Leaders of the World Council of Churches (WCC) have demanded that the Israeli government “stop and reverse” the construction of a barrier being erected “in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
The construction and location of the Israeli barrier is a “violation of the Charter of the United Nations and fundamental principles of international law,” said the WCC executive committee in a statement adopted during a recent meeting in Geneva.
Israel says it is building the 700-kilometre barrier, which cuts across Palestinian territory, to protect its citizens against suicide bombers and terrorist attacks, but Palestinians have said it is a punitive act of land encroachment.
The WCC called on its 342 member churches and ecumenical partners to “condemn the wall as an act of unlawful annexation,” which “should not be recognized by any state.”