24-27 March
A Solidarity Mission from the organization Peace for Life visited Barrancabermeja.  The international and interfaith group met with the Women's Popular Organization, families of the victims of the 16 May 1998 massacre, youth initiatives and the LGTB community.  Vivian de Lima of the Philippines noted, “In every country I visit, I see the same forms of violence.  The work that we have is to lift ourselves up to seek justice and peace for everyone—not just for the victims, but for all of society.  This includes those who commit violence—(See photos.)

PRAYERS FOR PEACEMAKERS, Wed., Apr. 29, 2009

Pray for the people of central Iraq. Several bombs in the past week have killed over 200 people in Shia markets and holy sites. Iraqis fear an escalation of sectarian violence.

Doug Pritchard
Christian Peacemaker Teams
Toronto, Canada

On 26 April 2009 Palestinians from the South Hebron Hills village of Um al Kheir changed the route of a road that Israeli settlers from Karmel settlement were constructing.  The villagers, acting with At-Tuwani team members, nonviolently blocked the road-building equipment as it prepared the roadbed on land that belongs to Palestinians living in the village of Um al Kheir.

The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia introduced to the Canadian Parliament on 29 March 2009, was signed before the results of the Standing Committee on International Trade had a chance to present its recommendations.  This committee recommended that the Parliament NOT to sign the Free Trade Agreement.

Canadian citizens still have time to act.  The FTA is before Parliament right now.  Call your MPs, opposition Trade critics, and the ministers responsible today.

To commemorate the fourth annual Days of Prayer and Action, Christian Peacemaker Teams Colombia organized a public action on Monday, 20 April 2009 at 4:30 pm in a downtown Barrancabermeja park.  This year's theme highlighted the situation of the more than four million displaced people within Colombia.  Organizations and churches in Colombia, the United States, and Canada united in a call for justice, peace, and restoration in Colombia.  On Sunday 19 April 2009, hundreds of churches in Colombia, the U.S., and Canada prayed for peace in Colombia and for a change in these governments' unjust policies.  Monday, 20 April was set aside for public action and visits to U.S. government representatives to call for change in militaristic policies that continue to displace hundreds of Colombians every day.  As part of the day of action, groups constructed 4000 paper dolls—each doll representing 1000 displaced people in Colombia—to deliver to their government representatives.

Um al Kheir, South Hebron Hills, Palestine  On 23 April 2009 Israeli soldiers arrested a Palestinian journalist in the village of Um al Kheir and declared the village a closed military zone after settlers from the nearby settlement of Karmel resumed construction of a road on Palestinian land.  The proposed road passes within a few meters of Palestinian homes, animal enclosures, and gardens.  Due to a pending legal action in Israeli court filed by Um al Kheir villagers, settlers had previously suspended construction but resumed the work Thursday afternoon.

Today was another one of those days that can't be adequately described.  When I arrived in Mashaha valley, I found a friend of ours absolutely beside himself.  His field of wheat had been completely destroyed.  Settlers grazed their sheep in the middle of his field and now his wheat crop is decimated.

PRAYERS FOR PEACEMAKERS, Wed., Apr. 22, 2009

Pray for Asubpeeschoseewagong (Grassy Narrows First Nation). Their youth are walking to Kenora, raising awareness of the environmental destruction of Mother Earth. The whole community continues to resist logging of their territories without consent, but the Ontario Government issued a logging plan anyway.

Doug Pritchard
Christian Peacemaker Teams
Toronto, Canada

On 4 April 2009, Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) visited the family of a one and a half-year old boy, Mohammad Ahmed, killed when Iran shelled their village, Razga, on 10 March 2009.  The shelling violated an agreement Iran had made with the KRG (Kurdish Regional Government) to stop attacks on villages in the Pshdar district.  A mortar hit the roof of the family’s home while they slept at 9:00 p.m.  Four rockets landed inside the village the same hour.  Fifty families fled on foot to neighboring villages: Tutma, one-and-a-half hour away and Cuzina, three hours away.  The attack also injured the boy’s father, Ali Hamed Ahmed, in his head, back and leg, rendering him unable to walk.