September 15, 2016 — New York, New York
AJC is profoundly disappointed with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) joint statement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The statement, issued by WCC General Secretary Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit and NCC General Secretary Jim Winkler at the conclusion of their organizations’ three-day consultation on the Holy Land was “devoid of any balance or hope,” said AJC.
“What could have been a powerful plea for peacemaking turned reflexively to a familiar and factually feeble denunciation of Israel from two groups with a long history of anti-Israel bias," said AJC’s Jerusalem-based International Director of Interreligious Affairs Rabbi David Rosen and New York-based Director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations Rabbi Noam Marans. "Remarkably, the WCC and NCC continue to ignore the fact that the only path to achieving sustainable Israeli-Palestinian peace is direct, bilateral negotiations between the parties, not one-sided judgments. These two church bodies claim to seek justice, but uniformly blame Israel exclusively for Palestinian suffering, while utterly failing to hold Palestinians to account for incitement and violence against Israel.”
Since its founding Israel has sought peace with all its neighbors, and achieved historic peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. The Palestinian leadership, unfortunately for both Israelis and Palestinians who desire peace, has repeatedly balked. Palestinian Authority President Abbas walked away from the last round of direct talks, facilitated by the U.S., more than two years ago, and has rebuked repeated invitations from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to return to the table.
