EAPPI summer newsletter: 60 Years of Palestinian Nakba – It’s Time for Palestine

The summer newsletter is available from the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). Find it at this link: http://www.eappi.org/fileadmin/eappi/files/resources/eappi_newsletter/June-August_2008_Newsletter.doc

The EAPPI is an initiative of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Learn about another WCC initative, International Church Action for Peace in Palestine and Israel (ICAPPI) at this link: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/browse/3/article/1722/in-jerusalem-and-around-t.html

Here is the EAPPI newsletter's top story:

June-August 2008
Newsletter
Number 24

60 Years of Palestinian Nakba – It’s Time for Palestine
International Church Action for Peace in Palestine and Israel: 4-10 June 2008

15 May 2008 marked the sixtieth commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba or the “catastrophe” in which 711,000 Palestinians lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict (a number that has risen to more than 4.6 million refugees today due to natural population growth).1 Although the Nakba events were small compared to the large celebrations of the establishment of the State of Israel, demonstrations and vigils were held in towns across the West Bank as well as abroad. Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) participated in the release of 21,915 black balloons (one for each day since the Nakba) over the skies of Jerusalem.2

The World Council of Churches initiative – International Church Action for Peace in Palestine and Israel (ICAPPI) – was successfully launched in Jerusalem with an Ecumenical Peace service on 4 June. The service used a prayer from the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem asking for political leaders to be “courageous enough to sign a treaty … that puts an end to the occupation imposed by one people on another, granting freedom to Palestinians, giving security to Israelis and freeing us all from fear.” [Find the prayer at this link: http://www.oikoumene.org/fileadmin/files/wcc-main/2008pdfs/Jerusalem_prayer_for_ICAPPI_08_E.pdf]

EAs also participated in the ‘Living Clock’1 on Manger Square in Bethlehem where each person symbolised a year or a letter in the sentence: It’s time for Palestine and contributed to an ICAPPI blog on the WCC website. In its third year, ICAPPI brought together 40 countries in a week of advocacy and action for a just peace in Palestine and Israel.

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There's lots more in the full July-August newsletter. To read newsletters from EAPPI, go to: http://www.eappi.org/en/resources/newsletter.html

For eyewitness reports from accompaniers, go to the home page: http://www.eappi.org/

The EAPPI supports Palestinians and Israelis working for peace by monitoring and reporting violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, offering protection by accompanying local communities in daily activities, and by advocating with churches for a peaceful end to the Occupation. The programme, which began in 2002, is coordinated by the WCC, is a fellowship of 347 churches, in more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian traditions. Its office is in Geneva, Switzerland. For more information on the WCC: www.oikoumene.org

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