PRAYERS FOR PEACEMAKERS, Aug. 31, 2011

Pray for the Kurdish people of northern Iraq. Turkey has now begun bombing runs into their territory with several killed and hundreds displaced already. Meanwhile Iran continues to shell the Kurds in north-eastern Iraq.

Doug Pritchard

Christian Peacemaker Teams

Toronto, Canada 

At 4:00 p.m. on 30 August 2011, Israeli soldiers detained six boys, ages five to nine, in Hebron’s Old City under the suspicion of intending to harm the soldiers with their toy guns.  The soldiers brought the children to the military compound at Bab il Baladiyye by the entrance of the old city.  

Members of Christian Peacemaker Teams observed as the soldiers detained the children for forty minutes before releasing them.  At one point the soldiers brought them into the compound to have their toy guns examined by military police officers.  This investigation took place just a couple of hours after the soldiers entered the souq (Old City market area) and held several groups of young boys based on the same suspicion.

Christian Peacemaker Teams is seeking staff for its two project sites in Palestine, one in the southern West Bank city of Hebron (Al-Khalil) and the other twenty-five kilometers (fifteen miles) further south in the village of At-Tuwani.  For the past few months, these teams have experienced staff shortages.

Tarek Abuata, CPT Palestine project support coordinator urges prospective CPTers, “People living in Middle Eastern countries are demanding peace and justice.  New members of CPT’s Palestine team can become part of that movement by joining a project that has for seventeen years supported Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation, and helped to create a space for peace and justice to grow.”

The foreign and Colombian media are portraying Colombia as a nation at peace while it hosts the FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) U-20 games.  Unfortunately, the media are glossing over some of violent episodes that have occurred over the last week.  Below are a few examples, mostly from the regions where CPT’s Colombia team works:

PRAYERS FOR PEACEMAKERS, Aug. 24, 2011

Give thanks that the Ontario (Canada) Superior Court of Justice has now ruled, ten years after the case began, that the Ontario Government has indeed violated the treaty rights of the people of Grassy Narrows First Nation.

Doug Pritchard

Christian Peacemaker Teams

Chicago, USA

 For the last five years, CPT has accompanied persons who have annually for the past five years been displaced from their village homes on the Iran/Iraq border.  Formerly a rich agricultural region, now it has become a battleground where Iranian military forces use artillery, tank shells, rockets, and helicopter strafing to repel PJAK (The Party of Free Life in Kurdistan) armed forces seeking to protect Kurdish culture inside Iran.

 Accepted into the Federation
On 20 July, the team received notice that the Federation of Civil Society Organizations, a local group of NGOs and individuals who work together to promote justice and peace, had accepted CPT Iraq as a member.

 Trip to the Iran Border
On 28 July, the team traveled to the village of Kani Spi, where team members Peggy Gish and Lukasz Firla stayed during 9-16 June to accompany the villagers during the growing season, when Iran annually bombs and shells the area.  The team had not been able to get permission to return until this trip.  Read about the Iranian attacks on Kurdish villages and the team’s visit to Kani Spi.  To write to the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, H. E. Mr. Mohammed Khazee, to ask him to do what he can to stop the attacks on Iraqi Kurdish villages send an e-mail to: iran@un.int, with a copy to the UN Human Rights Council, civilsociety@ohchr.org. 

PRAYERS FOR PEACEMAKERS, Aug. 17, 2011

Pray for Palestinians seeking shelter in their own land. Israeli occupation forces continue to deny Palestinians the right to build houses while approving new housing for Israelis on stolen Palestinian land.

Doug Pritchard

Christian Peacemaker Teams

Chicago, USA 

by Mel Southworth

A couple months ago, I gave a presentation to a grade eight English class, on the work of CPT and the Israel/Palestine conflict.  I tried to describe the situation there in a way they could relate to using the following scenario:

One year ago, a boy brought a knife to school and immediately after the incident, the principal released a statement to the media that he would increase security measures at the school.  Days later, the school administration decreed that all boys must go through a newly installed metal detector before they could enter the school building. Today, the screening process can take up to three hours; school starts at eight o’clock.  Girls do not have to go through the detector; they can enter through the back.  The administration also mandated that boys and girls must attend separate classes and if a girl is suspicious of a boy, she is allowed to request that a teacher search him for weapons.

14 August 2011
I just wanted to update you shortly on the situation here in Jeju.  We arrived two days ago and have met many amazing, brave, and vibrant people.  Gangjeong is also filled with posters, signs, paints, sculpture, and art protesting the naval base.  There is a true community of peace here in the midst of this terrible conflict.

However, things are about to get bad soon.  Six hundred to seven hundred new riot police officers have arrived from Seoul.  This puts the total at as many as 1,600 riot police.  Most of them are not here now, but they are a twenty-minute drive away, probably preparing for their action.  They have brought with them three water cannon vehicles and other riot dispersal equipment.