Jordan Times
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Church leaders seek solutions for deteriorating situation in Palestinian territories
More than one hundred church leaders, including some of the most senior decision-makers, convened in Amman on Monday to
unify their stance on denouncing oppression and finding solutions for the deteriorating situation in the Palestinian
territories.
“The situation is grave …unending loss of life, displacement of persons, violations of human rights, humiliation of one
people by another, degrading perpetrator as well as victim. Injustice is deeply rooted in the land we call ‘Holy’,”
World Council of Churches (WCC) General Secretary Reverend Samuel Kobia said in his keynote address at the opening of
the conference.
Kobia said the council believes that negotiating peace while respecting the rule of law is the strongest option for
ensuring security for Palestinians and Israelis.
“This conviction has only grown through 40 years of illegal occupation of the Palestinian territory,” he told delegates
yesterday.
The three-day WCC international peace conference gathered representatives of its 347 member churches in six continents
that represent 550 million Christians worldwide, according to the organisers.
Patriarch Michel Sabbah, who addressed the participants on behalf of the heads of churches in Jerusalem, highlighted the
daily life experience in the Palestinian territories and its consequences, expressing hope that a “vision of peace, based
on justice and mutual recognition, respect, and hence final reconciliation” will come out the conference.
“A vision based on the belief that both Palestinians and Israelis can live together in peace, every one in his home,
independent, sovereign, no one superior, no one inferior, all equals before God,” Sabbah said.
“We lived 40 years under occupation; until today… we are deprived from the freedom due to every people or human being,
freedom of movement, or political and economic freedom,” he added.
The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem noted that the essence of the conflict was simple: “It is the occupation by the Israelis
of the Palestinian land,” but “fear and mistrust in the hearts and minds of the Israelis who do not believe that the
Palestinians want to live or are able to live in peace with them,” makes the solution complicated.
Sabbah stressed that it is the responsibility of governments in the region and the international community to work along
with churches to implement a vision of peace.
“Churches have to begin a political campaign with world leaders; justice to the Palestinians must and can be done.
Security to the Israelis will be a direct consequence of that,” Sabbah said.
“Extremism cannot be fought by weapons only. Justice to the poor, food to the hungry, respect to the dignity of the
peoples… is the true fight against extremism and terrorism,” he added.
The conference intends to finalise an agreement among the churches under a newly formed “Palestine-Israel ecumenical
forum,” which seeks to coordinate and increase the work that Christian agencies are doing for peace advocacy.
The terms of the agreement will be announced on Wednesday, according to WCC Media Relations Officer Juan Michel.
Another key issue the conference will highlight is the diminishing presence of Palestinian Christians in the Palestinian
territories, who are the invisible victims of the occupation, according to the WCC general secretary.
In the first half of the 20th century, Palestinian Christians represented 25 per cent of the population, but due to
migration as a result of the occupation, they now constitute less than 2 per cent of the population of the West Bank,
East Jerusalem and Gaza.
Guirgis Ibrahim Saleh, general secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches, noted that it is the council’s duty
to “stop the emigration and to ensure a quality Christian presence for the years to come.”
“In Israel and East Jerusalem, a variety of national policies has led both Christians and Muslims in areas controlled
by Israel to feel unwelcome in the land of their birth,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kobia told The Jordan Times that the Kingdom was chosen as a venue for the conference because its “central
role in Middle East politics.”
“Jordan’s role, its historic role, has been to seek the way of peace even when that has been against the odds,” he said.
The WCC is an organised ecumenical movement that brings together more than 340 churches, denominations and church
fellowships in over 100 countries and territories throughout the world.
The councils’ main member churches include Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant. The Roman Catholic Church works in
collaboration with the movement but is not a member, according to the event organisers.
World Council of Churches’ main positions
• Palestinians have the right to self-determination and the right of return; while Israel and its legitimate security
needs are recognised, as are the real threats experienced among Jewish people.
• Jerusalem must be an open, inclusive and shared city in terms of sovereignty and citizenship.
• Settlements are illegal, as is their expansion.
• The separation barrier is a grave breach of international law and must be removed from the Palestinian territories.
• The WCC supports a two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians live side by side within secure, internationally
recognised borders as per UN Security Council resolutions.
• Peace in Israel and Palestine is inseparable from international peace