From: Second Report of the Public Issues Committee
WCC Central Committee 2003

MINUTE ON THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

The WCC Central Committee, meeting in Geneva, Switzerland from 26 August to 2 September, 2003, took note of the efforts undertaken by the WCC General Secretary and staff of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, to implement the resolutions of the Central and Executive Committees since February 2001, to end the illegal occupation of Palestine.

A year after the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) was launched within the 2002 focus of the Decade to Overcome Violence and its campaign to End the Illegal Occupation of Palestine: Support a Just Peace in the Middle East, the Central Committee welcomes with appreciation the partnership provided by churches and specialised ecumenical ministries that support this new ecumenical initiative of the WCC. In particular, the Central Committee recognises the courageous witness of the Ecumenical Accompaniers, who volunteer to serve the Church of Jesus Christ by standing in active solidarity with a people struggling for freedom, justice and peace. The Central Committee reaffirms its endorsement to this programme and asks all WCC member churches and ecumenical partners to actively engage in it.

In addition, the Central Committee heard with heavy hearts the message sent by the Heads of Churches of Jerusalem and the observations made by the CCIA and ACT delegation during their recent visit to the occupied Palestinian Territories. We were especially concerned with the humanitarian consequences of continued closures, curfews, extra-judicial killings and suicide bombings as well as the “separation wall” being erected by the Israeli authorities. The Central Committee asks all members to condemn such actions and to join the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches, Communities and Institutions in Jerusalem in their daily “Prayers for just peace and reconciliation in the Holy Land”. The Central Committee further regrets that in spite of its appeals to the government of Israel, they have still refused to recognise the election of HB Patriarch Irineos I, as head of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Endorsing the CCIA´s analysis of the Road Map to a permanent two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Central Committee recommits itself to the WCC direction, long-term policies and actions developed since 1998, which need to remain constant and of high priority. In this light, the Central Committee calls on the WCC member churches and ecumenical partners to intensify their efforts on behalf of the ecumenical campaign launched in 2002 and to increase their humanitarian relief and rehabilitation efforts. It also asks the General Secretary and staff of international affairs to give visibility to all ecumenical efforts to end the occupation of Palestine. In this regard the Central Committee recognises the need for the speedy establishment of the Jerusalem Ecumenical Center of the Heads of Churches in association with the WCC and MECC (ref. GEN 6-page14)