wfn.org | Christians in Holy Land send letter to Powell

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

April 10, 2002  News media contact: Linda Bloom7(212) 870-38037New York
10-21-71B{154}

By United Methodist News Service

Christian communities in the Holy Land have sent an open letter to U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, stressing the urgent need for resolving the
conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.

Those signing the letter included Bob May, a United Methodist missionary,
and the Rev. Mary Lawrence, a United Methodist pastor working with the
Christian Peacemaker Team. Predominantly American, the signers were members
of English-speaking Christian communities and have been living in Israel and
the occupied Palestinian territories for periods ranging from six months to
20 years.

Powell is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in
Jerusalem on April 12 and with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on April 13.

"All members of our Christian communities unequivocally condemn and reject
terrorism and violence as a means of advancing the political cause of the
Palestinians and fully recognize the right of the Israeli people to live in
peace and security in their own state," the letter said. "Our experience
here also helps us understand why, in their desperation, some young
Palestinians see no other options available to them and nothing for them to
live for."

The letter urged neither a military or terrorist solution to the conflict
but one already expressed by Powell, President Bush, Crown Prince Abdullah
of Saudi Arabia and various resolutions of the United Nations.

"The U.S. government has been a proponent of a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict," it continued. "Now is the time for the U.S.
government to operate within the rubric of the United Nations and finalize a
settlement to this conflict in accordance with Resolutions 242, 338 and
1397."

In an April 9 e-mail message, the Rev. Alex Awad, a United Methodist
missionary, pointed out that the continuing conflict could drive out the
dwindling number of Christians in the Holy Land, particularly after the
destruction in Bethlehem and the siege at the Church of the Nativity there.
The Christian population already has shrunk from 17 percent of Palestinians
in 1948 to an estimated 2 percent today.

"Christian families who never thought of leaving the country will now seek a
way out, thus endangering the very presence of Christianity in the city that
witnessed the birth of Christ," he wrote.

Awad, who lives in Beit Safafa but serves as dean of students at Bethlehem
Bible College, said he found it hard to describe the physical damage to
Bethlehem.

"Two years ago, European governments contributed millions of dollars to
renovate Bethlehem and prepare it for the millennium celebrations," he
noted. "Now, Israeli tanks have razed homes, traffic lights, cars and
anything else that stood in their way. A Palestinian couple was in their car
when a tank went over it."

In his e-mail, Awad asked friends and prayer partners to call for a peaceful
end to the stalemate in Bethlehem and to work diligently for peace and
justice in the region. "If we don't do our task," he wrote, "the Herods and
the suicide bombers will do theirs."

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United Methodist News Service
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