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"THE
WALL" - Download Video
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 Remember These Children |
| Israel / Palestine> |
July 2008 - New pamphlet from Pax Christi Pax Christi in solidarity with peacemakers in Palestine & Israel Offers
Can be downloaded here or ordered free from the office via email, info@paxchristi.org.uk or phone 020 8203 4884 |
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Service outline prepared by Jerusalem Churches for the week |
International Week of Action for Israel and Palestine 60th anniversary of Israel's independence and the Palestinians'
dispossession, known as the Nakba ISRAEL's 60th Anniversary Celebrations Israel's 60 years |
(more IPCRI articles available here) |
Jerusalem Church Leaders Bethlehem checkpoint - 4:00 AM ... any day!
The land of unchecked settler harassment Cameras change picture of West Bank violence Encountering Peace: Next year in Palestine Tragedy of Israel and Palestine Pax Christi UK Visit
to Israel/Palestine |
Far From Palestine Israel is stronger than its ills: Mideast peace is still possible Sixty years of Nakba, 60 years of nothing Sixty years of Middle East division Clinging to dream of Palestine village Good to talk? Situation in Gaza worst since 1967 The children of 5767 |
8 May 2008
ISRAEL'S 60th Anniversary
A declaration by Christian Leaders
Over 140 Christian leaders have made a unified call for a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians, to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel. Their declaration is published in The Independent newspaper. Never before has such a diverse range of prominent Christians acknowledged that for Palestinians, Israel's celebration has become a 'Catastrophe' (Nakba). They seek a shared solution to the longstanding conflict. Stewart Hemsley, Chair of the British Seciton of Pax Christi, Fr. Claude Mostowik, National President of Pax Christi Australia, Dave Robinson, Executive Director of Pax Christi USA, Prof Mary Grey, and Nobel Peace Laureat Mairead Corrigan Maguire are among the co-signers. The letter reads as follows:
"Today, millions of Israelis and Jews around the world will joyfully mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel. For many, this landmark powerfully symbolises the Jewish people's ability to defy the power of hatred so destructively embodied in the Nazi Holocaust. Additionally, it is an opportunity to celebrate the wealth of cultural, economic and scientific achievements of Israeli society, in all its vitality and diversity. This same day, millions of Palestinians living inside Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and the worldwide diaspora, will mourn 60 years since over 700,000 of them were uprooted from their homes and forbidden from returning, while more than 400 villages were destroyed. For them, this day is not just about the remembrance of a past catastrophic dispossession, dispersal, and loss; it is also a reminder that their struggle for self-determination and restitution is ongoing. To hold both of these responses together in balanced tension is not easy. But it is vital if a peaceful way forward is to be forged, and is central to the Biblical call to "seek peace and pursue it" (Ps. 34:14). We acknowledge with sorrow that for the last 60 years, while extending empathy and support to the Israeli narrative of independence and struggle, many of us in the church worldwide have denied the same solidarity to the Palestinians, deaf to their cries of pain and distress. We therefore urge all those working for peace and justice in Israel/Palestine to consider that any lasting solution must be built on the foundation of justice, which is rooted in the very character of God. After all, it is justice that "will produce lasting peace and security" (Isaiah 32:17). Let us commit ourselves in prophetic word and practical deed to a courageous settlement whose details will honour both peoples' shared love for the land, and protect the individual and collective rights of Jews and Palestinians in the Holy Land." “Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid” (Micah 4:4) |
Read more and see complete list of signatories at http://justpeace60.blogspot.com/
what they say about GAZA...
Vanity Fair: The Gaza Bombshell (april 2008) Sderot and Gaza: third letters exchange |
Pax Christi International Reiterates Call for a Comprehensive Middle East Peace Process Pax Christi International, through the work of our former International President the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, and through our partners, is committed to nonviolent peacebuilding in the region. The British section of Pax Christi aims to offer more background on the region together with prayers and action ideas in support of peace work both here and in the region.
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National Assembly Pax Christi USA, August 2003 Pax Christi International deplores the human suffering in the Palestinian Occupied Territories and Israel that continue unabated despite the Road Map to peace in the region. It is the civilian population, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and as well as in Israel, that is the victim of this never-ending spiral of violence, of unjust military occupation and current political and economic crisis. |
To read more of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah's occasional messages CLICK HERE
"Stop Arming Israel" petition One practical way for Pax Christi members and supporters to help reduce violence in the Middle East is to challenge the on-going trade in arms to the region and to Israel in particular. Pax Christi is supporting the "Stop Arming Israel" petition. You can sign on-line or download a petition for use in your local church, community, street-stall or wherever you have opportunity. |
Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) |
The mission of the EAPPI is to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in their nonviolent actions and concerted advocacy efforts to end the occupation. It is a response to a call made to the World Council of Churches by the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem. It is supported by Pax Christi International. In Britain and Ireland the EAPPI is supported by the Churches' Commission on Mission of the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, Pax Christi, and is managed by Quaker Peace & Social Witness.
Jerusalem Church Leaders: "EAPPI is emblematic of Christian-Muslim relations in Israel" (05/08/06)
Download EAPPI Newsletter - for full list of UPDATES go to EAPPI
For more information and journal letters from those from Britain serving as Accompaniers or for information on supporting or joining the programme go to:
You can also visit the EAPPI
Photo Gallery
Read Gill Swain's blog from the West Bank
What you can do
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The weblinks listed in the column to the right offer excellent analysis, images, stories and
prayers to help you tell the story of life in Bethlehem this Christmas.
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BETHLEHEM CHRISTMAS MESSAGES 2007 This Christmas 2007, Pax Christi International again invites you to send messages of peace and solidarity to our peacemaking partners and local contacts in Bethlehem. They will be presented to H.B. Michel Sabbah, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, during the traditional Christmas time ecumenical procession to the Nativity Basilica. Why not send a message of peace and hope to the people of Palestine? Please, make sure your messages are delivered before 25 December, 2007 Messages can be submitted on Pax Christi’s website or emailed to peace-message@paxchristi.net. To read more about a new project called "Open Bethlehem" go to www.openbethlehem.org/ |
  hard-hitting images to illustrate the well-known Christmas carols, ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ and ‘Silent Night’ (click here to download) |
Pax Christi Peace Pilgrimage to Palestine and Israel |
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| Between 22 - 30 December 2004, five members of the British Section of Pax
Christi joined with a larger number from Pax Christi Netherlands and
Germany for a pilgrimage of solidarity and peace. We were hosted by our
friends and partners the Arab Educational Institute, affiliated to Pax
Christi International. Our participation helped to confirm our
commitment to peacemaking in the region. Pax Christi will continue with
its awareness raising and campaigning work in the year ahead.
Those who took part were Anne Dodd and Sheila Simpson, from our Executive Committee; Pax Christi members Ann Farr from Coventry, John Harkin from Derry and Pat Gaffney, General Secretary. They are willing to speak to parishes or groups on request. Please contact the Pax Christi London office. Here we offer a diary report of the visit together with some more personal reflections. Click here to read the report in PDF (you need Acrobat Reader) or Word format. |
 Pat Gaffney ... no fencing out of Peace! |
 Hebron checkpoint... one of about 700 checkpoints within the West Bank! |
Reflection from Anne Dodd
" It was through the experience of the Moslem family I stayed with that the reality of life under occupation became truly real for me. Statistics I had read became the stuff of everyday life. Jerusalem from Bethlehem is a short bus ride away. Or it was. I live the same distance from Oxford as Fayzeh and her family live from Jerusalem. I hop on a bus without a second thought to go to a meeting, go shopping in Oxford or go for a hospital appointment. I don`t, like Fayzeh, have to make a separate journey in another direction in advance to try and get a permit to make that short journey to Jerusalem. A permit that will only (possibly) be granted for "urgent humanitarian reasons." A permit which may, even then, be refused after fruitless visits and waiting in long queues. A permit which, even finally granted, may be ignored or torn up by the Israeli soldiers at the first checkpoint on that short road to inaccessible Jerusalem. And that first checkpoint is only one of the 78 physical barriers round the small city of Bethlehem. No wonder so many times life in Bethlehem for Palestinians was described to us as "life in a big jail." |
Pax Christi is not responsible for the content of external links
News about the "Walled-in"
BBC Internet News: Gaza mortar attack kills Israeli (08/05/08)(06/03/08)2007
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>LISTENof
civilians being used Jerusalem Post: BBC poll: Israel has worst world image (06/03/07)Some Good News!
Documents
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Audio & Video files
The Writing on the Wall (2)
A series of interviews with Palestinians who live close to the Wall. Three questions are asked: How is your daily life influenced by the Wall and the checkpoints? What does freedom mean to you? What are your sources of energy? The interviews are made by Toine van Teeffelen for the www.verbindingverbroken.nl [connection lost] website of United Civilians for Peace, an umbrella of Dutch development organizations and peace movements. "BIT BY BIT THE WALL BECAME MORE TANGIBLE..." Interview with Terry Boullata - 8/12/04, Jerusalem I am 38 years old, and I am from Jerusalem. I was born and lived all my life here, and I am proud of that. I married 14 years ago with a man from Abu Dis who carries a West Bank ID card. I am myself carrying a Jerusalem ID. I studied at Jerusalem schools and then at Birzeit University. During the first Intifada I was arrested four times; the last time, while I was working as a fieldworker for a human rights organization, I was released after intervention of the former American president Jimmy Carter and Mme Mitterand. Later on I opened my own private school in Abu Dis, thinking that I should help in the development of the community I'm living in. I started the school in 1999 with loans from agencies and banks and it's still working. Altogether I have 225 children from kindergarten up to the fifth grade elementary. But this year I lost around 77 children due to the building of Wall, which is less than 0,5 km from the school. Due to the loss of income |
