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Preparing for Peace The website of the Westmorland General Meeting 'Preparing for Peace' initiative
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Information card
Jean Mellor and James Moxley are members of a Christian Peacemaker Team of 5 people based in the city of Hebron in Palestine. They come from your local area.
The conflict which is anticipated could take place tomorrow when 200 Palestinians are going to march through the city in protest at the closure of the Il-Ibrahim Mosque by the Israelis. Armed Israeli soldiers will be posted at the Mosque and there is a risk of violence when the marchers arrive at the Mosque.
Christian Peacemaker Team Action will be to come between the soldiers and the marchers if the soldiers raise their weapons. They will explain to both sides that it is a non-violent demonstration. Leaders of the marchers have said they will prevent their people from throwing stones.
Previous action by James’s and Jean’s Team was taken when Palestinian suicide bombers targeted the No 18 bus to Jerusalem on 2 consecutive Sundays. They killed several Israeli civilians. The Team publicized in the media that they would travel on the bus on the next Sunday as a public witness against violence. They did this and there was no further violence on that bus.
The background to Christian Peacemaker Teams was in 1984 at the Mennonite World Conference when Ronald Sider said “Unless we are ready to die developing new non-violent attempts to reduce conflict we should confess that we never really meant that the cross was an alternative to the sword” Within 4 years the Mennonites had joined with the Brethren and the Quakers to form Christian Peacemaker Teams. The Teams have projects all over the world.
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