A new group of 15 Ecumenical Accompaniers last week joined the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). EAPPI is a program launched in August 2002 by the WCC (World Council of Churches) under the Ecumenical Campaign to End the Illegal Occupation of Palestine: Support a Just Peace in the Middle East.

The new group brings the number of Ecumenical Accompaniers to 21, and consists of nine women and six men ranging from ages 26 to 68. The group includes five Briton accompaniers, one Jewish, four from Germany, three from Sweden, two from Norway, and one from Switzerland.

"I am very happy to welcome everyone," said Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan, in greeting the new group, "especially having a Jewish participant in the EAPPI who joins in the human chain working for peace and justice in the Holy Land."

Participants of the EAPPI have a number of tasks. To monitor and report violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, support acts of non-violent resistance alongside local Christian and Muslim Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, and engage in public policy advocacy as they stand in solidarity with the churches and all those struggling against the occupation.

Ecumenical Accompaniers serve for a minimum of three months and are placed in Bethlehem, Hebron, Jayyous, Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, Tulkarem, and Yanoun. By working with local churches, Palestinian and Israeli NGOs and Palestinian communities, they try to improve the daily lives of peoples from both sides by reducing the violence from the occupation.

They will also be working with organisations such as the YMCA in Beit Sahour and Tulkarem; the Alternative Information Centre (AIC), a joint Palestinian-Israeli initiative; Wi'am, the Palestinian Conflict Resolution Centre in Bethlehem; B'tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories in its Nablus office, and the YWCA, the Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC), General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW), and the Palestinian Working Women's Society for Development (PWWSD) in Ramallah.

Since its launch, a total of 168 Ecumenical Accompaniers have participated from more than 30 churches and ecumenical partners 12 countries: Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.




Jenny Lee
Ecumenical Press