A UMNS photo by Antonios Kireopoulos A member of the National Council of Churches delegation takes a photo of the separation wall in Bethlehem.

As Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority prepared to meet in Egypt, U.S. church leaders called upon the U.S. government to take immediate "balanced, strategic action" to help bring peace to that region.

"Our conclusion is that a sliver of hope for peace does exist, but we feel strongly the moment must be seized now or the future will remain dim," the ecumenical leaders said in a statement released Feb. 7.

Led by the Rev. Robert Edgar, a United Methodist pastor and chief executive of the National Council of Churches, and Christian Methodist Episcopal Bishop Thomas Hoyt Jr., NCC president, the 11-member delegation traveled Jan. 21-Feb. 4 from Beirut to Cairo, Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

Hosted by the Middle East Council of Churches and individual partner churches, the delegation met with Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders as well as missionaries, intellectuals and political officials from the United States, Israel and Palestine.

After eight days in Israel and the Palestinian territories, members of the NCC delegation offered a bleaker perspective than that expressed by new U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Visiting Israel Feb. 6, Rice proclaimed the current situation as "a time of optimism" in the Middle East, the New York Times reported.

Delegation members who had been there before, such as Edgar and Jim Winkler, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, considered the trip "our saddest journey to the Holy Land."

A UMNS photo by Antonios Kireopoulos Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt Jr. (left) and the Rev. Robert Edgar visit a fence in Bethlehem built by Israelis to restrict Palestinian movement.

The result is that Palestinians have difficulty reaching schools, hospitals, farmlands and even family homes. "It is truly separating parents from kids and spouses from one another," Winkler said.

Confinement caused by the wall — compounded by checkpoints, gates and a network of roads open only to Israeli settlers, police and the military — offers the potential for disaster, Edgar believes. "If the powers that be want to increase humiliation and frustration of the Palestinians, they’re doing a very good job of it," he noted.

The delegation’s statement reaffirmed "strong support" for Israel and its right to live in peace and security, acknowledging that Israelis have suffered "from a long series of suicide bombings, which we find reprehensible."

But the group had problems with the building of a barrier on Palestinian land to protect settlements that need to be removed to achieve a two-state solution. "Like any other nation, Israel has the right to build a barrier; however, one people’s barrier should not be built on the land of another people," the statement said. "We call for the removal of the separation barrier from Palestinian territory."

The church leaders pointed out that the 1993 peace agreement stipulated the Palestinians receive 22 percent of the territory that once included Israel, the West Bank and Gaza to create their own state.

Now, with the building of the wall, expansion of settlements and construction of private road networks, the land available for a Palestinian state is down to 10 percent of the former territory, according to Winkler. "There’s really no possibility of a truly viable state," he said.

Edgar believes the people of Israel, if not the government, want long-term peace, but he doesn’t think that can happen without the elimination of checkpoints and the wall on Palestinian land. "Give the Palestinian state a real chance to be a separate state, side by side with Israel," he urged.

Part of the problem in the Middle East is the use of "lethal dialogue," or a dialogue of arms, instead of real efforts toward peace, the delegation said. "Dialogue and understanding between all faith communities is not an academic exercise in the Middle East; it is absolutely necessary for survival."

U.S. Christians must push President Bush and members of Congress to foster such dialogue and work harder to ensure that U.S. policy is balanced toward both Israel and Palestine, the delegation said. Members of mainline denominations "have so much potential influence that we do not exercise," Winkler declared.

Christians should not just lobby "inside the beltway" for the United States to seize the moment to make peace, but they should work across the country in their own Congressional districts, said Edgar, a former Congressman. "It’s clear that many Congressmen have been taught to see the region simply through the eyes of their Jewish constituents," he explained. "That’s helpful, but it’s also important for other faith communities to weigh in."

Delegation members reminded their constituents that the Christian community in the Middle East is still a living church.

"We believe that American Christians must see themselves as bridge builders for peace and must not abandon or forget all God’s children of the Middle East," the statement said. "We heard many pleas from our Christian sisters and brothers to raise our voices and work for a just, enduring and comprehensive peace.

"The rapid disappearance of the Christian presence in the Holy Land and, indeed, the entire region due to emigration is alarming and can only be reversed if conditions are changed for all the peoples of the Middle East," the group said.

Church leaders will make their own efforts at dialogue by inviting Sharon and Abbas to meet with them when the two visit Washington this spring for separate meetings with President Bush.

In their statement, delegation members also called upon Bush to "send a credible special envoy to assist in negotiations between Israel and Palestine"; asked the international community to invest in Palestinian projects and business; and pledged solidarity with Middle East churches, recognizing they have "a vital role to play as bridge builders and peacemakers."

In addition to Edgar, Hoyt and Winkler, other delegation members were Armenian Orthodox Bishop Vicken Aykazian, NCC secretary; Episcopal Bishop C. Christopher Epting; Sylvia Campbell, Alliance of Baptists; the Rev. Thelma Chambers-Young, Progressive National Baptist Convention, NCC vice president; the Rev. SeungKoo Choi, chief executive, Korean Presbyterian Church in America; Ann Hafften, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, Disciples of Christ; and Antonios Kireopoulos, Greek Orthodox Church, NCC executive.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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