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Representing hope in the face of adversity, the Antioch Syrian University opened its doors on 8 September in Ma’arat Sednaya, about 20 km from Damascus.

At the 75th International Film Festival in Venice, Italy, the film “Tel Aviv on Fire” won an Interfilm award for promoting interreligious dialogue. The film, directed by Sameh Zoabi, is a comedy in which a Palestinian writer draws upon the skills and experiences of an Israeli checkpoint commander to enhance a TV series, “Tel Aviv on Fire.”

Marie Bassili Assaad, an ecumenical leader who was WCC deputy general secretary from 1980 to 1986, passed away on 30 August, at the age of 96. Her funeral took place in Egypt on 2 September.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has expressed deep regret over the decision by the government of the USA to withdraw all funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian Refugees.

World Council of Churches leaders spoke on the theme “Hospitality: On a Pilgrim’s Way of Justice and Peace" at a symposium on 23 August at the Protestant Theological University Amsterdam.

As students gathered at the WCC Ecumenical Institute at Bossey for an interreligious summer school, they reflected on what brought them to the institute, and what knowledge and insights they will take home.

Heads of churches in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories have reacted with dismay and concern to the Israeli Knesset’s adoption on 19 July 2018 of a new Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, which specifies that “The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.”

Originally, they were made of pieces of broken glass from the rubble an Israeli tank left behind it when it slammed into the giftshop at the International Centre of Bethlehem (ICB) in 2002. Today the glass angels of peace are made of used bottles and have emerged into a small business enterprise employing around 50 people in the Bethlehem area. Since the tank-incident, thousands of angels have been produced and sold worldwide.

As reports unfolded on 12 July of Israel announcing the demolition of a Bedouin village within days despite a temporary injunction, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit condemned the plans for demolition, saying it violates human rights, particularly those of vulnerable children, who live in Khan al-Ahmar.

يدعو مجلس الكنائس العالمي الكنائس الأعضاء والجماعات الدينية ومؤسسات المجتمع المدني في جميع أنحاء العالم للمشاركة معاً في أسبوع من الصلاة من أجل سلام عادل للجميع في فلسطين وإسرائيل في الفترة ما بين 16 و23 أيلول/سبتمبر 2018.

The World Council of Churches invites member churches, faith-based communities, and civil society organizations around the world to join together for a week of prayer for just peace for all in Palestine and Israel on 16-23 September 2018.

يعرب مجلس الكنائس العالمي عن قلقه الشديد ويحذر من تدهور حالة حقوق الإنسان في الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة ويقترح مجموعة من التدابير رداً على أعمال العنف الأخيرة على حدود غزة وغيرها من الأعمال الاستفزازية في إسرائيل وفلسطين.

Expressing grave concern and warning of a deteriorating human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the WCC is suggesting a host of measures in response to recent violence at the Gaza border and other provocative acts in Israel and Palestine.

On 27 March, a hug between a 7-year-old girl, Majida, and her grandmother reflected the bright light of possibility that the ecumenical Humanitarian Corridors project continues to bring to refugees arriving in Italy. The child was waiting with other family members at the Fiumicino Airport in Rome as her grandmother arrived, safely and legally, in Italy from Lebanon.

To mark the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, sport demonstrations, cultural activities, and a #whitecard torch relay, with which the WCC and some of its partner organizations are linked, will be held in Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan on 6 April.

On 20 March the unique program aiming to empower Syrian-Armenian youth who escaped the ongoing conflict in Syria and settled in Armenia was launched in Yerevan. Through training, capacity building and joint activities, the project aims to deepen the relations between Syrian and local Armenian youth.

A little more than a year ago Rev. Stacey Duensing went on a trip to Israel-Palestine together with her denomination, the Reformed Church in America. She returned home to the United States with a different perspective of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A perspective she wanted to share with a broader public audience.

أغلق قادة كنائس القدس، في عمل فوق العادة، أبواب كنيسة القيامة يوم الأحد. وجاء الاحتجاج الموحد كرد فعل على الإجراءات التي قامت بها سلطات القدس للبدء في جمع ضرائب من عشرات الملايين من الدولارات من الكنائس، فضلا عن التشريعات المقترحة لمصادرة الأراضي المملوكة للكنيسة.

In a highly unusual action, the leaders of Jerusalem’s churches closed the doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday. The united protest was in response to moves by Jerusalem authorities to begin collecting tens of millions of dollars in taxes from churches, as well as proposed legislation to confiscate church-owned land.

خلال المؤتمر الدولي الذي نُظّم من أجل دعم القدس خلال يومي 17 و18 كانون الثاني/ يناير 2018م في العاصمة المصرية، القاهرة، تحت إشراف الإمام الأعظم لجامع الأزهر، سماحة الشيخ / الدكتور الطيب و فخامة الرئيس المصري "عبد الفتاح السيسي"، تناول الدكتور / القسّ "أولاف فيكس تفايت" موضوع مستقبل القدس.