“In order to achieve a durable peace, your Administration must provide sustained, high-level diplomatic leadership toward the clear goal of a final status agreement,” 40 church leaders said in a letter dated December 2.
“Building on past discussions, we ask you to encourage Israeli and Palestinian leaders to make historic compromises necessary for peace,” they stated. The church leaders said a “commitment to working for the establishment of a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel can help strengthen U.S. security and improve stability and relationships throughout the Middle East.”
They acknowledged that the work for a “just peace will not be easy,” noting that, “It will require great courage and resolve, but the risk of inaction is even greater.”
The letter is part of efforts to pressure the incoming Obama administration to make Middle East peace a priority during its early days in office, which begin on January 20.
Among those signing the church leaders’ letter were: Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, chairperson of the Committee on International Justice and Peace, U.S. Conference of (Roman) Catholic Bishops; Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church; John H. Thomas, general minister and president, the United Church of Christ; Gradye Parsons, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); and Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary.
The full text of the letter may be found at: https://www.cmep.org/leadersletter.pdf
