WCC Working Group on Palestine and [Israel] meets in Athens

The World Council of Churches (WCC) working group is meeting in Athens from 16-18 September. 

Photo: WCC

The working group was elected at the WCC executive committee meeting in November 2023, upon recommendation from the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe in 2022 that the WCC should consider whether the word “apartheid” is appropriate to describe [Israel] and if the WCC policy on Palestine and Israel is still applicable. 

The working group will deliberate on these matters and give special attention to the current situation in Palestine. The group, led by co-moderators Rev. Dr Susan Durber, WCC President from Europe, and Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, South African Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, will offer recommendations on the way forward to the WCC general secretary, who will then bring those recommendations to the WCC governance structures.

The working group will present its first report to the WCC executive committee in November, then to the WCC central committee when the governing body meets in South Africa. 

The working group is being hosted by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece. The meeting is taking place at the Inter Orthodox Centre of the Church of Greece in the Holy Monastery of Pendeli.

This news was originally published on the website of the World Council of Churches (WCC) oikoumene.org.