From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org


[ENS] Ecumenical delegation raise concerns on Middle East visit


From "Matthew Davies" <mdavies@mail.epicom.org>
Date Fri, 4 Mar 2005 13:47:49 -0500

Daybook, from Episcopal News Service

February 7, 2005 - Monday Mission

Ecumenical delegation raise concerns on Middle East visit

(A photograph accompanying this article can be found online at:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_58133_ENG_HTM.htm )

[ENS] "Don't forget us: we are your brothers and sisters" was the plea
heard
by an 11-member delegation of the National Council of Churches of Christ
in
the USA to the Middle East, January 21 to February 4, 2005. At the
invitation of their sister organization, the Middle East Council of
Churches, and headed by NCC president, Christian Methodist Episcopal
Bishop
Thomas Hoyt, Jr., and NCC general secretary Robert Edgar, the group
visited
Christian, Muslim, and Jewish leaders, from Beirut, Lebanon to Cairo,
Egypt
and from Bethlehem to Jerusalem in Palestine and Israel.

Initially scheduled because of potentially hopeful developments in the
Middle East, with the passing of Yassar Arafat, the election of Mahmoud
Abbas, Ariel Sharon's plans to disengage from settlements in Gaza, and
the
inauguration of a second term for U.S. President George Bush, the group
experienced hope, but certainly not optimism, from Christian brothers
and
sisters in the region.

"Of all my trips to the Middle East over more than twenty-five years,"
said
Edgar, "this was in many ways the saddest. Yet, Christians must always
be
people of hope."

Bishop Christopher Epting, representing the Episcopal Church as the
Presiding Bishop's deputy for ecumenical and interfaith relations,
observed,
"For people whose hopes have been dashed so many times, it is very
difficult
to be optimistic. We met with Latin and Orthodox Patriarchs, Muslim
sheiks,
Jewish rabbis, interfaith groups, U.S. State Department officials, as
well
as members of both the Israeli and Palestinian governments and they all
stressed the importance of the United States' renewed involvement and
the
need for U.S. churches to stand in solidarity with Christians in the
Middle
East at this time."

Professor Hanan Ashrawi, an Anglican and a former elected member of the
Palestinian Authority, and an Anglican, after a sober analysis of the
facts
on the ground in Israel and Palestine said that, nonetheless, she placed
her
hopes in "the resilience and faith of the Palestinian people and
communications' technologies of today which make it less likely that
people
will have to suffer in silence and more likely that their stories can be
told and heard around the world."

"That," agreed Epting, "is part of our task."

Standing near the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, the delegation
released a statement summarizing much of what they saw and recommending,
among other things, an end to violence on all sides, support for the
two-state solution guaranteeing Israel's right to exist within secure
borders, and a viable and democratic state of Palestine alongside
Israel.
Toward those ends, the group called on President Bush to appoint a
credible
special envoy to the Middle East to give full attention to peace and
justice, congratulated President Abbas on his election and Prime
Minister
Sharon on his plans to begin pulling settlements out of the Gaza Strip.

Concerns remain about the ongoing building of Israeli settlements around
Jerusalem and the West Bank and the "Separation Barrier" which, in many
places, is not built along the agreed-upon "green line," but involves
the
confiscation of Palestinian land, cutting off families from one another,
from access to places of employment, and especially from health care
facilities. A Palestinian state, existing as a series of "islands"
separated
by walls, tunnels, and housing units, does not appear to be economically
or
politically viable.

"While we don't believe, finally, that 'fences make good neighbors,'"
said
Epting, "like any other nation, Israel has a right to build a barrier if
it
chooses. It should simply not be built on other people's land. Steps
must be
taken to reverse this practice. And sooner rather than later."

More than anything else, the trip was to express solidarity with
Christians
in the region. Worship experiences included observances of the Week of
Prayer for Christian Unity in a Maronite Church in Beirut and St.
George's
(Anglican) Cathedral in East Jerusalem. The delegation also had an
audience
with Pope Shenouda of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo and attended
his
weekly Bible study in the Cathedral, there joining some 8,000 Christians
from many different Christian communions for this weekly event.

The delegation's full statement and other information concerning the
trip
should be available soon on the National Council of Churches' website
www.ncccusa.org.


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