in their nonviolent actions for  peace and to carry out concerted advocacy efforts to end the Israeli  military occupation of Palestinian territories.

The visit will include meetings with Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders,  human rights groups (both Palestinian and Israeli) and ecumenical  organizations, as well as an exposure to the conditions of life under  occupation and successful community projects in the area.

The international team will be hosted by the Jerusalem Inter-Church  Centre, an initiative of the Jerusalem churches in association with the  Middle East Council of Churches and the WCC. The Centre is a coordination  point for ecumenical action in and for Jerusalem and its churches.

The members of the ecumenical delegation are:

Metropolitan of Transylvania Prof. Dr Laurentiu Streza, Romanian Orthodox  Church Fr. Dr. Emanuel Clapsis, Ecumenical Patriarchate, USA Prof. Dr. Nancy Cardoso, Igreja Metodista do Brazil Ms Margareta Brosnan, CARITAS, Australia Mrs Nancy Adams, Scottish Episcopal Church WCC staff:
Dr Aruna Gnanadason, Executive Director, Planning and Integration Ms Emma Halgren, WCC Intern - Communication
Interpreter:
Mr Ciprian Ioan Streza, Romanian Orthodox Church

The international ecumenical solidarity visit to Palestine/Israel is part  of the WCC Living Letters ( http://overcomingviolence.org/iepc/living-lette rs-visits.html )initiative. Living Letters are small ecumenical teams  visiting a country to listen, learn, share approaches and help to confront  challenges in order to overcome violence, promote and pray for peace.  Until 2010, several Living Letters visits take place each year throughout  the world in the context of the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence (  http://overcomingviolence.org/ )in order to prepare for the International  Ecumenical Peace Convocation ( http://overcomingviolence.org/en/peace-convo cation/about-iepc/objectives-and-concepts.html )to be held in Jamaica in  2011.

Media contact in Jerusalem: Yusef Daher, phone: +972 50 554 5179.

Sixty Years of WCC Policy on Palestine/Israel, 1948-2007 (in brief)
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3628

>WCC member churches in Israel/Palestine
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=4746

Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel
http://www.eappi.org/

>Middle East Council of Churches
>http://www.mec-churches.org/main_eng.htm

Churches in the Middle East: solidarity and witness for peace
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3113

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.