WCC > Что мы делаем? > Public witness: addressing power, affirming peace > Churches in the Middle East

Churches in the Middle East: solidarity and witness for peace

The situation of the Middle East calls for collective efforts by ecumenical partners to achieve peace and justice at local, national, regional and international levels. Major problems in the region include armed occupation of territory, denial of human rights and national aspirations, failures to implement the rule of law at the national and international levels, various forms of extremism and intolerance, and nuclear proliferation in Israel and Iran. Interlinked with these is the question of control of energy resources. 

The WCC opposed economic sanctions against Iraq and condemned the invasion of Iraq by the coalition forces as illegal and immoral. It has maintained attention on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and supported efforts for a peaceful and just settlement of that conflict. 

This project attempts to broaden and deepen churches' work for just peace in the Middle East. It is committed to building their capacity to witness to peacemaking, undertake advocacy work at the local and national levels, and influence the policies of the major global and regional powers. It attempts to ensure that the core rationale for church strategy in the region is known and used by interested member churches around the world.  

Collective policy development and coordinated ecumenical action focus on inter-religious relations, diakonia, overcoming violence, and public witness. Project stakeholders and staff mobilize church leaders and members to express their faith through concrete actions for a just peace. Advocacy and media work aim to strengthen the position of the churches in the region.

By establishing an Israel/Palestine Ecumenical Forum as a global advocacy network of churches in North and South with shared responsibility for broadening and deepening church actions for peace. the WCC hopes to help bring about policy changes in the Middle East, and especially in the Israel/Palestine conflict.

The Jerusalem Interchurch Centre (JIC) functions as a coordination point for ecumenical action in and for Jerusalem and its churches. A joint project of the Jerusalem churches, the WCC and the Middle East Council of Churches, the centre is to provide timely and regular information, analysis and reports to the ecumenical community, and strengthen local churches' capacity for diaconal work as well as local ecumenical and inter-faith relations.

Inaugurated in August 2002, the mission of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) is to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in their non-violent actions and concerted advocacy efforts to end the occupation. 

In automn 2006, the WCC central committee adopted this statement on the war in Lebanon and northern Israel, and on ecumenical action for Middle East Peace.
WCC 2005 central committee statement on the Iraq crisis
Minute adopted by the WCC central committe (2005)
a collection of documents issued between 1948 and 2006.
"Sahwahreh against the wall": the struggle of a Palestinian village dealing with infringements on freedom brought about by Israel's ever-tightening occupation. An EAPPI document (pdf, 8,10 MB)
Negotiating a just peace under the rule of law is the strongest option for ensuring the well-being and security of both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. This is the core of World Council of Churches policy toward the conflict.

 
Related publications

The Churches in International Affairs. Reports 1999-2002

This eighth volume of "The Churches in International Affairs" continues the annual reports produced in the first 22 years of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA). It includes major studies, conclusions of international consultations, policy statements, resolutions and decisions adopted by WCC governing bodies, and actions taken by the WCC in the field of international affairs. [Note: The individual documents published in this book will shortly be accessible in the WCC documents database]