Tuesday, February 17, 2009

NEW YORK--The head of a Church World Service partner agency providing emergency and development assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank will discuss Palestinian issues at Ecumenical Advocacy Days, the nation's largest annual gathering of Christian peace and justice activists, set for Mar. 13-16 outside Washington, D.C.

Ramzi Zananiri, executive director of the International Christian Committee-Jerusalem, is scheduled to lead a workshop exploring how environmental changes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories contribute to poverty and food insecurity. He also will discuss the Israel-Palestine water conflict and the importance of fair and just water policies to peace building.

His agency's CWS-supported water cistern program employs local laborers to build cisterns that capture rainwater and makes it accessible for some of the most vulnerable families in the region.

The four-day conference, "Enough for All Creation," will center on the connections between climate change, migration and poverty in the United States and around the world. The annual gathering of faith based advocates will include a series of workshops, lectures and trainings aimed at underscoring the need to share the abundance of the earth in a manner that is fair and just to all.

Other workshops focusing specifically on the Middle East region include in-depth training on lobbying elected officials and the Obama administration on Israeli-Palestinian issues and a workshop on refugees and displacement. Workshops focusing on the regions of Africa, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and the United States also are scheduled.

This year's conference will be held at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center Hotel in Alexandria, Va.

For information and conference registration, visit http://advocacydays.org/

Media Contacts: Lesley Crosson, 212-870-2676 lcrosson@churchworldservice.org Jan Dragin, 24/7, 781-925-1526 jdragin@gis.net