In September, the Palestinian leadership plans to seek recognition as an independent state from the United Nations. The situation in the Middle East continues to be impredictable. But, the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel writes in the latest edition of its newsletter, one thing is clear: basic human dignity must be protected, no matter what the future holds.

Across the Middle East and North Africa, the year 2011 has begun in dramatic fashion. While media coverage has focused on unfolding events in Egypt, the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory has not been static either, the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) reports in the latest edition of its newsletter.

The Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, condemns the killings of four Israeli settlers near Hebron in the West Bank on Tuesday and expresses his condolences to the affected families. He rejects any use of violence as a means to gain the much-desired and needed peace for this region.

A heat wave coincides with the start of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) reports on developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Next year's Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will be grounded in the experience of the churches in Jerusalem. Resources in five languages have already been made available on the website of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Is it time to start work on banning nuclear weapons? “Yes” says a growing majority of governments and civil society groups. “No” insists a tiny nuclear-armed minority. “Premature” say some of their closest allies.

It is with great distress that the World Council of Churches received the news that the Israeli naval forces stormed a Gaza-bound vessel carrying humanitarian aid in international waters before dawn on Monday, killing at least 10 civilians and injuring many more.

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.

"Our commitment to peace as churches and as Christians is something we have inherited at birth, or, indeed, from the birth of the baby of Bethlehem," said Bishop Dr Martin Schindehütte of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) at a day preparing for the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation.

Expressing dismay at a recent Israeli military order redefining the notion of "infiltrator" in the occupied Palestinian territories, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, said he is "worried the new measures will be a severe obstacle toward the process for a just peace."