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Easter brings uncertainty for Palestinians who want to worship at Holy Sepulchre

As Easter is approaching, Christians in the Holy Land face a variety of uncertainties as to when and how they can gather for prayer and worship in their different communities.

30 March 2021

مبادرة عيد الفصح المشتركة بين مجلس الكنائس العالمي وبرنامج المرافقة المسكوني في فلسطين وإسرائيل للسير على خطى يسوع المسيح بإبراز الوقائع الراهنة تحت وطأة الاحتلال

في حين يستعد المسيحيون في جميع ربوع العالم للاحتفال بعيد الفصح، يواصل الاحتلال التأثير بشدة على المجتمعات المحلية في الأماكن نفسها التي قيل إن يسوع المسيح مشى فيها في قصة الفصح. وأُطلقت مبادرة مشتركة بين مجلس الكنائس العالمي وبرنامج المرافقة المسكوني في فلسطين وإسرائيل ترمي إلى الربط بين الأحداث التي سردها الكتاب المقدس بالوقائع الراهنة في فلسطين وإسرائيل لإبراز مظالم الحياة تحت وطأة الاحتلال.

30 March 2021

Walk and reflect on the Easter journey for justice in Palestine and Israel

The road from Jericho to Jerusalem. Bethany. The Mount of Olives. The Holy Sepulchre. The World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (WCC-EAPPI) is exploring the current realities of life under military occupation in four holy sites.

30 March 2021

Bedouins of Pope’s Hill fight eviction

East of Jerusalem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a Bedouin community has lived on Pope’s Hill since the creation of Israel in 1948, when they were evicted from their lands in the Negev and arrived there as refugees.

30 March 2021

View of school built of tyres, in Khan al Ahmar

Will children ever have safe access to education in Khan Al-Ahmar?

Khan Al-Ahmar is a Bedouin community of around 200 people whose main livelihood has been traditional farming of sheep and goats for consumption in the village, and for selling the milk, yogurt and meat. The closest village, Bethany, is 14 km away and, until recently, the women would take the dairy products to sell in the Jerusalem market, 19 km away. The children had an important role in the economy, herding the flocks, but they also went to school.

30 March 2021

East Jerusalem: Denied citizenship and the vote

The status of Jerusalem is disputed in international law and the main issue is around the largely Palestinian area of East Jerusalem. Israel announced, in 1975, that “unified Jerusalem” was the capital of the State of Israel, ignoring the rights and claims of Palestine. International humanitarian law recognizes East Jerusalem as militarily occupied by Israel. To understand some of the issues for residents in East Jerusalem, we spoke to Nivin Sandouka, who is part of the EAPPI international reference group and lives in At Tur, a Palestinian village on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem.

30 March 2021

Bethlehem: Christmas time brings hope and comfort, despite circumstances

Rev. Dr Munther Isaac from the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, is academic dean at the Bethlehem Bible College. Below, he reflects on how, during 2020, the celebration of Christmas in Bethlehem, though vastly different than in the past, still brought hope and comfort.

07 January 2021

فلسطينية مسيحية تعمل من أجل السلام وتتوق إلى قادة شجعان

أشرفت مبادرة مجلس الكنائس العالمي لقطاف الزيتون في عام 2020 على الانتهاء في بداية شهر كانون الأول/ ديسمبر، لذا أجرى قسم الاتصالات في مجلس الكنائس العالمي لقاءً مع نورا كارمي، وهي فلسطينية مسيحية تعمل من أجل السلام والعدالة طيلة حياتها، للاستماع إلى وجه نظرها بخصوص الوضع في الأرض المقدسة اليوم ودور الإيمان في المحافظة على الأمل.

11 December 2020

مسكوني فلسطيني مفعم الأمل لا التفاؤل

ها قد اقترب موسم قطاف الزيتون من الانتهاء، وتعود الحياة تحت وطأة الاحتلال إلى "طبيعتها" للمجتمعات المحلية الفلسطينية في الضفة الغربية. وتعني "طبيعتها" هذه النزوح القسري والخوف المستمر من التهديدات والمضايقات، ويلوح في الأفق خطر ضم إسرائيل لمساحات كبيرة من الأراضي الخصبة التي يملكها المزارعون الفلسطينيون – وهي خطوة من شأنها أن "تقوض السلم والعدل وأن تمثل انتهاكاً صارخاً للقانون الدولي"، وفقاً لبيان مسكوني مشترك أصدره مجلس الكنائس العالمي ومنظمات مسكونية أخرى في وقت سابق من هذا العام.

10 December 2020

Palestinian Christian peace worker yearns for courageous leaders

As the WCC olive harvest initiative in 2020 drew to a close in early December, WCC News met with Nora Carmi, a Christian Palestinian who has worked for peace and justice her whole life, to hear her perspective on the situation in the holy land today, and the role of faith in sustaining hope.

10 December 2020

A hopeful, but not optimistic Palestinian ecumenist

With olive harvest season coming to an end, life under occupation returns to “normal” for Palestinian communities on the West Bank. Under that “normal,” which means forced displacements and constant fear of threats and harassments, now also looms a threatening Israeli annexation of large chunks of fertile land owned by Palestinian farmers – a move which would “undermine peace and justice and be in direct violation of international law,” according to a joint ecumenical statement by the WCC and other ecumenical organizations earlier this year.

09 December 2020

Olive harvest in the Palestinian village of Battir, West Bank, 2020.

As olive harvest draws to a close, who is helping the farmers?

Olive farming should be a peaceful activity, but for many Palestinian farmers the harvest season is a time of tension, violent attacks, and destruction of precious olive trees. Farmers in the West Bank of the occupied Palestinian territories face a barrage of such threats from nearby Israeli settlers.

08 December 2020

Left: Israeli Amos Gvirtz. Right: Palestinian Issa Souf

Picking olives together, Israeli and Palestinian peace workers focus on hope

In fields where one group often challenges their neighbours who own and work the land, two peace activists, Israeli Amos Gvirtz and Palestinian Issa Souf, are busy picking olives and building bridges of justice and peace together.

08 December 2020

“Salaam and shalom between Palestinians and Israelis must be achieved”

As this year’s olive harvest season in the Holy Land comes to an end, the WCC airs a closing webinar, entitled “Uprooting identities or planting just peace?”

04 December 2020

WCC to convene webinar on ’Uprooting Identities or Planting Just Peace?’

With the annual olive harvest season in the Holy Land soon to draw to a close, the WCC convenes a webinar on the topic ’Uprooting Identities or Planting Just Peace?’ on 2 December.

27 November 2020

On World Olive Tree Day, planting is an act of love

What does it mean to plant an olive tree? For people in the Holy Land, and in many other regions, this act of love bears deep cultural, spiritual, and economic meaning. In 2019, UNESCO established 26 November as World Olive Tree Day.

26 November 2020