wfn.org | DNS - Church leaders urge Clinton to stand for shared Jerusalem

["Wilma Shuffitt"<wshuffit@oc.disciples.org>]

     Title: Church leaders urge Clinton to stand for shared
     Jerusalem
     Date: May 12, 1998
     Disciples News Service
     Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
     Contact: Clifford L. Willis
     Email: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
     on the Web: www.disciples.org
     
     98b-27
     
         WASHINGTON, D.C. (DNS) -- With another Middle
     East peace summit still in question, 20 Christian leaders sent an
     open letter to President Bill Clinton calling upon him to redouble
     efforts "to achieve a negotiated peace in the Middle East."
     
          Baptist, Catholic, Disciples of Christ, Orthodox and
     other church leaders asked Clinton, May 8, to work for a peace
     "where  . . .  the Jewish people no longer fear for their existence
     {and} the Palestinian people can gather their refugees to live with
     dignity and security in their own democratic state."  Among those
     signing the letter was the Rev. Richard L. Hamm, general
     minister and president, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). 
      
         The letter urges Clinton to "stand for a Jerusalem that is
     shared by its two peoples {Palestinians and Israelis} and by three
     religious communities {Jewish, Christian, Muslim}." The
     Christian leaders contend that the goal of  "a warm peace"
     between Israel and its Arab neighbors can only be achieved in the
     context of a shared Jerusalem.  It is "essential" that the two
     peoples who call Jerusalem their home and capital openly
     negotiate its future.
     
         "Representatives of the three Abrahamic religions must
     also have a role in shaping the ultimate resolution of issues
     affecting historic Jerusalem and the commitment of the
     international community to guaranteeing the living presence of
     the three religious communities in the Holy City," the leaders told
     Clinton.
     
         The letter stated that peace is not the reality of Jerusalem
     today. "If there is to be universal and whole-hearted celebration
     of the creation of the State of Israel this year, the reality of the
     dislocation and suffering experienced by the Palestinian people
     must be acknowledged, and questions of restitution,
     self-determination (statehood) and a just peace" need to be
     addressed and resolved openly.
     
         In 1997 the Disciples General Assembly and the United
     Church of Christ General Synod  asked the two churches "to
     undertake an examination of their understanding of the
     significance of Jerusalem in their theologies, their interreligious
     relations, and their practice of tourism and pilgrimage in and to
     the Holy Land." 
     
         Disciples General Minister and President Richard L.
     Hamm and President Paul H. Sherry, United Church of Christ
     also signed onto a late 1997 appeal to President Clinton for peace
     in Jerusalem.
     
         The letter also is signed by principal leaders of American
     Baptist Churches, USA; American Friends Service Committee;
     Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America;
     Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs;  Church of the
     Brethren; The Episcopal Church; The Evangelical Lutheran
     Church in America; Friends Committee on National Legislation
     (Quakers); Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers; Mennonite Central
     Committee; Missionaries of Africa; National Council of the
     Churches of Christ in the USA; Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.);
     Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.; Reformed Church
     in America; Roman Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of
     Men's Institutes; Unitarian Universalist Association of
     Congregations; United Church of Christ; The United Methodist
     Church.
     
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