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The WCC is a fellowship of
churches, now 347 in more than 120 countries in all continents
from virtually all christian traditions?
Executive committee statement on Israel/Palestine:
With the responsible powers and
authorities providing little prospect of a viable future for both
Israelis and Palestinians, with concern rising around the world
at the recent course of events in the conflict, and with various
peace plans and numerous UN resolutions languishing
unimplemented, the World Council of Churches Executive Committee,
meeting in Geneva, 16-19 May, 2006, comes to a sober conclusion:
Peace must come soon or it may not come to either people for a
long time.???
Failure to comply with international law and consequences thereof
has pushed the situation on the ground up to a point of no
return. The disparities are appalling. One side is positioning
itself to unilaterally establish final borders on territory that
belongs to the other side; the other side is increasingly
confined to the scattered enclaves that remain. On one side there
is control of more and more land and water; on the other there
are more and more families deprived of land and livelihoods. On
one side as many people as possible are being housed on occupied
land; on the other side the toll mounts of refugees without homes
or land. One side controls Jerusalem, a city shared by two
peoples and three world religions; the other?Muslim and
Christian?watches its demographic, commercial and religious
presence wither in Jerusalem. From both sides, military forces or
armed groups strike across the 1967 borders and kill innocent
civilians. On both sides, authorities countenance such
attacks.???
Finally, the side set to keep its unlawful gains is garnering
support from part of the international community. The side that,
despairing at those unlawful gains, used legitimate elections to
choose new leaders is being isolated and punished.???
All parties to the conflict and the foreign powers implicated in
it now face a world dangerously divided over this conflict, a
world increasingly convinced that the goal of peace for all has
been traded away for gains by one side.???
At this critical juncture the contribution of churches can be to
speak from the perspective of ethics. The actions noted above and
others like them cannot be justified morally, legally or even
politically.???
Late in the long civil rights struggle in the U.S., Dr. Martin
Luther King wrote:???
?[T]ime?can be used destructively or constructively. More and
more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more
effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to
repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and
actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the
good people. ? We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that
the time is always ripe to do right.? [?Letter from Birmingham
Jail? 1965]??
The same hard diagnosis applies to the struggle for a just and
durable peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Impunity toward
international law, the United Nations Charter, resolutions of the
UN Security Council and rulings of the International Court of
Justice has long characterized actions on the ground. Now the
same phenomenon is apparent in international policies toward the
conflict as well. Legal norms that bear so heavily on this
conflict?territorial integrity, the peaceful resolution of
conflict, the right to self-determination and the right to self-defence,
among others?are being more widely ignored.???
Calls for the application of these norms anchor six decades of
church policy toward the conflict, including WCC Statements on
?The Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel?s
Annexation of Palestinian Territory? (2004), ?The Ecumenical
Response to the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict? (2002 and 2001),
?Jerusalem Final Status Negotiations? (2000), ?The Status of
Jerusalem? (1998), ?The Middle East? (1993, 1983, 1974, 1969,
1968 and 1967), ?Jerusalem? (1980, 1975 and 1974), and ?The
Emergence of Israel as a State? (1948). One theme stands out:
?What we desire is equal justice for both Palestinian people and
Jewish people in the Middle East,? (WCC Executive Committee, Bad
Saarow, GDR, 1974), but international law has not been
conclusively applied for the collective good.??
Most recently, the WCC has requested the Middle East ?Quartet? to
give the new Palestine authorities time to develop and
demonstrate their policies. The WCC also called Quartet
members?the United States, the European Union, Russia and the
United Nations?to exercise even-handedness when dealing with the
conflict and be the determined and objective third party needed
to bring Israeli and Palestinian authorities into equitable
negotiations.???
Respect for existing agreements is required of both sides.
Democracy must be protected where it is taking root. The use of
violence pre-empts normal bilateral relations for Israeli as well
as Palestinian authorities.??
Ending double standards is a prerequisite for peace. The current
impasse must be broken. All parties must see the necessity and
human benefit in re-aligning current political decisions with
long-standing legal commitments and undeniable moral obligations.
The precious, life- saving opportunity is now.???
The Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches,
meeting in Bossey, Switzerland, 16-19 May 2006:??
Urges the international community to establish
contact and engage with all the legitimately elected leaders of
the Palestinian people for the resolution of differences, and not
to isolate them or cause additional suffering among their
people;??
Strongly supports, and calls the international
community to support, two-way and equitable negotiations as the
path to mutual recognition between Israel and Palestine and to
the resolution of other contentious and substantive obstacles to
peace as noted in the succession of United Nations Security
Council and General Assembly resolutions.???
Recommends that, in the interests of equitable
treatment and as a new foundation for peace, both parties to the
conflict be held to one and the same standard for ending
violence, meeting their existing agreements and recognizing each
other?s existence including the 1967 borders.?
Insists that all High Contracting Parties to the
Fourth Geneva Convention (including Israel, the U.S., States of
the European Union, Russia, and the repository state,
Switzerland) ensure the well-being of the occupied population.
Urgent actions include ending the punitive measures imposed on
the Palestinian people in violation of the Fourth Geneva
Convention and its prohibition of collective punishment?including
the tax, aid and travel restrictions imposed after their recent
democratic elections?and requiring the occupying power to fulfil
its responsibilities for the well-being of the population in all
areas it controls, including the Gaza Strip.???
Reminds the United Nations and its member states of
UN responsibility to make Jerusalem an open and inclusive city
for the two peoples and three religions, shared in terms of
sovereignty and citizenship.???
Encourages the government of Israel to base its
security on peace with all its neighbours, including the
equitable negotiation of final borders with those neighbours and
excluding the unilateral imposition of borders on those
neighbours.??
Encourages the Palestinian Authority to include
parties across the political spectrum in the processes of
democracy and of non-violent conflict resolution, to protect the
democratic rights of its people from external pressures as
legitimate rights under international law, to maintain the
existing one-party cease-fire toward Israel and extend it to
cover all parties, and to demonstrate that all forms of violence
and attacks across the 1967 borders between Israel and the
Occupied Palestinian Territories against innocent civilians on
either side must stop.???
Calls member churches and the WCC to share
solidarity with people on both sides of the conflict as a witness
for peace:??
*? Advocate for the measures indicated above, reflecting
world-wide church concern at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
the implications of the conflict in different regions, and the
ever more urgent need for remedial actions by the responsible
authorities; use legitimate forms of pressure to promote a just
peace and to end unlawful activities by Israelis or
Palestinians.?
*? Find constructive ways to address threats experienced among
the Jewish people, including the nature, prevalence and impact of
racism in local, national and international contexts.?
*? Heed calls for help from the churches of Jerusalem at this
time of trial, assist them in their service to society and
support church aid work with people in need; seek help from
churches in the Middle East to educate churches elsewhere about
the conflict, the region and the path to peace; pray for peace.?
*? Send church members to Israel and Palestine as part of the
Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel until
the occupation ends.?
*? Engage in dialogue with churches that link current events in
the Middle East with certain Biblical prophecies. Such dialogue
would include concrete and legitimate political perspectives on
justice, the impact of such linkages on the presence and witness
of the Christian churches of the region, and discussions about
the nature of Christian witness for peace in the Middle East.?
*? Work to enhance the security of all people in the region, in
accordance with the WCC Ninth Assembly Minute, by urging relevant
governments to support the establishment in the Middle East of a
Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone to include Israel and Iran.?
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