(WASHINGTON, May 2, 2006) 

Major Christian Leaders in the United States have appealed to President George Bush, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel’s Prime Minister-elect Ehud Olmert to take immediate actions to restore hope for peace. In a May 2 letter, the heads of twenty denominations, churches, archdioceses and organizations from Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant traditions raised concerns with the political leaders about the pending humanitarian crisis, the threat of violence, the establishment of a mutually negotiated border and the status of Jerusalem.

“We affirm President Bush’s vision of a two-state solution that provides for a viable Palestinian state living in peace alongside a secure Israel. But we are concerned that Hamas’ rejectionist rhetoric and Israel’s actions on the ground are making that goal seem impossible” said Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson. He noted that the separation barrier, where it extends beyond the Green Line, “is having a tremendously negative impact, both psychologically and economically, on the potential for a viable Palestinian state.”

Rev. Ted Keating, S.M., Executive Committee member of Churches for Middle East Peace and former Executive Director of the Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men’s Institutes said, “It is no longer possible for the vast majority of Palestinian Muslims and Christians living in the West Bank and Gaza to worship at their holy sites in Jerusalem.”  Along with the signers of the letter, Rev. Keating believes a negotiated solution for Jerusalem, that takes into account the profound dimensions of the Holy City for Jews, Christians and Muslims globally, is the key to Middle East peace.

“Our highest priority is to prevent the humanitarian crisis that is anticipated as the United States and European donors stop all financial aid going to the Palestinian Authority and tightly restrict aid going through non-governmental organizations,” said Joe Volk, Executive Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation. (Volk recently met with government officials and staff of NGOs in Jerusalem along with others from Churches for Middle East Peace.) In this letter, Volk and the other church leaders ask Bush, Abbas and Olmert to “adopt policies and take actions that provide both space and opportunity for the newly-elected Hamas government to make positive changes, while finding mechanisms that allow financial aid assistance to reach the Palestinian people immediately.” He noted that the Palestinian Authority can no longer pay its 152,000 employees – one-third of whom are women – who staff over half of the primary health clinics and primary and secondary schools.