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Manuel Quintero is retiring after eight years of service as the international programme coordinator for the WCC Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). He took time to reflect on the mission of EAPPI, particularly within its current context, as well as aspects of the programme that have been dear to his heart.

Rev. Dr Owe Boersma will take over the post of EAPPI international programme coordinator in Geneva, effective 26 September 2016. Mr Manuel Quintero, after eight years of service as EAPPI international programme coordinator based in Geneva, has reached retirement age and will be leaving the World Council of Churches’ EAPPI international office at the end of August.

The WCC Central Committee meeting in Trondheim, Norway authorized the convening of an international ecumenical conference in 2017 “to reaffirm and strengthen ecumenical witness for peace with justice for Israelis and Palestinians.”

In a public statement adopted on 28 June, the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has designated “peace-building in the context of religion and violence” as the special thematic focus for 2017.

After traveling to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv in the last week for a climate justice meeting, World Council of Churches staff and partners were detained or deported in a manner that WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit terms both unprecedented and intolerable.

A crane began lowering 12-meter concrete slabs into place in the Cremisan Valley, near Bethlehem in occupied Palestine on 6 April, marking the final phase of construction of an extension to the Israeli separation barrier. The World Council of Churches, through its Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), has been alongside the affected Palestinian community in the valley, both Christian and Muslim, throughout their legal struggle to stop the construction.

“It is our sincere desire and prayer, shared with many Jews and Muslims, that there should be no hostilities among neighbours in Israel and Palestine, and beyond, in the whole Middle East region.” These were the words of the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, shared in his message for the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel.

The United Church of Canada intends to pursue its policy of pressing for a peaceful solution to tensions between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories by continuing its economic action against businesses operating in illegal settlements.

Christians need a "spirituality of resistance" to face oppression, violence and experiences of defeat, the WCC general secretary said in an address at Germany’s biggest Protestant gathering.

They are there every day, each month of the year – as they have been for the last 13 years. They have become a natural element in the chaos of life in Israel and Palestine. Their presence is appreciated. They provide safety and stability. Their sole weapon is a pen, or a camera. They see and listen; they analyze and report back.

To express solidarity with churches and people in Israel and Palestine, the leadership of the WCC Central Committee has undertaken a visit to Israel and Palestine from 7 to 12 March.

Experiences of death and expulsion faced by some 750,000 Palestinians in 1948 are the subject of an exhibition titled “The Nakba” and hosted by the WCC at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The Arabic word Nakba means “catastrophe.”

Volunteers for the WCC Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel have urged the European Union to take more effective actions against the illegal settlements, demolitions and forced displacement in the occupied territory controlled by the Israeli authorities.

To commemorate the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel this year, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has encouraged and invited expressions of solidarity with Palestinian prisoners unjustly detained in Israeli jails.

Attacks by the Israeli military on the civilian population in Gaza, as well as firing of rockets by militants from Gaza to Israel, were strongly condemned by the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

When Dr Ulysses Burley III visited Palestine and Israel six months ago, he came away with an even stronger determination to work for social justice, wherever and however he can.

APRODEV and CIDSE, two church-related organizations, have condemned in a recent statement the forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank, which they say is “uprooting any chance of a just peace”.

APRODEV, an association of European development agencies related to the World Council of Churches, has urged the European Union to develop a long-term strategy to reconnect Gaza to the West Bank.

Joining his voice to those of the churches in Palestine and Israel, the WCC general secretary has expressed “grave concern” about a law recently passed by the Israeli parliament.

A space set up by the WCC's Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) at the WCC’s 10th Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea, shares the realities of people living in the Palestinian occupied territory, through images, presentation and conversations stressing the need for peace in the region.