Phone: +972-(0)2-626-6800 Fax: +972-(0)2-628-5764 Address: Muristan Road P.O. Box 14076 Jerusalem 91140 via Israel
Subscribe | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | pre-2003 |
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter (left) and Bishop Munib Younan posed for a photo after sharing an iftar meal in Ramallah on Aug. 26. Carter was in the region with The Elders, an independent group of eminent global leaders seeking to use their collective influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity.
Their Aug. 25-28 visit to Israel-Palestine was intended to allow the group to listen to the people affected by the conflict here and to offer their support to all those working for peace.
For more about The Elders, go to their website at www.theelders.org.
Archeologists, historians, film-makers, theologians and others gathered in Bethlehem on Aug. 23-29 to discuss how their disciplines have contributed to the current situation in Israel-Palestine. Participants in the “Invention of History: A Century of Interplay between Theology and Politics in Palestine” conference hailed from around the world. Notably, a group of South Africans reflected on comparisons of the situation here with those in their country during apartheid.
Organized and hosted by the International Center of Bethlehem, a ministry of ELCJHL Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, the conference was third in a series of five designed to generate research, discussion and writings in support of a just resolution to the conflict. Conference convener Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb said there are already two publishers interested in publishing the papers presented at the conference.
You can find an agenda and description of the conference on ICB’s website by clicking here.
The ELCJHL extends hearty congratulations to Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, who was elected
to be the seventh general secretary of the World Council of Churches during its central committee
meeting on Aug. 27.
ELCJHL Bishop Munib A. Younan's words at the 13th assembly of the Conference of European Churches apparently have deeply resonated with people around the world. The Ecumenical News International article on his address has been posted widely around the internet.
At the July 15-21 event in Lyon, France, Younan was encouraged to set aside prepared remarks and speak extemporaneously to the audience of some 800 people. Younan appealed to European churches for their support for peace in the Middle East. "I ask you as our brothers and sisters in Christ, do not leave us alone, do not leave us alone in the struggle," Younan is quoted as saying in the ENI article, which can be found here.
Above right, Bishop Younan is pictured addressing the assembly with H.B. Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, in the foreground. (Photo: www.peterwilliams.ch) For more on the conference, see the CEC website here.
---web.jpg)
Scores of people marched through Beit Jala to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the International Court of Justice's opinion that construction of the wall is "contrary to international law." Organized and led by the ELCJHL Lutheran Church of the Reformation, the march capped a week of workshops, demonstrations and soccer matches to the hardships created by Israel's construction of the separation wall.
Watch this space for more photos and information about the event.
The ELCJHL Environmental Education Center has recently relaunched its website in a new, colorful, easy-to-navigate format. Be sure to watch the beautiful slide show on the home page! Their new web page can be found at www.eecp.org.
The political – not religious – nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the central theme of ELCJHL Bishop Munib A. Younan's July 15 address in Pori, Finland. Younan delivered his speech, "Reconciliation in the Middle East," to a conference of the UN Association of Finland and the Finnish Red Cross, in cooperation with the Tampere Peace Research Institute.
The full text of Younan's address is available here.