wfn.org | LWF Urges Churches Worldwide to Press for Israeli Pull Out

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

LWF Urges Churches Worldwide to Press for Israeli Pull Out
from Palestinian Territory
Visit with Egyptian Coptic Church Focuses on Ecumenical Efforts
to Realize Peace

CAIRO, Egypt/GENEVA, 4 April 2002 (LWI) - As religious and
government leaders around the world call for the withdrawal of
Israeli forces from Palestinian territory, the General Secretary
of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko, has
welcomed a statement from the General Lay Council of the Coptic
Orthodox Church of Egypt, urging churches worldwide to "make any
contacts within their power" to help return peace to the Holy
Land.

In the statement issued after an extraordinary session of the
Council presided by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, April 1, the
Coptic church appealed to world churches "to waken international
conscience for the lifting of the continuing siege on the unarmed
and oppressed people of the Holy Land." The Coptic church
comprises over nine million members among the predominantly
Islamic population of 63 million Egyptians.

The call from the Coptic church came days before Egypt-which in
1979 became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with
Israel-said it was suspending all ties with Israel except for
diplomatic relations following the Israeli military siege on
Palestinian territory. Israel says the incursion into West Bank
cities and towns is aimed at dismantling Palestinian terrorist
networks.

Noko, who has just returned from an audience with Pope Shenouda,
April 1-2, said his meeting with the head of the Coptic church,
focussed on, among other things, ecumenical efforts to realize a
return to peace between Israel and Palestine.

Noko encourages LWF member churches and other churches in the
ecumenical movement to continue pressing their governments to put
pressure on Israel to pull out from Palestinian cities and towns
including Ramallah, where Palestinian Authority President Yasser
Arafat remains under siege. He urges Israel to accept the
resolution approved during a United Nations Security Council
emergency session March 30, calling for withdrawal of its forces,
as well as Saudi Arabia's peace proposal to normalize relations
with Arab states in exchange for Israeli withdrawal to borders
before 1967 when it gained control of Palestinian territories.

In separate letters to Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon yesterday, Noko pointed to the rising toll of innocent
civilians on both sides as the conflict escalates.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 133 member churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5
million of the 64.3 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted,
material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the
LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced
with acknowledgment.]

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