Photo:
Albin Hillert/WCC

Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel

The WCC’s Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), based on an appeal from local church leaders to create an international presence in the country, accompanies the local people and communities, offering protective presence and witnessing their daily struggles and hopes.

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The World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (WCC EAPPI) was created in 2002 by the WCC in response to a letter and an appeal from local church leaders to create an international presence in the country.

EAPPI provides a continuous presence of 25-30 Ecumenical Accompaniers, who serve in the field for three months, accompanying local people and communities, offering a protective presence, and witnessing their daily struggles and hopes. EAPPI is guided by “principled impartiality”: it takes no side in the conflict nor discriminates against anyone, but it is not neutral in terms of human rights and respect for international humanitarian law.

The accompaniers come from 21 countries worldwide and are supported by a staff team in Jerusalem. A Local Reference Group representing communities and churches who have asked for and are benefitting from the programme helps to guide the programme, along with the WCC team in Geneva and national coordinators in the sending countries.

More than 2000 Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) have served through the programme, and many of them have stayed involved and interested in working toward a just peace in Palestine and Israel.

www.eappi.org

Jordan Valley, West Bank, Occupied Palestinian Territories

6 October 2018, Jordan Valley, West Bank, Occupied Palestinian Territories: 40-year-old Deab Abu Malik herds his sheep in the Jordan Valley on the West Bank. Ecumenical Accompaniers from the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine in Israel accompany shepherds in many parts of the West Bank, providing an international presence known to have a mitigating effect on confrontations between Israeli settlers and the Palestinians. EAs' presence also helps Palestinians access lands they otherwise might not have dared to continue to cultivate. In the West Bank’s Area C, any land that isn’t cultivated for a period of three years becomes property of the state, the shepherds explain, so accessing their lands regularly is vital for the communities and their herds.

Photo:
Albin Hillert/WCC
Easter Initiative 2023

This year at Easter, the WCC is highlighting current realities and challenges related to religious holidays in the Holy Land.

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