wfn.org | [ENS]Griswold joins religious leaders in new effort for Middle

["Episcopal News Service" <ens@epicom.org>]

Title:[ENS]Griswold joins religious leaders in new effort for Middle East
peace

by James Solheim 

031222-1 

12/22/2003  

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold joined 32 other
Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders in announcing a new collaborative effort
to mobilize broad public support in the pursuit of peace in the Middle East. 
In letters to President George W. Bush and members of the Congress, the
religious leaders are calling on the administration to make peace in the
Middle East a high priority, warning that if the Road Map is allowed to
fail, Israelis and Palestinians will sink even deeper into cycles of
violence, jeopardizing the prospect of a two-state solution, escalating
regional instability, undermining the global campaign against terrorism, and
threatening vital U.S. national security interests.

The religious leaders endorsed four steps that could renew momentum on the
Road Map, the Bush administrations incremental peace plan that includes
establishing a Palestinian state. First step would be a call for an end to
all acts of violence and a renewed effort to work for a ceasefire. Second,
keeping a visibly active special presidential envoy in the region, followed
by more specific steps by the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority, with a
timetable and vigorous monitoring. Finally, support for benchmark ideas for
possible peace agreements from earlier negotiations and initiatives such as
the Geneva Accord, an unofficial plan signed December 1 that is drawing
support.

Details on the initiative are available at www.walktheroadtopeace.org

-- James Solheim is director of Episcopal News Service.