Christian Leaders: Seize Great Opportunity for Middle East Peace
Christian leaders from numerous denominations expressed hope that the death of Yasser Arafat can become a ''time to build peace rather than an occasion to escalate tensions''
A day after the passing of long-time Palestine authority Yasser Arafat, Christian and secular leaders reflected the same message: grasp the opportunity to open new avenues toward peace.
Arafat, the controversial leader of Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) for forty years, died early Thursday morning in France of an undisclosed illness. Thousands of Muslim mourners attended his state funeral in Egypt Friday, during which policemen vainly shot bullets into the air to maintain order.
Arafat’s death came at a time of heightened tension in the Middle East, when peace-talks between Israel and Palestine all but deteriorated. Arafat was highly regarded by his people, but was often denounced by the international public as a terrorist who instigated violence and broke down the planned “road-map” to Middle East peace by supporting the Fatah terrorist movement; President Bush refused to communicate with the late PLO leader for the past two years.
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On Friday, at the wake of Arafat’s passing, President Bush said the tragedy may spur more violence and hatred, but at the same time can offer a “great chance to establish a Palestinian state” and broader Middle East peace.
Letters signed by numerous Christian leaders reflected the sentiments.
“Even as we know you are mourning, we recognize this particular time as a watershed moment that offers the potential for increased violence — within and beyond the Palestinian territories — or the opportunity to renounce violence and walk firmly on the path toward peace. To that end, we share with you our many hopes,” wrote three of the top leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in a letter to Palestinian leaders Dr. Nasir Al-Kidwa and Ahmad Qrei’a.
The top leaders of the world’s Lutheran Churches also encouraged both Israelis and Palestinians to work toward peace rather than violence.
“Yasser Arafat’s death is a seismic event in both Palestinian and Israeli history, the consequences of which are unpredictable. However, opportunity as well as risk invariably accompanies such a change,” the letter, written by Lutheran World Federation (LWF) president Mark S. Hanson and general secretary Ishmael Noko, read. “In this new era in the entangled history of Israelis and Palestinians in the Holy Land, a renewed and active commitment by leaders of both communities to dialogue instead of violence can yet bring peace to a land wracked by conflict. Israelis and Palestinians must together find a way to peace - a genuine peace that is secured by justice, mutual acceptance and reconciliation.”
The Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries who returned on Nov. 1 from a visit to the Middle East, said all sides of the ongoing conflict should place a moratorium on military activities during the time of mourning.
“I pray that all sides in the protracted Middle East conflict, including the many factions among the Palestinians and the Israelis, will use the passing of Yasser Arafat as a time to build for peace rather than an occasion to escalate tensions by either words or actions. I pray that collective punishment, curfews, house demolitions, and the killing of civilians will cease immediately. Israeli jubilation or aggressive police actions at this time would be as counter-productive as would outbreaks of Palestinian violence against Israelis or Palestinian in-fighting. All sides should agree to a moratorium on military activities and strong political rhetoric during the time of mourning,” said Day.
The Rev. Alex Awad, a Palestinian-American and missionary with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, also said a new chance for peace is possible.
"The selection of the new Palestinian leadership following the death of Yasser Arafat may actually speed up the peace process," he said during a Nov. 11 meeting with United Methodist board staff in New York.
"For two years, Prime Minister Sharon and President Bush have refused to talk with Arafat," he added. "They will not be able to refuse to talk with the new leadership of the Palestinian Authority."
The following is the full text of the statement by Bishop Mark Hanson, President,
and Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, General Secretary, of the Lutheran World Federation:
Yasser Arafat was a man who will be remembered in radically different and often contradictory ways. For many, he was the personification of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and independence, a freedom-fighter, an heroic leader, a father figure. For others he was an implacable foe, an obstacle to peace. For Palestinian Christians, he was a strong supporter of their religious rights and freedoms, and always attentive to their place and their importance in the Holy Land. Time will probably not reconcile these divergent views. But whatever opinion one may hold of Yasser Arafat, his death removes from the scene an indisputably pivotal figure in the political landscape of the Middle East. His 40 year domination of the Palestinian polity outlasted successive generations of leaders in most other parts of the world. The brief moment of hope, when he and Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin signed the Declaration of Principles agreement in Washington in September 1993, was tragically obscured in a welter of attacks and counter-attacks and a long final confinement in the Palestinian Authority compound in Ramallah.
Yasser Arafat’s death is a seismic event in both Palestinian and Israeli history, the consequences of which are unpredictable. However, opportunity as well as risk invariably accompanies such a change. In this new era in the entangled history of Israelis and Palestinians in the Holy Land, a renewed and active commitment by leaders of both communities to dialogue instead of violence can yet bring peace to a land wracked by conflict. Israelis and Palestinians must together find a way to peace - a genuine peace that is secured by justice, mutual acceptance and reconciliation. They must find a way to break the mutually self-destructive cycle of violence. Both peoples share a land, a heritage and a promise. For the children of Abraham, both Israelis and Palestinians, there is no alternative to peaceful co-existence.
We pray that God will loosen hatred’s grip on human hearts, and that God’s peace will descend on the land of Christ’s birth. We pray that Israelis and Palestinians will work together for peace. We call on the Palestinian leadership and the Government of Israel to grasp the opportunity for change and for a return to dialogue. And we call on the Government of the United States of America, the other members of the ‘Quartet’, and all members of the international community to re-engage in the search for peace in Israel-Palestine and to accompany its peoples and their leaders on the path to peace.
In this time of uncertainty, we pray for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan, its bishop Munib Younan, and all its members in Israel-Palestine. We pray that they will continue to be strengthened for their witness and mission, and for their role as bridge-builders and peace-makers. And we pray for the essential humanitarian work of the LWF in Jerusalem and the West Bank, for the staff that carry it out, and for the people and communities they serve.
The following is the full text of the statement by the Rev. Dr Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly; Elder Rick Ufford-Chase, Moderator, 216th General Assembly (2004) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); and Elder John Detterick, Executive Director, General Assembly Council.
Grace and peace to you.
We are writing to you upon learning of the death of President Yasser Arafat. We want to assure you of our heartfelt prayers for Mr. Arafat’s family and for all of you who mourn his passing, that God in divine mercy will give comfort and aid to you in every possible way. We also pray for you in the midst of the transition and much feared uncertainty during these present days of securing new leadership.
Even as we know you are mourning, we recognize this particular time as a watershed moment that offers the potential for increased violence — within and beyond the Palestinian territories — or the opportunity to renounce violence and walk firmly on the path toward peace. To that end, we share with you our many hopes.
We hope you will have the opportunity to experience self-determination and choose your own leadership, and that new leadership will offer a vision of a just, peaceful, and secure future for Palestinians and Israelis. May liberation leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Desmond Tutu, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, and Martin Luther King, Jr., serve as models of creative, mercy-filled leadership that transforms enemies into neighbors through a principled commitment to non-violent strategies as the only appropriate path to peace.
We hope new leadership will be instrumental in bringing both an end to the grinding violence of Occupation and to terror attacks on Israeli civilians. May you experience a reconciliation that precludes violent retribution and using violence as a tactic, not just because of its immorality, but its tragic consequences for Palestinians and Israelis.
We hope you will remain part of the world community. Many people of conscience around the world share your just cause for dignity and security and are acutely aware of your international rights, as guaranteed through United Nations’ resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention. We in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are among them.
We hope new leadership will continue to value the small, but important, Christian community in your midst. Over the past fifty years, Christians have gone from nearly 20% to less than 2% of the Palestinian population. As our brothers and sisters in Christ, in the land of Christ’s birth, the Palestinian church has special significance. Over the centuries, Christians in the Middle East have been an agent of reconciliation and stability. We affirm the importance of Christian presence and witness in Palestinian society and pray it will continue to be honored.
Our deepest hope is for a just, peaceful, non-violent future for all peoples in the Middle East. As Christians, we believe God calls us to show love, seek peace, and pursue justice. In particular, we believe God has given us the ministry of reconciliation so that the whole world might be transformed into the image of God’s peaceful kingdom. These beliefs have guided our actions and witness to Israel and Palestine for several decades, and we recommit ourselves anew to them now.
In all these things, we give glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael, whom we worship in Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
The following is the full text of the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
The death of Yasser Arafat comes at a crucial and volatile time in the Middle East. This I can affirm having just returned from an extensive tour of the region with other church leaders concerned with peace and justice. The necessity of a viable Palestinian state in Gaza, West Bank, and East Jerusalem – existing side by side with Israel – is more urgent than ever and may even be possible. People of political and religious affiliation on all sides are tired of relentless violence and of 37 years of military occupation.
For decades, Arafat symbolized the hopes and aspirations of Palestinians and brought international attention to their cause. The most fitting tribute to him would be strong and deliberate measures by Palestinians and Israelis — and by the international community —to uphold international law and human rights.
I pray that all sides in the protracted Middle East conflict, including the many factions among the Palestinians and the Israelis, will use the passing of Yasser Arafat as a time to build for peace rather than an occasion to escalate tensions by either words or actions. I pray that collective punishment, curfews, house demolitions, and the killing of civilians will cease immediately. Israeli jubilation or aggressive police actions at this time would be as counter-productive as would outbreaks of Palestinian violence against Israelis or Palestinian in-fighting. All sides should agree to a moratorium on military activities and strong political rhetoric during the time of mourning.
As we mark the passing of the Palestinian leader, let those of us in the international faith communities commit ourselves to stand with our Palestinian and Israeli sisters and brothers who are working to end the violence and achieve full human rights and security for all. May the hopes for a just and lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis, living in two viable states, guide and inspire us in the days to come.
