Ecumenical Delegation Raises Concerns on Middle East Visit

Episcopal News Service. February 7, 2005 [020705-2-A]

"Don't forget us: we are your brothers and sisters" was the plea heard by an 11-member delegation of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA to the Middle East, January 21 to February 4, 2005. At the invitation of their sister organization, the Middle East Council of Churches, and headed by NCC president, Christian Methodist Episcopal Bishop Thomas Hoyt, Jr., and NCC general secretary Robert Edgar, the group visited Christian, Muslim, and Jewish leaders, from Beirut, Lebanon to Cairo, Egypt and from Bethlehem to Jerusalem in Palestine and Israel.

Initially scheduled because of potentially hopeful developments in the Middle East, with the passing of Yassar Arafat, the election of Mahmoud Abbas, Ariel Sharon's plans to disengage from settlements in Gaza, and the inauguration of a second term for U.S. President George Bush, the group experienced hope, but certainly not optimism, from Christian brothers and sisters in the region.

"Of all my trips to the Middle East over more than twenty-five years," said Edgar, "this was in many ways the saddest. Yet, Christians must always be people of hope."

Bishop Christopher Epting, representing the Episcopal Church as the Presiding Bishop's deputy for ecumenical and interfaith relations, observed, "For people whose hopes have been dashed so many times, it is very difficult to be optimistic. We met with Latin and Orthodox Patriarchs, Muslim sheiks, Jewish rabbis, interfaith groups, U.S. State Department officials, as well as members of both the Israeli and Palestinian governments and they all stressed the importance of the United States' renewed involvement and the need for U.S. churches to stand in solidarity with Christians in the Middle East at this time."

Professor Hanan Ashrawi, an Anglican and a former elected member of the Palestinian Authority, after a sober analysis of the facts on the ground in Israel and Palestine said that, nonetheless, she placed her hopes in "the resilience and faith of the Palestinian people and communications' technologies of today which make it less likely that people will have to suffer in silence and more likely that their stories can be told and heard around the world."

"That," agreed Epting, "is part of our task."

Standing near the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, the delegation released a statement summarizing much of what they saw and recommending, among other things, an end to violence on all sides, support for the two-state solution guaranteeing Israel's right to exist within secure borders, and a viable and democratic state of Palestine alongside Israel. Toward those ends, the group called on President Bush to appoint a credible special envoy to the Middle East to give full attention to peace and justice, congratulated President Abbas on his election and Prime Minister Sharon on his plans to begin pulling settlements out of the Gaza Strip.

Concerns remain about the ongoing building of Israeli settlements around Jerusalem and the West Bank and the "Separation Barrier" which, in many places, is not built along the agreed-upon "green line," but involves the confiscation of Palestinian land, cutting off families from one another, from access to places of employment, and especially from health care facilities. A Palestinian state, existing as a series of "islands" separated by walls, tunnels, and housing units, does not appear to be economically or politically viable.

"While we don't believe, finally, that 'fences make good neighbors,'" said Epting, "like any other nation, Israel has a right to build a barrier if it chooses. It should simply not be built on other people's land. Steps must be taken to reverse this practice. And sooner rather than later."

More than anything else, the trip was to express solidarity with Christians in the region. Worship experiences included observances of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in a Maronite Church in Beirut and St. George's (Anglican) Cathedral in East Jerusalem. The delegation also had an audience with Pope Shenouda of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo and attended his weekly Bible study in the Cathedral, there joining some 8,000 Christians from many different Christian communions for this weekly event.

The delegation's full statement and other information concerning the trip should be available soon on the National Council of Churches' website http://www.ncccusa.org/.

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