wfn.org | Delegates want Middle East Peace

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (2881 notes).

Note 2880 by SUSAN PEEK on April 19, 1996 at 19:02 Eastern (4227 characters).

017 {2891}                                          April 19, 1996

SEARCH: Lebanon, Middle East, Palestinian, Israeli

General Conference '96

General Conference delegates issue statement 
on violence in Lebanon; remember Oklahoma City bombing

     DENVER (UMNS) -- On the fourth day of the 1996 United
Methodist General Conference, here, delegates condemned the
escalating cycles of violence in the Middle East and authorized
sending a delegation to the White House to express the church's
desire for peace and justice in that part of the world.

     The conference also remembered the first anniversary of the
April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing by standing in a moment of
silent tribute to the memory of 168 people who died, the grief of
the survivors and the service of those who helped. 

     The delegates also requested the General Conference secretary
to fax a message to Ron Norrick, mayor of Oklahoma City, and the
people of that community, conveying words of comfort on behalf of
United Methodists worldwide.   

      Delegates learned that while they were conducting church
business on April 18, nearly 100 people -- mostly women and
children -- were killed in Lebanon when Israeli bombs fell on a
refugee camp and a U.N. peacekeeping area. "This civilian massacre
is just another cycle of violence in a land hungry for peace,"
said the Rev. Randy Day of New York.

     In a show of solidarity with the people of Lebanon, West Ohio
Bishop Judith Craig, who visited the Middle East representing the
Council of Bishops in 1994, read a statement to the conference on
the crisis in Lebanon and the occupation of Palestine.

     She told of the difficulty understanding the complexities of
"centuries old entities raging in the little land we call 'holy.'"
She said she believes "we must continue to be a voice that cries
for a just peace."

     The violence surrounding South Lebanon has risen to
"heartbreaking" levels, Craig said. "We are appalled" at the
levels of Israel's assaults on Lebanon. Though the Israelis called
their response to Lebanon "self-defense," Craig said, it "is not a
legitimate justification" to drive 400,000 people from their homes
or to attack power plants critical to the civilian infrastructure.

     The statement challenged the church to speak out about the
Palestinian people's attempt to survive in the midst of ongoing
turmoil -- confiscation of Palestinian lands; and sealing or
demolishing Palestinian homes. It mentioned the continued
growth of Israeli settlement communities in the West Bank and East
Jerusalem and the construction of by-pass roads that isolate
Palestinian towns and villages.

     In the last 50 years, suffering of the Palestinian people
"has become more acute" with the suicide bombings in Jerusalem,
Ashkelon and Tel Aviv. "It is as if the Oslo Peace Accords had
never been signed," Craig said.

     The statement called for:
     * protection of children, youth and other civilians;
     * return to normalcy for people who have been refugees or
subjugated in their own land for the past three generations;
     * freedom of Christians, Jews and Muslims to practice their
faiths in the city which is holy to the three major monotheistic
religions of the world; and
     * increased efforts to assure geographic, economic and
political security necessary for Israelis, Palestinians and
Lebanese to co-exist.

     "We join our Christian sisters and brothers of the faith who
are indigenous to Palestine, Lebanon and Israel ... in our call
for a just peace and a free life for all residents and all those
who govern them in the Middle East," Craig concluded.

     After Craig's remarks, delegates voted to send a delegation,
headed by Bishop Woodie White of Indianapolis, president of the
Council of Bishops, to meet with President Bill Clinton and Vice
President Al Gore to share the statement of the 1996 General
Conference on the Crisis in Lebanon and Occupation of Palestine.

     Delegates also heard from Bishop Peter Dabale of Nigeria,
Africa, about the atrocities in that country.
     
                               # # #
                                                  -- Linda Green
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