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Israeli president Isaac Herzog formally received World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay on 20 February, to discuss the current situation in Israel and Palestine, and the war in Gaza. 

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is condemning an attack on one of the buildings within the compound of the St Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza. The building—affiliated with the church, which is one the oldest churches in Gaza—has collapsed in the explosion, caused by Israeli missile strikes, according to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.

Born in Nazareth, Galilee, Rev. Dr Saïd Ailabouni moved to the US at the age of 19 to become a physician. But he was so angry at God that he went to study theology instead, becoming a Lutheran pastor. Now he is leading the Middle East & Europe desk of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Since leaving his hometown 50 years ago, he visits his Palestinian family regularly. As the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel approaches, Ailabouni agreed to share some of his lifetime observations with the Word Council of Churches.

Salpy Eskidjian Weiderud, leader of the Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process, has received an International Religious Freedom Award from the US Department of State. The awards “honor extraordinary advocates of religious freedom from around the world” and will be presented on 17 July in Washington, D.C.

On 8 May, the WCC, Middle East Council of Churches, and ACT Alliance released a message expressing deep concern over the latest hostilities in the Gaza Strip, describing the present situation as “morally and ethically untenable.” Last weekend, the region near the Israel-Gaza border saw the most intense escalation of violence since the 2014 war.

A Jerusalem Post report of 20 February 2019 by Hagay Hacohen titled: “World Council of Churches exposed as biased, anti-Israeli group” is inaccurate and riddled with false innuendo.

Marie Bassili Assaad, an ecumenical leader who was WCC deputy general secretary from 1980 to 1986, passed away on 30 August, at the age of 96. Her funeral took place in Egypt on 2 September.

World Council of Churches leaders spoke on the theme “Hospitality: On a Pilgrim’s Way of Justice and Peace" at a symposium on 23 August at the Protestant Theological University Amsterdam.

“The Amazon, the green heart of the Earth, is mourning and the life it sustains is withering,” begins a statement released by the World Council of Churches Executive Committee as it met in Amman, Jordan from 17-23 November.

Church must be a safe place where sinners are welcome to learn and change, and where the wounded can share their pains and find refuge, says Maria Dous, a medical student from Egypt. In July, she participated in a seminar organized by the Pan African Women’s Ecumenical Empowerment Network at the WCC's Ecumenical Institute Bossey.

At an International Peace Consultation on 20 June, the National Coalition of Christian Organizations in Palestine issued on open letter to the WCC and the ecumenical movement, stating, “There is still no justice in our land.” In today’s Palestine, discrimination and inequality, military occupation and systematic oppression are the rule, the letter states: “Today, we stand in front of an impasse and we have reached a deadlock. Despite all the promises, endless summits, UN resolutions, religious and lay leader’s callings – Palestinians are still yearning for their freedom and independence, and seeking justice and equality.”

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.

As Berit Hagen Agöy visited St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Cairo, Egypt last week, her sadness was mixed with hope.

The World Council of Churches condemns the vicious attacks on innocent worshippers in St George (Mar Girgis) Coptic church in Tanta and in front of St Mark´s church in Alexandria, Egypt.