12th, November 2012
Represented by Rima Qumsieh, the JAI Palestine Youth Ecumenical Movement (PYEM) participated in a conference entitled "the Islamic and Christian Dialogue", which was organized by the WSCF/ Middle East and held in Egypt – Shobra Al-Khimeh from the 8th until the 11th of November, 2012.
35 participants attended the conference from five different Arab countries: Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Sudan. The conference shed lights on many topics that were related to the similarities and differences between the religions and the denominations in both Islam and Christianity in the Arab countries, and also was a good space for seeking and discussing the ways of having peaceful coexistence and advocating human rights for all.
During the conference, Rima reflected on the political situation in Palestine, especially in the West Bank. She demonstrated that we as Palestinians are still having some differences between each others, but this is meaningless when we're having a common national Palestinian covenant and aspirations. The Palestinian Kairos Document was also mentioned as a good example for a recent standing for all against the occupation.
During the conference the participants had the chance to meet Christian and Islamic religious leaders who showed much support for this conference.