wfn.org | Religious leaders talk to Powell about Middle East violence

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 8, 2001      News media contact: Joretta Purdue ·(202)
546-8722·Washington   10-71BP {261}

NOTE: A photograph is available with this report.

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - Secretary of State Colin Powell met with a delegation of
church leaders June 7 to hear their concerns about the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.

The seven clergymen and three staff members delivered a letter in which they
voiced support for Powell's efforts to end the violence and rebuild trust in
this area. Two of the clergy members were United Methodists. The letter was
signed by 26 Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox leaders. 

Their conversation with Powell, scheduled to last 30 minutes, grew to 45.

"We had a very good meeting with the secretary of state," said the group's
leader, Bishop Frank T. Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.
"All of us talked about our concerns," he told news reporters outside the
State Department. 

Griswold said Powell, an active Episcopal layman, was very receptive to the
group. "As he spoke, it was impressively clear how very deeply he has
thought about all the nuances and dimensions of this and how very committed
he is." Several of the clergymen praised Powell as an attentive listener.

The delegation included Episcopal, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Methodist and
Lutheran church people. Their letter was built on experiences some of the
group shared when they were part of an ecumenical group that traveled to
Israel and Palestinian areas last December. United Methodist Bishop William
B. Oden, immediate past president of the denomination's Council of Bishops,
led that delegation.

"The security of Israel is very important to the United States, as is the
freedom of Palestine," Oden said. "These are family members that must live
together. Neither is going to win victory over the other, and peace is the
only option."

The Rev. John McCullough, a United Methodist and director of the National
Council of Churches' Church World Service agency, said Powell asked the
churches to pray and speak out for peace. "And," Griswold added, "to join
with him in an absolute condemning of violence on both sides."

"We spoke to the secretary about use of weapons in this situation,"
McCullough said, "and called for consideration of a suspension on new
weapons being made available to the Israelis because we do feel there is
disproportionate violence in the region." 

Delegation members voiced hope for a cooling-down period that would provide
a greater opportunity for rational discussion and lead to a lasting peace,
he said.

"We are very much concerned about the economic conditions that are
confronting the Palestinian people and the high level of unemployment, which
is now in excess of 70 percent," McCullough added. He added that much of
Palestinian employment has been in service industries, which have been
adversely affected by limitations on movement.

In addition to the seven church leaders who met with Powell, the letter was
signed by 18 others, including Bishop Melvin Talbert, ecumenical officer of
the Council of Bishops, and the Rev. Bob Edgar, top staff executive of the
National Council of Churches. Both are United Methodists.

Powell had read the delegation's letter before their conversation. In the
letter, the church leaders assert that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is
"a cancer that threatens the health of the whole region, U.S. relations with
Arab and Muslim countries, and interfaith relations worldwide."  The writers
said they are praying for and encouraging the work of peace.

"Few things have done more to destroy the hope and pursuit of peace through
negotiations than Israel's unrelenting settlement activity," the church
leaders stated. "Each [U.S.] administration has spoken in opposition to the
settlement activity, only to watch the settlements increase and expand as
Israel ignores the advice."

Griswold noted that delegation members clearly stated how much they deplore
the suicide bombings carried out by young Palestinians. The other members of
the delegation added their agreement. They also voiced concern about their
churches, institutions and humanitarian projects in Palestine, some of which
have been damaged or destroyed by Israel's retaliation, often with U.S.-made
weapons.

Bishop Vicken Aykazian, ecumenical officer for the Armenian Orthodox Church,
reminded the secretary about what is happening to Christians in the area,
Oden said.

Aykazian noted that in 1926, 52 percent of the Palestinians were Christians,
but today the amount is less than 2 percent. 

In the letter, the church leaders expressed concern for both Israelis and
Palestinians. "Although our concern extends to each person suffering from
this conflict, we are extremely worried about our Palestinian Christian
brothers and sisters," they wrote. "Facing daily threats from violence and
economic deprivation and lacking hope for peace and a viable Palestinian
state, many feel the pressure to emigrate."

The church leaders, through the letter and their meeting with Powell, voiced
support for finding a fair means for the world religions that share the
heritage of Abraham - Judaism, Christianity, Islam -- to live equitably in
the land all three consider holy.

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United Methodist News Service
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