News
A new group of 15 ecumenical accompaniers arrived in Israel and Palestine last week. They join six staying on from the previous group, bringing the total number on the ground in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) to 21.
The nine women and six men in the new group range in age from 26 to 68. Five Britons head the list, including one participant who is Jewish, followed by four accompaniers from Germany, three from Sweden, two from Norway, and one from Switzerland. "I am very happy to welcome everyone," said Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan, in greeting the new group, "especially having a Jewish participant in the EAPPI who joins in the human chain working for peace and justice in the Holy Land."
Ecumenical Accompaniers, who serve a minimum of three months, work with local churches, Palestinian and Israeli NGOs, as well as Palestinian communities in various capacities, to try to reduce the brutality of the occupation and improve the daily lives of both peoples. Accompaniers will continue to be placed in Bethlehem, Hebron, Jayyous, Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, Tulkarem, and Yanoun.
Accompaniers will also be working with various organizations during their time here, including: the YMCA in Beit Sahour and Tulkarem; the Alternative Information Center (AIC), a joint Palestinian-Israeli initiative; Wi'am, the Palestinian Conflict Resolution Centre in Bethlehem; B'tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories in its Nablus office, and the YWCA, the Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC), General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW), and the Palestinian Working Women's Society for Development (PWWSD) in Ramallah.
Since the programme was launched in August 2002, 168 Ecumenical Accompaniers have participated from more than 30 churches and ecumenical partners in 12 countries: Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
For more information on the EAPPI:
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 co-ordinated by the World Council of Churches.