WCC news: World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel will focus on protecting children

The World Council of Churches (WCC) World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel will focus on protecting children.  23 November 2022, Bethlehem, Palestine: A young boy enters checkpoint 300 in Bethlehem. The checkpoint, which separates Bethlehem and the West Bank from the city of Jerusalem, sees thousands of Palestinians pass through daily, many of them for work in the city of Jerusalem. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 3 August 2026 The theme is from Psalms 127:3, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.” The special week in September includes the UN International Day of Peace on 21 September. The WCC is encouraging church organizations, congregations, and people of faith to bear a common witness by participating in prayer services, educational events, and acts of support for children lost in the war, left without parents, traumatised, and afraid. A UN Human rights council Independent International Commission of Inquiry report concluded that “The essence of childhood has been destroyed” for Palestinian children. The World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel will lament the destruction and division in families due to the war and express solidarity with the Palestinian families forced to leave their homeland for a better life somewhere else.  The special week will also be a reminder for all that children are gifts from God that we should keep safe, protect, and preserve, because God entrusted us with them.  The World Council of Churches invites member churches, faith-based communities, and civil society organizations around the world to join for a week of prayer for just peace for all in Palestine and Israel. Congregations and individuals around the globe who share the hope of justice shall unite during the week to take peaceful actions, together, to create a common international public witness. “We cannot accept the destruction of childhood as an inevitable consequence of war and occupation,” said WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay. “Through the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel this year, the World Council of Churches calls upon churches and people of conscience across the world to pray, speak out and act together for the protection of every child. Our common witness must demand an end to violence and occupation, uphold the dignity and rights of Palestinian and Israeli children alike, and renew our commitment to a just and lasting peace for all.” World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel 2026: Concept Note See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland