Archbishop welcomes 'Faiths Working Together' Fund
Friday 30th January 2009
The Archbishop of Canterbury has today welcomed the launch of the 'Faiths Working Together' Fund for rebuilding civilian lives in Gaza and relieving suffering in Israel through the work of Christian Aid, Islamic Relief and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel.The fund is open to all but has been initiated by the Archbishop with the support of people in the Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities in this country. The DEC has agreed to this additional initiative which has similar aims but which enables people of faith to demonstrate their unity.
Dr Williams said: "We understand the complexity of the situation in the region and we support the rights of Israel to security and self defence and Palestinians to self determination, believing that this can be best achieved through a lasting peace settlement. We cannot, however, stand by in the meantime. We are bound to play our part in the relief of suffering in the region generally and in Gaza in particular at the present time. We are assured that Christian Aid, PHR-Israel and Islamic Relief are able through their existing work to guarantee that funds are used for humanitarian purposes on the basis of need alone regardless of ethnicity, religion or nationality. They have long experience in many parts of the world and are trusted by their local partners. I hope that all people of faith – and all of goodwill – will support this initiative by giving generously and by using all available websites and other resources to contribute and to spread the word"
The software to enable donations to be made from organisations own websites can be downloaded from www.faithsworkingtogether.org
For further information on:
Christian Aid: http://www.christianaid.org.uk/
Islamic Relief: http://www.islamic-relief.com/
PHR-Israel: http://www.phr.org.il/phr/article.asp?articleid=24&catid=51&pcat=51⟨=ENG
The Council of Christians and Jews: "The CCJ welcomes this inspired and unique initiative demonstrating the care and hope that is felt for both Israelis and Palestinians."
The Christian Muslim Forum: "The CMF is deeply committed to face to face dialogue and side by side cooperative action. We strongly support this initiative to enable people from our two faith traditions and others to do all they can for the relief of the profound humanitarian need in this situation."
Further Church of England statements on Gaza: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/socialpublic/international/foreignpolicy/gaza/