wfn.org | Delegation returns from Middle East committed to peace

["NCC News" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

Trip to Israel and Palestine showed 'Christians
and Jews can work together to achieve peace'

New York, September 23, 2005 -- Sixteen Jewish and Christian leaders returned
today from a week-long trip to Israel and Palestine, September 18-23, with
members expressing the conviction that "we have demonstrated that Christians
and Jews can work together to seek peace even when there is disagreement on
specific policies and solutions."
  
"As a result of these days," delegation members said, "we will now be even
more effective advocates for a secure, viable and independent Palestinian
state alongside an equally secure State of Israel, affirming the historic
links that both the Jewish People and the Palestinian People have to the
land."
 
Delegation members returned promising "to mobilize each of our communities of
faith ... in a concerted effort to bring reconciliation and peace to Israelis
and Palestinians alike."

"That Jewish and Christian leaders representing their denominations and
organizations are going on this trip together is in itself a significant
statement of trust and hope," said Dr. Shanta Premawardhana, National Council
of Churches USA Associate General Secretary for Interfaith Relations, when
the journey began.
 
"Many of us have been there before and have seen the realities on the ground
and met people who are suffering as well as the religious and political
dignitaries. The difference this time is that we are hoping to see and hear
with the eyes and ears of the other, those same realities and voices. We are
hopeful that the trip will help transform us and our dialogue table."
 
A photograph of Palestinian spokeswoman Dr. Hanan Ashrawi and Dr.
Premawardhana can be downloaded at www.ncccusa.org/Ashrawi.html

Christian and Jewish leaders who made the journey are:

Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, Director of Interfaith Affairs of the
Anti-Defamation League; Vidette Bullock Mixon, Director, Corporate Relations,
General Board of Pension and Health Benefits, United Methodist Church; Dr.
David Elcott, U.S. Director, Interreligious Affairs of The American Jewish
Committee; Ethan Felson, Director, Domestic Concerns  of the Jewish Council
for Public Affairs Richard Foltin, Legislative Director and Counsel of The
American Jewish Committee; Dennis Frado, Director, Lutheran Office for World
Community, Evangelical Lutheran Church In America; Rev. Canon Brian Grieves,
Director, Peace & Justice Ministries, The Episcopal Church; and Dr. Darrell
H. Jodock, Chair, Consultative Panel on Lutheran-Jewish Relations,
Evangelical Lutheran Church In America.

Also, Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn, Director of Jewish Affairs of The American
Jewish Congress; Dr. Peter Makari, Executive for the Middle East and Europe
of the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ);
Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana, Associate General Secretary for Interfaith
Relations, National Council of Church; Rev. John E. Roberts, Alliance of
Baptists; Rev. Dr. Jay Rock, Coordinator for Interfaith Relations,
Presbyterian Church (USA); Emily Soloff, Executive Director, Chicago Chapter
of The American Jewish Committee; Mark Waldman, Director of Public Policy,
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism; and Jim Winkler, General Secretary,
General Board of Church & Society of The United Methodist Church.

The full text of the delegations' statement follows:

JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN LEADERS ON MISSION OF PEACE TO JERUSALEM
  
Leaders of the mainline Protestant Christian and Jewish communities of the
United States have been working for over a year constructively to address
issues that concern the two communities, of which the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is among the most serious. Standing on the rich tradition of working
together to address questions of social justice, sixteen of these leaders
representing eight Christian denominations and national organizations and six
national Jewish organizations and religious movements spent the past five
days together in this land that is holy to all Abrahamic faiths. 

We came to see and we came to listen -- and to try to understand the human
dimensions of an unholy situation in a land most holy.	We each encountered
the voices of individuals, organizations and officials that we had never
heard before.  In session after session, we confronted the realities on the
ground and gained new understandings of, and an appreciation for, the deep
complexities of the conflicts that consume Israelis, Palestinians and us
alike.
  
As representatives of mainline Protestant Churches and the American Jewish
community, we have demonstrated that Christians and Jews can work together to
seek peace even when there is disagreement on specific policies and
solutions.  As a result of these days, we will now be even more effective
advocates for a secure, viable and independent Palestinian state alongside an
equally secure State of Israel, affirming the historic links that both the
Jewish People and the Palestinian People have to the land.
  
Upon our return, we are committed to: 

- Deepen our engagement with each other and expand the number of Jews and
Protestants committed to interfaith dialogue on the local level as advocates
for peace.

- Mobilize each of our communities of faith across the United States in a
concerted effort to bring reconciliation and peace to Israelis and
Palestinians alike.

- Together, we seek to mobilize elected officials and our American fellow
citizens on behalf of a negotiated peace settlement.
  
- Effectively support those Palestinians and Israelis who are courageously
working for reconciliation and a two-state solution with concrete actions
that will help sustain their work.

A trip that started from many different places has brought us closer together
in hope and faith.  While there were many difficult moments, our trust in
each other deepened.  We sustain hope and faith in each other as agents of
peace. We affirm hope and faith in our two religious communities as partners
and advocates for a two-state solution.  We also have a renewed hope and
faith in the future of this holy land and these two peoples. 

On this day, we together affirm our partnership with God in bringing about
justice, compassion and peace. 

The Jewish and Protestant leaders who made this journey represent the
Alliance of Baptists, American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress,
the Anti-Defamation League, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the
Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Jewish Council
for Public Affairs, National Council of Churches of Christ, Presbyterian
Church (USA), Religious Action Center of the Union of Reform Judaism, United
Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism.
 
Contact NCC News, Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2252, pjenks@ncccusa.org