Archbishop Appeals for Funds to Help Israeli and Palestinian Christians

Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, presented an appeal earlier this week for individuals to provide funds to Israel in an effort to help support Christian communities.

The archbishop specifies that the funds would be used primarily for aiding the deprived West Bank area.

In his announcement which was made at General Synod's Group of Sessions, Williams expressed the disheartening feeling he endured after his pilgrimage to Israel.

He said, “I returned from a visit to the Holy Land last year with a very, very strong sense that we had to do more to express our solidarity with the Christian communities there.

“I want to appeal today to you, for your support in creating in the near future, a fund with which we might assist projects of community development and work creation, especially among Palestinian Christians.”

A conference will be held next week by Dr. Williams along with the Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, profiling the hardships Christians face in the Holy Land, and the responsibility of more privileged members of the Christian body.

In a video posted on Youtube.com by the archbishops, Nichols states, “People are leaving, Christians are leaving, and we want to say the Christian presence in the Holy Land is important to its balance, to not just its historical reality but to its presence and future viability.”

According to USA Today approximately 200,000 Christians currently reside in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.