World Council of Churches Developing Ecumenical Strategy on Mideast Conflict
Episcopal News Service. August 15, 2001 [2001-216]
James Solheim
(ENS) A high-level consultation at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches in Geneva has decided to develop a coordinated ecumenical in the search for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, based on justice and security for both the Palestinian and Israeli people.
Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal of the Episcopal Diocese in Jerusalem said in his sermon at the opening worship, "Peace, as you all know, is neither the absence of war nor the cessation of hostilities. Peace is that relationship between the so-called enemies, from which all the causes that made for war are no more. Making peace requires greater courage than going to war."
The August 6-7 consultation comes in the wake of a visit to the region by a seven-member ecumenical at the end of June with a mandate to develop a response to the conflict by exploring local ecumenical needs, strategies and plans of action. The delegation examined the feasibility of an ecumenical "witness for peace" program that might support non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation and a presence for protection, monitoring and reporting.
The delegation's report said that the church community in Palestine is caught in deep despair as the result of the escalation of violence but that the desire of both Palestinians and Israelis for a "just and durable peace" has deepened.
The Geneva consultation decided to form a small consultative group to develop realistic proposals for action with local and international partners in seven areas: coordinating advocacy with governments; boycotting goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories; strengthening the "chain of solidarity" through prayer vigils; resisting the destruction of property and uprooting of people from their homes; encouraging and enabling the presence of ecumenical monitoring teams; improving communication, interpretation and reporting on the conflict and its causes; and increasing the number of delegations to and from Israel and the occupied territories.
In response to a recommendation from the June delegation, the WCC executive committee will be asked at its September meeting to consider a special focus on "ending the violence of occupation in Palestine" in the context of the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence, and perhaps call an international conference on the subject.
WCC General Secretary Konrad Raiser described continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory as a "clear violation of international law" in an interview after the consultation. When asked if the WCC might be regarded as taking sides with the Palestinians in the conflict, he said that it had been "the consistent position of the WCC not to be drawn into advocacy of any particular position but to underline the fundamental importance of agreed norms of international law and agreed norms of human rights."
Raiser argued that "there is no doubt to all those who share this ethical, moral and legal approach that Israel's continued occupation, continued settlements, even the expansion of settlements, is a clear violation of international law to which Israel is a signatory."
The WCC will consider establishing a permanent presence or office in Jerusalem to coordinate ecumenical action, in consultation with the churches in Jerusalem and the Middle East Council of Churches.