Religious leaders declare hope for Mideast, urge strong U.S. role

Published: 2006-12-14

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Leaders of 29 national Christian, Jewish and Muslim organizations issued a joint call for the Bush administration and the new Congress to make Arab-Israeli-Palestinian peace a top foreign policy priority. Peace is "an essential of faith" in all three religious traditions, they said. They asked U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to meet with them to discuss the "urgent situation" in the Middle East and the need for "active, fair and firm leadership by the United States" to promote a comprehensive peace in the region. In a consensus statement and a letter to Rice, both dated Dec. 12 and released Dec. 14, the leaders expressed the belief that the current crisis can be turned into an opportunity for change and that the current Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire offers hope for restarting negotiations. "The crisis in Gaza and the war in Lebanon and northern Israel remind us that the status quo in the region is unstable and untenable," they said in the seven-page statement. "Military action will not resolve the conflict."

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