07264
May 8, 2007

NCC women’s Mideast delegation focus is women and children

by Daniel Webster
NCC News and Information

NEW YORK — The plight of women and children suffering through hostilities in the Middle East will be the focus of a delegation of women church leaders from several denominations of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC). 

     During its nearly two-week visit beginning May 9, the delegation hopes to see firsthand the human toll of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the effects of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Iraq now living in Jordan.

     The group of more than a dozen women is headed by the Rev. Dr. Thelma Chambers-Young, an NCC vice-president and vice-president of the North American Baptist Women’s Union.
 
     ”Women look at issues of children and what’s going to happen to the family.  We thought that, from the perspective of women as peacemakers, this would be an interesting way to look at this,” said Chambers-Young, a member of the Progressive National Baptist Convention from Oklahoma City.  “I hope we will hear the concerns of women in the region and stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers who are caught in the middle of the conflict.”
 
     The group will visit Jordan and Israel/Palestine.  The delegation will arrive as domestic political issues continue to roil Israeli and Palestinian societies.  The turmoil within Israel centers around its war in Lebanon with Hezbollah, the immediate after-effects of which were witnessed by a previous NCC delegation of church leaders.

     The delegation also travels as U.S. government leaders debate the funding of the Iraq war.  While in Jordan, the delegation will meet with Christian refugees from Iraq.  United Nations officials now estimate the Iraq war has created the largest migration of refugees in the Mideast since the 1948 establishment of the modern state of Israel. 

     The U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) estimates 750,000 Iraqi refugees are in Jordan while Jordan says it may be half that number.  The UNHCR puts the number in Syria between 600,000 and one million.
 
     The Middle East Council of Churches is helping to coordinate the visit.  Two senior NCC staff members will accompany the delegation: the Rev. Brenda Girton-Mitchell, associate general secretary for justice and advocacy, and Antonios Kireopoulos, associate general secretary for international affairs and peace. 

     ”We will listen and learn from the various parties there,” said Chambers-Young. “We can come back and be more effective peace witnesses for our churches and our government.”

     The NCC promotes a viable two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an end to the Iraq war, and diplomatic negotiations with Syria and Iran as a means to lowering regional tensions.