placeholder image

The third group participating in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel is currently in the region and has begun serving with local churches, church-related organizations and Israeli and Palestinian NGOs promoting health, peace and human rights.

The six new accompaniers (EAs) come from Switzerland, Sweden and the UK, and will be in the region until mid-August. Several will continue until mid-September.

"While the world's attention right now is focused on the Road Map as the only path to peace, the facts on the ground are telling us a different story", says local programme coordinator Rebecca Johnson. "The situation hasn't changed for the better for Palestinians and an international presence is still very important", she adds.

The EAs take on a range of activities from accompanying churches in their service programmes to accompanying and facilitating the access through checkpoints of medical teams and ambulances. They also assist with monitoring and reporting on human rights violations, currently focusing on the consequences for the Palestinian community of the separation wall built by the Israeli government to fence off the entire West Bank from Israel, the first 145 kilometers of which are to be completed by the end of this month.

"The most important thing for the Ecumenical Accompaniers to do now is to live with the people who are suffering from the occupation and accompany them where it is needed", says the general secretary of the YMCA in East Jerusalem, Judeh N. Majaj. "It is important for the Ecumenical Accompaniers to be visible where the Palestinians are being harassed, at checkpoints for instance. The reporting back home is also very important, to make people aware of what is going on here," he said.

See new stories from the accompaniers :

Under fire in Tulkarm

www2.wcc-coe.org/eappi.nsf/index/rep-03-04-10.html

Jayyous: a village split in two by a 'security wall' - a question of security or fertile land?

www2.wcc-coe.org/eappi.nsf/index/rep-03-06-04.html

The Sahrebs: a family living on the 'wrong side' of the wall

www2.wcc-coe.org/eappi.nsf/index/rep-03-06-17.html

Six impossible things before breakfast

www2.wcc-coe.org/eappi.nsf/index/rep-03-06-26.html

Yanoun: international volunteers help a tiny village come back to life

www2.wcc-coe.org/eappi.nsf/index/rep-03-06-29c.html

Persönlicher, subjektiver Bericht von EA Margrit (available in German only)

www2.wcc-coe.org/eappi.nsf/index/rep-03-06-29a.html

Bericht von Margrit (available in German only)

www2.wcc-coe.org/eappi.nsf/index/rep-03-06-29b.html