More than 650 Protestant, Catholic and Jewish religious leaders have asked the U.S. government to throw its support behind an independent Palestinian state and to pressure Israel to do the same.
In an advertisement to appear in The New York Times, “In the Name of God, Seek Peace and Pursue It,” the religious leaders condemn Palestinian suicide bombers and the “totally foreseeable and inevitable deaths of civilians through the shelling and bombing of their neighborhoods” by Israel.
The coalition said the United States must help implement an international security force to protect both Palestinians and Israelis and called for the creation of a viable Palestinian state that includes lands seized by Israel in the 1967 war.
“Today all holy places in the Middle East are being desecrated by violence, whether they are under direct attack or not,” the ad states. “Only in such a settlement can the holiness of those places be affirmed.”
“Today the image of God in every human being is being desecrated. Only through such a settlement can the greatness of God be affirmed.”
The statement drew the support of Jews and leaders of several mainline Protestant denominations, who have sparred in recent months over support for Palestinians and criticism of Israeli military action.
In a separate but related statement, the leader of the Presbyterian Church (USA) decried a new wave of anti-Semitism that has escalated since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict began to intensify.
“Acts of hate and terror inflicted on innocent children and youth, women and men of Israel and the larger Jewish community must be unequivocally condemned and vehemently abhorred,” said Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the 2.5 million-member denomination.
Kirkpatrick, said his statement “is in no way inconsistent with speaking out about the political and military violence of the Israeli government or the militant activities of Israeli settlers,” both of which the church has condemned in recent months.
(RNS)
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