Israel-Palestine

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) is a World Council of Churches (WCC) initiative which was established in 2002 in response to a call made by the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, and Palestinian and Israeli NGOs. The mission of the EAPPI is to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in their nonviolent actions and concerted advocacy efforts to end the occupation.

The role of participants in the programme includes:

• Monitoring and reporting violations of human rights and international humanitarian law
• Supporting acts of nonviolent resistance alongside local Palestinian and Israeli activists
• Offering protection through nonviolent presence
• Engaging in public policy advocacy
• Standing in solidarity with the churches and all those struggling against the occupation.

Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW), part of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain, co-ordinates the EAPPI in Britain and Ireland, under the auspices of the World Council of Churches. Partner churches and church-related organisations include:

• Baptist Union of Great Britain
• CAFOD
• Christian Aid
• Church of Scotland
• Churches Together in Britain and Ireland / Churches Commission on Mission
• Iona Community
• Methodist Church
• Pax Christi UK
• Scottish Episcopal Church
• United Reformed Church
• USPG

Since August 2002, hundreds of Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) from fourteen countries have served in Israel-Palestine. Seventy one of these EAs were from Britain and Ireland. A further 19 from Britain and Ireland are serving in 2009.

The EAPPI is co-ordinated internationally by the World Council of Churches. Visit the WCC's EAPPI website [offsite link] for more information about the programme as a whole.

More information can be found on the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel factsheet.