Title: ELCA and Episcopal Bishops Call for U.S. Diplomatic Intervention in Gaza ELCA NEWS SERVICE
June 30, 2006
ELCA and Episcopal Bishops Call for U.S. Diplomatic Intervention in Gaza 06-089-AL*
WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), joined the Rev. Frank Griswold, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, in a letter appealing to President Bush to do everything possible to calm the crisis in Gaza.
In retaliation for the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian gunmen June 25, Israel has launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip in Palestine, which resulted in the destruction of bridges and the only power plant in Gaza. An estimated 700,000 Palestinians are currently without power, and engineers estimate it will take three months to restore it.
"We condemn the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier and pray for his safe return," said Hanson and Griswold in a letter to President Bush. "We recognize the grief this brings to all Israelis, but we cannot accept the response which punishes all Palestinians in Gaza."
Hanson and Griswold specifically noted the destruction of a power plant as "further (escalation of) the mounting humanitarian crisis" in Palestine. "Our churches and institutions there are filled with anguish as they try to meet the needs of Palestinians - whether Christian or Muslim," they said in the letter.
Hanson and Griswold urged the president to use the United States' "long friendship with Israel to find a diplomatic solution which will not further impoverish and burden ordinary Palestinians."
Both the ELCA and The Episcopal Church also expressed the urgency of the situation in Gaza through a June 29 letter written by Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), a coalition of which both denominations are members.
In letters to Michael Doran at the National Security Council and Assistant Secretary of State C. David Welch, the executive committee of CMEP characterized the destruction of Gaza's power plant and bridges as "acts of collective punishment that have resulted in tremendous suffering by ordinary Palestinian people."
"The mediating efforts of (Egyptian) President Hosni Mubarak and the call by the foreign ministers, including (U.S.) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, of the Group of Eight nations are important and appreciated, but this is not adequate," said the CMEP letter. "The United States, as Israel's closest ally, must work closely with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz (of Israel) and insist that they restrain their military response and work with (Palestinian National Authority) President Mahmoud Abbas to find a diplomatic resolution to the crisis."
CMEP endorses the statement of the Middle East Council of Church's Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees that "a diplomatic solution would spare not only the lives of the kidnapped soldier and of countless others but would [also] preserve what is left of the Palestinian infrastructure." - - -
The text of the letter from bishops of the ELCA and The Episcopal Church is available at http://www.ELCA.org/advocacy/issues/middleeast/06-06-30- president_letter.html on the ELCA Website.
Information about ELCA ministries in the Middle East is available at www.ELCA.org/middleeast on the Internet.
Information on ELCA advocacy is available at www.ELCA.org/advocacy on the Internet. *Annie Lynsen is the director for grassroots advocacy and communication, ELCA Washington Office.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog