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For the 380,000 Palestinians that live in East Jerusalem, daily life is often marred by inequalities related to everything from housing, health services, childcare, and even garbage pickup. Even though Palestinians make up 39% of the city, there are many discrepancies in the services they receive.

Dr Jad Issac tends to think in numbers. When it comes to the land in the West Bank on the outskirts of Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley—known simply as E1— Issac is weighing a stark figure: a loss of $2 billion a year for Palestinians versus the ability to net the same amount of revenue, pay off debts, and, in turn, help poorer countries.  The astronomical figure amounts to lost tourism opportunities due to the lack of access to E1, Jordan Valley, and the Dead Sea—as per the Economic Cost of the Occupation Study done by the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem.

Alexander Brock, an international development practitioner from Ireland, recently returned from a deployment with the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel. On 1 March, he gave an eyewitness account of what it’s like to monitor human rights in Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank. He was part of a group of 27 ecumenical accompaniers from all over the world. 

In the search for true repentance and liberation, Africa needs to acknowledge its complicity in slave trade, says Rev. Fidon Mwombeki, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches.

A new report offering an overview of the human rights situation in West Papua found little progress in decreasing human rights violations in 2022 and calls for reducing violence and promoting accountability in 2023.

Shamsa Abubakar Fadhil, a recipient of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, is a household name in peace building and community mobilisation in the Kenyan coastal region.

חנה ברג, אישה ישראלית המתארת את עצמה כ“דיפלומט לזכויות האדם” חברה בארגון מחסום ווטש, בילתה עשרות שנים בצפייה לדברים הקורים לפלסטינים במעברי גבול, והמסקנה—במילה אחת—“הפיכה ללא אנושי,” היא אומרת.

Hanna Barag, an Israeli woman who has described herself as a “human rights diplomat” for the organization Machsom Watch, has spent decades observing what happens to Palestinians at checkpoints, and it’s—in a word—“de-humanizing,” she says.

As South Sudan readied to welcome visiting world Christian leaders, church officials in the country articulated a range of expectations, including a strong call for peace and reconciliation.

Can ecumenical peacebuilding guide the way towards shared interests in the Russia-Ukraine war, which exemplifies the clash of fundamentally different value systems, ethical frameworks, and historical narratives? Peter Prove, director of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs reflects on the issue in the inaugural edition of Geneva Policy Outlook, a new online publication.

A group of Ecumenical Accompaniers completed their service in Palestine and Israel, handing their ministry over to the next wave, and celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at the same time.

The Interfaith Alliance, based in the USA, has published a new report, ““Big Tech, Hate, and Religious Freedom Online,” that works to educate people about the uniquely damaging impact of bigotry and hate.

בשנת 1919 הזמין המושל הצבאי של ירושלים, סר רונלד הנרי אמהרסט סטורס (Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs) שלוש משפחות ארמניות של אמני אריחים – באליאן (Balian), קרשקשיאן (Karakeshian) ואוהנסיאן (Ohanessian ) – לירושלים, כדי לשחזור ושיפוץ האריחים המפארים את כיפת הסלע במסגד  אל-אקצא, אשר צוירו במאה ה-16

In 1919, three Armenian families—the Balian, Karakeshian, and Ohanessian families—were brought to Jerusalem by Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs, then military governor of Jerusalem, to renovate the 16th century tiles at the Dome of the Rock in Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

לסמיה* בת העשרים ושש שנולדה בגדה המערבית אין תעודת זהות – לא פלסטינית ולא ישראלית. הייתה לה פעם תעודת זהות ירושלמית בזכות אביה, אבל היא בוטלה. על הביטול נודע לה כשהייתה בת 16 וחשבה שיש לה הזדמנות לנסוע לשווייץ עם בית הספר שבו למדה. היא לא יכלה לנסוע. מאז, סמיה ומשפחתה נאבקות לקבל חזרה את תעודת הזהות הירושלמית שלה.

An ecumenical delegation composed of five members from the National Baptist Convention USA Inc, United Methodist Church; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and United Church of Christ attended the first session of the Permanent Forum for People of African Descent, a historic event that constitutes the culmination of several years of consistent advocacy.

Twenty-six-year-old Samyah* has no ID card—not Palestinian or Israeli. Born in the West Bank, she once had a Jerusalem ID card after her father but it was revoked. She found out about the revocation when she was 16 and thought had the opportunity to travel with her school to Switzerland. She could not travel. Since then, Samyah and her family have been struggling to regain her Jerusalem ID card.