wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Palestinian and Jewish activists call to work for peace

[WCC media <noreply@wcc-coe.org>]

>World Council of Churches - News

PALESTINIAN AND JEWISH ACTIVISTS CALL TO WORK FOR PEACE

>For immediate release: 01 June 2010

The plight of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation and the  need
to hold the Israeli State accountable under international law were
highlighted at a roundtable hosted by the Palestine Israel Ecumenical
Forum in Geneva, Switzerland on 31 May. The roundtable was  one  of the
events marking the World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel.

“After 62 years [in which Palestinians have suffered] continued
dispossession, forced displacement, apartheid, occupation and
colonization, we just want people to begin to say: the State of  Israel is
not special, it is not above international law”, said Hazem  Jamjoun, a
Palestinian activist.“

Why can Israel get away with committing murder, as it did this morning?� ��,
asked Jamjoun, who is communications officer of the BADIL Resource  Centre
for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights. He was referring to  the
attack carried out earlier that day by the Israeli military against  a
convoy of vessels bringing humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. During  the
attack up to 10 peace activists were killed and many more injured.

Jamjoun was speaking at a round table on “occupation and  dispossession”
organized as a part of the World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel,
celebrated between 29 May and 4 June 2010. The week has been convened  by
the World Council of Churches in cooperation with ecumenical partners  and
encourages Christians and churches across the world to pray and  work for a
just peace in Palestine and Israel.

For Jamjoun, the only reason the State of Israel can continue carrying  out
its policies against the Palestinian people is “because  the
international community is doing nothing about it”. So he  called on the
audience to “think how you and your organizations, whether  they are
state-related or not, can engage in a campaign to hold Israel
accountable”.

Participating at the roundtable together with Jamjoun were Caroline  and
Nathan Finkelstein, two Geneva-based Jewish activists who are members  of
Urgence Palestine and of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.

“The military occupation strongly influences the life and  working
conditions of people living under it”, said Nathan Finkelstein.  He
listed poor salaries, child labour, lack of social benefits and  absence of
legal rights amongst the consequences of the occupation on Palestinian
workers.

“The occupation is simply strangling the Palestinian economy�� �, Nathan
Finkelstein added.

In turn, Caroline Finkelstein spoke about the constant harassment  inflicted
by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villagers in the occupied territories.
For example, she said, in the valley of Wadi Qana, between the cities  of
Nablous and Qalquiya, a few Palestinian families live surrounded  by nine
Israeli settlements, considered illegal under international law.“

Those Palestinian families are not allowed to build houses, they  have no
electricity, cannot dig wells for water, but they are determined  to remain
in their land”, Caroline Finkelstein said. “These  are wonderful
people, with so much courage, they will re-plant whatever the settlers
destroy.”

In the Jordan Valley, which represents one quarter of the West Bank,  “out
of 350,000 Palestinians who lived there before 1968, today there  are only
5,500 left”, said Caroline Finkelstein. Meanwhile, the valley  has been
colonized by 36 illegal settlements.

For Jamjoun, Israeli policies aim at the “forced displacement  of the
largest indigenous population” with the goal to gain “con trol of a
maximum of Palestinian land with a minimum of Palestinian population�� �.

A list of events (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=21fefad0d7e042d086f5 )  taking place 
during the World
Week for Peace in Palestine Israel shows how churches from the Philippine s
to the United States and from the Netherlands to Kenya are engaged  in
related activities.

The Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=e6cf33a84ffc407d5510 )  is a platform 
that rallies churches together
enabling them to coordinate their efforts and initiatives for a  just peace
in Palestine and Israel.

Website of the World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=7f6f77959380a02d5201 )

More on the World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f6c6b22d3727037e150c
)

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.