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Speaking in the Holy Land at a “Consultation on 50 Years of Occupation and the Ecumenical Response,” WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said the best way to mark the tragedy of 50 years of occupation is to listen carefully to those witnesses of hope who live under occupation and who experience its grave consequences in their daily lives.

The Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS) in Egypt is working on an advanced gender approach. In a country which is facing enormous challenges, more than ever a development agency has to be up to date on the needs of the people.

Nayla Tabbara is a Sunni Muslim scholar. Fadi Daou is a Maronite priest and theologian. Both are from Lebanon. Together they have discovered something startling about God.

Writing 100 years after the Balfour Declaration and fifty years after Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories captured in the 1967 War, the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) executive committee lamented the ongoing failure of the parties to seek just peace and remarked on “an indelible stain on the conscience of members of the international community” for their failure to resolve the situation.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit today expressed his concern regarding the ongoing hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. Over 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli prisons began a hunger strike on 17 April, demanding improved prison conditions.

Church leaders, led by Pope Tawadros II and Pope Francis, were gathered to pray for the people of Egypt, for unity, for peace and justice in St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, the chapel next to Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral that was bombed in December 2016, now restored.

Two churches in North America have issued a joint Holy Week message lamenting that the Middle East remains marked by tragedy, while noting events in Egypt and Syria, but rejoicing in the hope that the resurrection of Jesus brings.

The brutal attacks on two churches in Alexandria and Tanta on Palm Sunday with more than 40 victims are not the first attacks on Christians in Egypt. In January, the so-called Islamic State declared threat on Coptic Christians and killed eight. In December 2016, a blast at the Cathedral in Cairo killed 30 people.

In the wake of news reports relaying an horrific chemical weapons attack in the Idlib Governance of Syria, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit called for a cultural shift in the region as he expressed deep sympathy to the families of the victims.

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel was launched by the WCC in 2002 based on an appeal from local church leaders to create an international presence in the country. So far, more than 1,800 ecumenical accompaniers have worked to create conditions for a just peace.

The WCC this week installed at its headquarters in Geneva a tapestry of traditional Palestinian embroidery donated to the WCC.

The fifteenth of March 2017, marks the sixth year since the start of the Syrian war.
Lebanon, being a small Middle Eastern country facing constant political and national unity challenges with a population of approximately 450,000 Palestinian and Iraqi refugees, has been the shelter for more than 2 million registered Syrian refugees since 2011.

In mid-February, 16 African-American pastors from the USA toured the Holy Land to learn more about the Israel and Palestine conflict. The visit was an initiative by the Lott Carey Global Christian Missional Community and led by its president, Rev. Dr Alyn E. Waller, who is a senior pastor at the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) today expressed grave concern about a new law passed on Monday by the Knesset which reportedly forbids granting entry visas to foreign nationals who call for economic, cultural or academic boycotts of either Israel or the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The ‘Entry to Israel Act (Denial of Visa to Non-Residents Who Knowingly Call for a Boycott on Israel)’ apparently makes no distinction between boycotting Israel proper and boycotting products of the settlements, which are widely considered illegal under international law.

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit joined other speakers at a side event of the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council on 7 March. The speakers, which also included Metropolitan Hilarion, chairman of the Department of External Church Relations for the Russian Orthodox Church, addressed the topic of “Mutual Respect and Peaceful Coexistence as a Condition of Interreligious Peace and Stability: Supporting Christians and Other Communities.”

Around 170 people gathered and prayed together on 19 February in Jerusalem, observing the fifth annual "Jewish Week of Constructive Conflict".

The 54th meeting of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) began today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, marking its yearly regional focus on Africa. During the meeting CCIA members are discussing the commission’s previous work and its outcomes focusing on Middle East, as well as setting strategic directions for activities until 2021.

Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land was named a recipient of the Niwano Peace Prize for his work toward interreligious dialogue among Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Jerusalem and worldwide.

How will Christmas 2016 be in the Middle East? Two Christians, one refugee mother in Lebanon and one pastor in Qamishli in northeast Syria, tell how difficult the message of Jesus’ birth becomes in times of war and unrest.

The ecumenical dialogue between churches has a long and fruitful history. But since war and terrorism are threatening the existence of churches in the Middle East, Christians of this region feel more and more neglected by their Western partners.