News Release

5th January, 2011

Retired bishop swaps the ‘quiet life’ for checkpoints and curfews

Former Bishop of Dover, Richard Llewellin, will be spending three months from the middle of February in Israel/Palestine as a human rights observer.

He will be part of an international team monitoring and reporting human rights violations, offering protection to Palestinian civilians in their daily lives where checkpoints and curfews hinder movement, even to grow food or attend school. He will support Israeli and Palestinian peace activists.

Richard says, "I have visited the Holy Land on a number of occasions, both on study courses and in leading pilgrimages. Now in my retirement I have the opportunity to spend more time simply living amongst some of those in the occupied territories, bringing them encouragement and assuring them that they are not forgotten."

The project, known as The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Palestine and Israel [EAPPI], was set up in response to an appeal by Christian Church leaders in the Holy Land for an international presence in the occupied territories, especially in places and situations where Palestinians feel vulnerable or threatened.

On his return, Richard will be hoping to speak to Church groups and other organisations about his own experiences and what life is like in the occupied territories in order to raise awareness about the difficult situation in Israel/Palestine that diminishes the lives of all who live there.

Ends

Notes to editor:

Richard Llewellin can be contacted on 01227 789515 or by e-mailing him at rllewellin@clara.co.uk

· EAPPI was set up in 2002 by the World Council of Churches. In Britain and Ireland the volunteers are trained by the Quakers

Approximately 23,000 people attend Quaker meetings for worship in Britain

Quakers are known formally as the Religious Society of Friends