Religious leaders urge stronger U.S. role in Middle East peace

Published: 2003-12-03

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Cardinals Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington and William H. Keeler of Baltimore joined an interreligious group of 32 Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders Dec. 2 in calling on the Bush administration to take strong steps to promote peace in the Middle East. "Israelis and Palestinians are the ones who must create a just peace, but the United States has a moral obligation to use its powerful influence to help them do this," Cardinal McCarrick said at a press conference in Washington called by the National Interreligious Leadership Delegation, a new group. "President Bush committed the United States to this kind of leadership when he outlined the 'road map,'" the cardinal added. "Together, we urge him and all our national leaders to take up again this process which can lead to a just peace." The road map is a plan designed to produce the two-state solution proposed by President Bush in his speech to the United Nations last year.

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