Every day in Israel/Palestine, grievance is being heaped upon grievance, tragedy upon tragedy, and grief upon grief.  Every day we are shocked afresh as the violence in the Holy Land deepens and the loss of human life mounts. We mourn with every bereaved family, whether Palestinian or Israeli, Christian or Muslim or Jewish. Retaliation cannot compensate for loss.  Violence solves nothing, it just creates more victims.  The increasingly dangerous cycle of violence and aggression must be broken.

We urge our own United States government to engage actively for peace.  We appeal to President Bush to send his senior diplomat, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, to the region to press for an immediate cessation of the violence and for commencement of face-to-face negotiations.  We believe the Mitchell plan, the Saudi initiative and the recent historic, unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution can help offer a way forward toward peace.

We ask all people of faith to pray and work for peace in the Holy Land and for all who call it home.