WCC General Secretary To Visit Palestine/Israel

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia will visit member churches and Christian communities in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel on 21-26 June.

Taking place immediately after the launch of the WCC-sponsored Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum in Amman, Jordan (see the WCC press release of 12 June), the visit aims to express worldwide church solidarity with the churches in the Holy Land. It also intends to convey concern for the future of both peoples affected by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"The member churches of the WCC believe that Christian communities in the Holy Land are an historic and essential part of the region and that their future and well-being is linked to the future and well-being of Muslims and Jews," says Kobia.

Kobia will meet the heads of churches in Jerusalem, preach at St. George’s Cathedral there and visit a number of biblical sites in the Jerusalem area and Galillee.

Meetings with Israel’s Chief Rabbinates and the Higher Islamic Council and the Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine are scheduled, as are high-level encounters with both the Israeli government and the Palestinian authority.

The WCC general secretary will visit Yad Vashem, a memorial to the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and the Western Wall, a remnant of the Jewish Second Temple. Kobia will attend a service at a synagogue and participate at a Sabbath meal.

A visit to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque is also on the agenda.

First-hand exposure to the hardships imposed on Palestinians by the Israeli occupation of their territories is part of the itinerary, which will include Palestinian towns and refugee camps in the West Bank.

Kobia will meet volunteers serving in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). He will spend time with them in their daily work with refugees, Israeli peace groups, and at crossing points in the separation barrier.