Accompaniers to speak about nonviolent presence in Palestine and Israel

WCC-sponsored panel coincides with peace prayer day

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE — Church volunteers from the United States, South Africa and Sweden who are serving as non-violent “accompaniers” in Israel and Palestine will conduct a panel on their ministry Sept. 21 at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York.

       The speakers are part of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program (EAPPI) of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which was launched in August 2002. Ecumenical accompaniers 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, offer protection through non‑violent presence, engage in public policy advocacy and stand in solidarity with the churches and all those struggling against the Israeli occupation.

      The panel is being conducted in conjunction with the International Day of Prayer for Peace.

   Panelists include EAPPI accompaniers Leila Richards, a public health physician from the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A., who previously served as director of medical services at the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza from 1988-1989; Hermina Damons from the Seventh Day Adventist Church in South Africa, who spent many years as a policy developer for the African National Congress and who runs a safe house for mothers and children infected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa; and Marianne Kronberg of the Church of Sweden, who has filled a variety of roles in her church.

      They will be joined by EAPPI international coordinator Salpy Eskidjian, who is based at the WCC’s Geneva offices.

      Material for this story furnished by Juan Michel, WCC Office of News and Information.