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Sinéad Ní Bhroin, from the EAPPI UK and Ireland team, served as an ecumenical accompanier in Bethlehem from 31 August to 7 October. The World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel, based on an appeal from local church leaders to create an international presence in the country, accompanies the local people and communities, offering a protective presence and witnessing daily struggles and hopes. Below, a reflection on what she witnessed while in the field.

When Dr Michel Abs, secretary general of the Middle East Council of Churches, speaks about living conditions in Lebanon, his compassion for his people—and his passion for peace—brim over. In a video interview with the World Council of Churches, he honestly shared his deepest concerns about the current socio-economic crisis in his nation, and how churches are helping.

Jack Munayer, coordinator for the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (WCC-EAPPI), recently visited the South Hebron Hills area with diplomatic delegates from eight different countries, as well as Israeli activists. The visit was organized by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The group visited families and listened to their stories with the goal of discerning the nature of hardship and trauma that the occupation continues to cause.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) is beginning an East Jerusalem Initiative, through which the WCC-EAPPI is accompanying—even without a physical presence—families facing eviction and displacement, as well as people facing other violations of their rights. Below, WCC director of the Commission for the Churches on International Affairs Peter Prove explains the goals and history behind the East Jerusalem Initiative.

Le Programme œcuménique d’accompagnement en Palestine et en Israël (EAPPI) du Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE) lance une initiative à Jérusalem-Est qui permettra d’accompagner – même sans présence physique – les familles frappées d’expulsion et de déplacement, ainsi que les personnes subissant d’autres violations de leurs droits. Le directeur de la Commission des Églises pour les affaires internationales du COE, Peter Prove, présente ci-dessous le but et le cadre historique de cette initiative.

Alors que l’initiative du COE pour la récolte des olives en 2020 touchait à sa fin début décembre, les Nouvelles du COE ont rencontré Nora Karmi, une Palestinienne chrétienne qui a travaillé toute sa vie pour la paix et la justice, pour entendre son point de vue sur la situation en Terre sainte aujourd’hui, et sur le rôle de la foi pour garder l’espoir.

Avec la fin de la saison de la récolte des olives, la vie sous l’occupation revient à la «normale» pour les communautés palestiniennes de Cisjordanie. Cette «normalité», qui se traduit par des déplacements forcés et une peur constante des menaces et des harcèlements, s’accompagne désormais d’une menace d’annexion par Israël de vastes étendues de terres fertiles appartenant aux agriculteurs palestiniens – une mesure qui «saperait la paix et la justice et serait une violation directe du droit international», selon une déclaration commune du COE et d’autres organisations œcuméniques au début de l’année.  

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.

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.