Leigh Pastoral Area

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Palestinian children detained by Israeli Authorities

Mohammad Salem Abu Eid was 14 years old when he was detained by Israeli forces in February 2008 and accused of throwing stones at the Separation Wall, which cuts through the Palestinian West Bank. He was beaten, interrogated in the absence of a lawyer and family member, persuaded to sign a confession, prosecuted in a military court and sentenced to four months imprisonment.  Whilst in prison, he received no education and no family visits. 

Mohammad, accompanied by his mother, Sumya, will be speaking about his experiences on a tour of Liverpool, London, Sheffield and Oxford in November 2009.  Also speaking will be: Jihad Alshomali, Juvenile (Justice Coordinator, Defence for Children International Palestine section) and Abdefattah Abusrour (President of Palestinian Theatre League).

Since September 2000, approximately 5,000 Palestinian children under the age of 18 have been arrested by the Israeli authorities in Occupied Palestine. The UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (Article 37b) states: ‘No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily’.

Monday 2nd November, 7.00 – 9.00 pm, at the Quaker Meeting House, School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BT.

Christianity and the BNP

Church Leaders in Birmingham published the following statement in ‘The Birmingham Post’ this week: 

“The BNP sometimes claims it is standing for ‘Christian Britain’.  We refute that wholeheartedly and would like to point out that some churches have stated that BNP membership is incompatible with Christian discipleship.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for all people and, celebrating the international, multi-racial, multi-ethnic nature of our churches we feel our faith in Jesus calls us to positively engage and work with our neighbours of other faith traditions. The BNP has nothing to do with Christianity and many of its hate-filled, fear-generating messages are completely counter to the loving challenge of the Christian gospel.”

Justice & Peace

During Advent, the Archdiocesan Justice & Peace Department will be presenting two evenings in the Pastoral Area on the themes of “Live Simply” and “Climate Change”. The evenings will take place on Monday 30th November and Wednesday 2nd December. The venues for the Justice & Peace evenings have not yet been decided, but there will be a Planning Meeting on Monday 2nd November at St Joseph’s, Leigh, at 7.00 pm, for anyone who would like to be involved in the planning.