The new statement from the Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, the Geneva-based WCC General Secretary, commenting on the Palestinian bid for statehood - as well as the news that 1,100 new housing units will be built in the illegal Gilo settlement - makes interesting reading (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/15457).
Among those with a significant stake in achieving a just-peace for Palestinians and Israelis are the Heads of Christian Churches in Jerusalem. Earlier this month they issued a communiqué, reported in Ekklesia (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/15393), which sets out their perception of the key principles involved in the debate about Palestinian statehood.
In the the buildup toward the submission of the Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN by Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas there was much speculation as to what would happen.
Harry Hagopian, Middle East commentator and Ekklesia associate was on BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme this morning, discussing the complex issue of Palestinian statehood in the light of recent developments.
Five hundred Israeli academics and intellectuals recently signed a petition supporting the Palestinian statehood bid: so will the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly decide whether ‘Palestine’ becomes fact or stays fiction - and what kind of fact or fiction? Dr Harry Hagopian explores the background to the much-written-about upcoming UN vote.
Ahead of my upcoming travels in Europe concerning the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, I have recorded another podcast for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, and for sharing on Ekklesia and beyond.
In a statement which goes beyond anything senior US leaders have said before, Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has said it is time for a Palestinian state to be founded, and that the US will put its full weight behind such efforts.