wfn.org | Bethlehem 2000 calls for just peace

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Feb. 19, 1999	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York    10-71B{094}

By United Methodist News Service

United Methodists offered a statement in support of a just peace for
Palestinians and Israelis Feb. 18 at the Bethlehem 2000 International
Conference in Rome.

The statement was presented Feb. 18 at the conference, convened by the U.N.
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian
People. The Bethlehem 2000 project is a celebration of the birth of Jesus
Christ and a look to the millenium with a shared hope for global peace.

Liberato Bautista, an executive with the United Methodist Board of Church
and Society, read a statement on behalf of the board's top staff executive,
the Rev. Thom White Wolf Fassett.

"The United Methodist Church has long supported a just peace for
Palestinians and Israelis," the statement said. "To this end, we call for
free and open movement for all peoples and of all religions in and around
Bethlehem."

The statement urged the U.S. government and other governments "to honor
their commitments to peace and justice in the Middle East by strengthening
already available and enforceable peace agreements, particularly in
providing significant economic assistance to the Palestinian people."

It also noted that the 1996 General Conference, the denomination's top
legislative body, affirmed support for the Bethlehem 2000 Initiative and
urged members to visit the Holy Land and meet with indigenous Christians in
the area. 

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