The World Methodist Council (WMC) meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden, recognizes that the situation in Israel and
the Occupied Palestinian Territories has been on the Council agenda for many years.
We have heard the cries of our Christian sisters and brothers as expressed in the Kairos Palestine document (December
2009) and we have responded to the plea to "come see and hear the living stones" through pilgrimages to the Holy
Land. We have passed resolutions, issued statements, and prayed for a just and sustainable peace in Israel and
Palestine.
WMC member churches are working with partners in the region, often facilitated by the Methodist Liaison Office
in Jerusalem, to accompany Palestinians in their struggle for a secure life and in their call for peace with justice. At
the 22nd World Methodist Conference 14-18 August in Gothenburg, Sweden, we were blessed and challenged by
seminars led by Ms. Areej Masoud and Dr. Lamma Mansour, calling for solidarity, prayers and tangible support of
organizations working for peace and justice in the land.
Currently, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs, the death toll in Gaza
has now surpassed 39,000 people, over two-thirds of whom are children and women; more than 90 % of the
population have been displaced (in most cases repeatedly); there has been the complete destruction of medical,
educational, and other civilian infrastructure and food insecurity has reached catastrophic proportions.
Dr. Kenneth Mtata, WCC program director for Public Witness and Diakonia, recently commented that "the
situation in Gaza exposes the lowest decline in our shared humanity and our collective total failure to honor life."
He further added, "We need to take decisive action to redeem the little of our humanity that may be left'.
Read more at this link.
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