wfn.org | Browning calls for return to Middle

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org]

September 27, 1996
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

96-1575
Browning calls for return to Middle East peace
process

     (ENS) Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning of the
Episcopal Church urged the government of Israel and
the Palestinian Authority to reverse the escalating
spiral of violence that has erupted in Jerusalem,
Gaza and the West Bank in recent days.
     In a statement issued September 27, Browning
implored the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to "end
the tragic outbreak of violence," and he called on
both sides to "demonstrate their resolve to end the
current stalemate."
     The leaders "could lose control of events," he
warned, "unless there is dramatic movement on a swift
return to the peace process." To demonstrate that
movement, "more will be required than another
handshake," he said. "The peace process has to move
from posturing to substance."
     Gunfights broke out between Israelis and
Palestinians after the opening of a second entrance
to an archeological tunnel in the Muslim quarter of
Jerusalem, September 24. Browning appealed to the
Israeli government to close the entrance, which he
called the most recent in a series of provocative
actions that have "inflamed passions not seen since
the intifada." Among those Israeli actions are ending
a four-year freeze on construction in Jewish
settlements in the West Bank, "a demand to shut down
Palestinian offices in Jerusalem, and continued
refusal to withdraw from Hebron," he said.
"Confiscations and demolitions of Arab land in and
around Jerusalem also continue."
     Browning urged the United States as principal
sponsor of the peace talks to encourage both sides to
return to negotiations, especially over the future of
Jerusalem. "There will be no peace and no justice
unless the aspirations of Jews, Muslims and
Christians are respected," he said.
     Browning concluded, "I join in expressing my
grief for all those who have died or been wounded in
the current violence. My prayers are with them and
their families. The victims are on both sides."
     A frequent visitor to the area, Browning has
made the search for peace in the Middle East a
cornerstone of his tenure as presiding bishop. The
library at St. George's College in Jerusalem is named
for him and his wife, Patti