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[LWF] Lutheran World Federation statement on Arafat


From Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>
Date Fri, 12 Nov 2004 16:13:53 -0800

Lutheran World Federation
Geneva

http://www.lutheranworld.org

Statement by
Bishop Mark Hanson, President
and Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, General Secretary
The Lutheran World Federation
11 November 2004

Yasser Arafat was a man who will be remembered in radically
different and often contradictory ways. For many, he was the
personification of the Palestinian struggle for
self-determination and independence, a freedom-fighter, an
heroic leader, a father figure. For others he was an
implacable foe, an obstacle to peace. For Palestinian
Christians, he was a strong supporter of their religious
rights and freedoms, and always attentive to their place and
their importance in the Holy Land. Time will probably not
reconcile these divergent views. But whatever opinion one may
hold of Yasser Arafat, his death removes from the scene an
indisputably pivotal figure in the political landscape of the
Middle East. His 40 year domination of the Palestinian polity
outlasted successive generations of leaders in most other
parts of the world. The brief moment of hope, when he and
Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin signed the Declaration of
Principles agreement in Washington in September 1993, was
tragically obscured in a welter of attacks and
counter-attacks and a long final confinement in the
Palestinian Authority compound in Ramallah.

Yasser Arafat's death is a seismic event in both Palestinian
and Israeli history, the consequences of which are
unpredictable. However, opportunity as well as risk
invariably accompanies such a change. In this new era in the
entangled history of Israelis and Palestinians in the Holy
Land, a renewed and active commitment by leaders of both
communities to dialogue instead of violence can yet bring
peace to a land wracked by conflict. Israelis and
Palestinians must together find a way to peace - a genuine
peace that is secured by justice, mutual acceptance and
reconciliation. They must find a way to break the mutually
self-destructive cycle of violence. Both peoples share a
land, a heritage and a promise. For the children of Abraham,
both Israelis and Palestinians, there is no alternative to
peaceful co-existence.

We pray that God will loosen hatred's grip on human hearts,
and that God's peace will descend on the land of Christ's
birth. We pray that Israelis and Palestinians will work
together for peace. We call on the Palestinian leadership and
the Government of Israel to grasp the opportunity for change
and for a return to dialogue. And we call on the Government
of the United States of America, the other members of the
'Quartet', and all members of the international community to
re-engage in the search for peace in Israel-Palestine and to
accompany its peoples and their leaders on the path to peace.

In this time of uncertainty, we pray for the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Jordan, its bishop Munib Younan, and all
its members in Israel-Palestine. We pray that they will
continue to be strengthened for their witness and mission,
and for their role as bridge-builders and peace-makers. And
we pray for the essential humanitarian work of the LWF in
Jerusalem and the West Bank, for the staff that carry it out,
and for the people and communities they serve.


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