wfn.org | WCC NEWS: World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel begins

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WORLD WEEK FOR PEACE IN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL BEGINS

>For immediate release: 31 May 2010

Initiators of a World Week for Peace have urged Christians to pray  and
act for a just peace in Palestine and Israel. The call is "timely",  they
said, as peace activists have reportedly been killed after Israeli
commandos stormed a convoy of ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip  this
morning.

“We are uniting our voices with others, to speak with one  voice against
the injustices being suffered by the Palestinian people living under
occupation for now more than 43 years,” said Rev. John Calhoun  preaching
at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva to mark the World Week for Peace  in
Palestine Israel (WWPPI) on 31 May.

The week has been convened by the World Council of Churches in cooperatio n
with ecumenical partners and encourages Christians and churches  across the
world to pray and work for a just peace in Palestine and Israel.  A list of
events (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=696c10ff521c8eb71 b33 )
taking place during the week shows how churches from the Philippines  to
the United  States and from the Netherlands to Kenya are engaged  in
related activities.

“The call to be peacemakers is a holy call,” said  the Rev. Dr Olav
Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches  (WCC), in
welcoming participants to the service. “This year the World  Week for
Peace in Palestine and Israel (WWPPI) is once more timely …  with people
seeking to show the need for humanitarian aid going to Gaza being  killed
this morning … This year again we need even more than before  to point to
how settlements and occupation are real obstacles to a just peace.  All
parties must stop violence and find the way forward.”

According to news reports, at least 10 people have been killed this  morning
during an operation carried out by the Israeli military in order  to
prevent a flotilla of up to nine vessels carrying hundreds of
pro-Palestinian peace activists to reach Gaza with humanitarian  supplies,
such as food and medicines. The flotilla, organized separately to  the WCC
peace week, involves members of Christian and Muslim groups as well  as
politicians and activists, including some Israelis.

“This conflict has caused too much suffering, too much injustice.  It is
time for this conflict to end,” stated Calhoun in his sermon.  Calhoun, a
United Methodist Church pastor from the United States currently  works in
Amman, Jordan and coordinates the WCC’s World Week for Peace  in
Palestine and Israel.

Pointing to the very strong message of the Kairos document
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=65daf52e43edc59c35f3  ), written
by Christians in the Middle East and launched last December, Tveit
reiterated its call to churches and Christians throughout the world  to
respond to the conflict “with prayer, witness and hard work  … it is
remarkable that in this situation people are prepared to talk about  love.
We are not against anybody; we are for peace for all peoples."

Full text of the sermon preached by the Rev. John Calhoun
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=28209fe5f2f400e7c4e3  )

Website of the World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=c9dbb4fb54ffbd452247 )

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 Olav Fykse  Tveit, from 
the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.