News
The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) will organize a hearing in New York City on "International nonviolent presence in Palestine and Israel: Churches and civil society promoting a just peace". The panel of speakers will include three EAPPI volunteers, from the USA, South Africa and Sweden.
The hearing, which takes place in conjunction with the International Day of Prayer for Peace on 21 September, will be held at the Church Center for the UN, 777 United Nations Plaza (2nd floor), New York, from 13:00 to 15:00.
A programme coordinated by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the EAPPI is an initiative to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in their nonviolent actions and concerted advocacy efforts to end the illegal occupation.
Leila Richards, a public health physician from the Episcopalian church in the USA will be among the panelists. In addition to her participation with the EAPPI in Sawahreh, she was the director of medical services at the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza (1988-1989) . Richards has worked with health and humanitarian projects in the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe and speaks fluent Arabic.
Hermina Damons joins the panel from the Seventh Day Adventist Church in South Africa. She was active in policy creation with the ANC, coordinating parliamentary offices in local communities before her work with the EAPPI. Damons, who is currently based in Ramallah, also runs a safe house in South Africa for mothers and children infected by HIV/AIDS.
Also present will be Marianne Kronberg from Sweden. She has filled a variety of roles within the Church of Sweden, both at local and national levels and took part in a 1998 study tour of Palestine and Israel before working as an ecumenical accompanier.
The panel will be moderated by EAPPI international coordinator Salpy Eskidjian, and takes place within the framework of the WCC Decade to Overcome Violence: Churches Seeking Reconciliation and Peace (2001-2010).
The hearing will be hosted by the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs and the United Nations NGO Working Group on Israel/Palestine.
Media contact in New York: Laurence Bropleh 212-867-5890
The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) was launched in August 2002. Ecumenical accompaniers monitor and report violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, support acts of non-violent resistance alongside local Christian and Muslim Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, offer protection through non-violent presence, engage in public policy advocacy and stand in solidarity with the churches and all those struggling against the occupation. The programme is coordinated by the World Council of Churches (WCC).