Browning Condemns Attack in Afula, Urges Palestinians and Israelis to Press for Peace
Episcopal News Service. April 21, 1994 [94086]
Just back from a 10-day trip through the Middle East, Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning urgently pleaded for an end to the escalating violence in Israel and the Occupied Territories, and urged Palestinians and Israelis to press forward in their efforts for peace.
Consistent with his condemnation of the massacre of Muslims in the Hebron Mosque, Browning issued a strong rebuke of the April 6 attack on Israelis at a bus stop in Afula. "I condemn, completely, the fanatical attack on innocent people at a bus stop in Afula... and I am deeply saddened at the pain of the families who lost relatives in this senseless act. Revenge serves no good purpose," Browning said in an April 8 statement.
"The sooner the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza ends, the sooner Palestinians can move towards sovereignty and Israel towards peace and security," Browning insisted. "The peace process cannot be allowed to fail."
Browning recently traveled on a peace pilgrimage through the Middle East, including stops in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Israel and the West Bank. He met with key leaders in churches and governments in the area, including President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, King Hussein of Jordan, Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin of Israel and patriarchs of all the major Christian churches in the area.
At the end of his trip, Browning joined his counterpart in the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East, President-Bishop Samir Kafity, in a statement on peace and justice in the area. The bishops reaffirmed a commitment to "support the creation of a sovereign state for a new Palestine while assuring peace and security for Israel."