Image: courtesy of Oxfam
IT HAS long been said that truth is the first casualty in war. In the age of digital technology, social media, AI and deepfakes, that awful reality has been turbo-charged. The continuing bombardment and assault on Gaza and the Russian invasion of Ukraine are prime examples here.
Like others, Ekklesia has been following the Palestine-Israel conflict for many years, not just since the awful Hamas attack on 7 October – itself a terrible part of a long history of occupation, brutality and cycles of violence going back decades. We wish to see peace, justice and security for both Palestinians and Israelis alike in the region, an end to illegal occupation and settlement, a secure state for the Palestinians (either a two-state solution, or a federal single-state Israel/Palestine one with guaranteed rights and protections for all), and a recognition that war and killing are never a solution. We also oppose racism and discrimination in all its forms, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
In terms of news sources, we follow events via both mainstream outlets/agencies and the United Nations and its organisations plus a variety of human rights, civil society and church agencies with proven connections to, and/or presence in, Palestine Israel. Our own social media and reporting coverage has focused on credible news networks, Jewish and Israeli human rights organisations and campaigns in particular, and organisations building solidarity between Israelis and Palestinians in opposition to violence, war and occupation in all its forms.
That includes Human Rights Watch (international human rights agency), Amnesty International (Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories), the B’Tselem (‘image of God’) non-profit organisation (Jerusalem) documenting human rights violations in the occupied territories, CPT-Palestine (building partnerships to transform violence and oppression), Haaretz (Israeli newspaper, founded in 1918), Middle East Eye (UK-based news and comment), Al Jazeera (24-hour English-language news channel, funded by Qatar), Mondoweiss (news and opinion on Palestine and Israel), Standing Together UK (a solidarity campaign in support of Israel’s Jewish-Palestinian grassroots movement for peace, equality and social justice), the Quakers (engagement with Israel and Palestine), Jewish Voice for Peace (US-based advocacy organisation), Rabbis For Ceasefire (activist network), Refuser Solidarity Network (supporting war resisters), Peace Now (Israeli action group promoting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict), Mennonite Action (direct action to resist war and occupation), War Resisters International (WRI, global antimilitarist network), Pax Christi International (Catholic peace organisation), Sabeel (ecumenical Palestinian liberation theology), Mehdi Hasan (British-American broadcaster and author), Kenneth Roth (attorney and former HRW executive director), Novara Media (independent alternative media organisation baed in the UK), Bureau of Investigative Journalism (UK non-profit network), and many others.
We especially recommend the analysis of our longstanding friend and associate Dr Harry Hagopian iInternational lawyer, ecumenical advisor and political observer of the MENA and Gulf regions). His important backgrounding book Keeping Faith With Hope: The Challenge of Israel-Palestine was published by Ekklesia Books in May 2019. See also his commentary on YouTube.
We have been longstanding supporters and cooperators with Community Peacemaker Teams (formerly Christian Peacemaker Teams) and EAPPI (Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel), who work with the World Council of Churches and the Quakers. Ekklesia is a member of the Network of Christian Peace Organisations in the UK.
(It is worth noting that the BBC, US and European networks are subject to Israeli government monitoring and censorship in some aspects of their reporting. A huge number of journalists (estimates vary from 65 to 85) have been killed by IDF operations and targeting in Gaza, and international reporters are barred. Citizen journalism material continues to emerge, however. The overall situation is clearly one of horrific death and destruction, mass displacement, a humanitarian and health catastrophe, the growing threat of hunger, and evidence of serious war crimes.)
The daily scenes of death, suffering and destruction from Gaza are shocking and sickening. According to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, 32,246 people have been killed (including 29,720 civilians, 12,660 children and 6,860 women) by the 105th day of the assault, 19 January 2024.
South Africa’s case against the Israeli government at the International Court of Justice highlights the incredibly high stakes of the current situation.
This page will be updated with more sources shortly.
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