Episcopal News Service January 31, 2007
Presiding Bishop, religious leaders address Israeli/Palestinian peacemaking in meeting with Condoleezza Rice
By Maureen Shea
[ENS] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori joined five Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders from the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East (NILI) in a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice January 29 to discuss the Israeli/Palestinian situation. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns and Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom John Hanford IV also participated in the meeting.
"The timing was particularly important in light of Secretary Rice's meeting February 2 with the 'Quartet' -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- that is to be followed by talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders," Jefferts Schori said. "Despite a very difficult year for Palestinians and Israelis, it is significant that 35 U.S. religious leaders, affiliated with more than two dozen Jewish, Christian and Muslim national organizations, are calling for the United States to make peace in the Middle East an urgent priority and to provide creative, determined leadership for building that peace."
Jefferts Schori was referring to the 35 religious leaders who wrote (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3654_81283_ENG_HTM.htm) to Rice December 12 asking for a meeting with her to discuss the "urgent situation in the Middle East" and calling on the United States to make peace in the region an "urgent priority."
The group that met with Rice asked her to engage in bold, consistent U.S. leadership for peace in the Middle East -- leadership that supports and challenges both Israelis and Palestinians, noting that it would require ongoing and active high level engagement, with appointment of a special envoy to help hold both sides accountable in a step-by-step peace process.
The leaders committed themselves to build public support for peace in their communities, knowing that there are difficult and necessary steps on the road to a two-state solution.
"This was a substantive and hopeful meeting in which we recognized that sometimes it is out of great despair that we are able to come together and then move forward," Jefferts Schori said. "But as Cardinal [Theodore] McCarrick told the press: 'The real measure of the success of our meeting can only be taken in the coming weeks and months as actions and events unfold.'"
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_81865_ENG_HTM.htm
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