[Originally posted at
Street Prophets]
We have all watched the unfolding violence in Israel and Lebanon with mingled horror and frustration. As people of faith we pray for peace, and as American citizens we call on the administration to work for a resolution to the escalating conflict. Sadly, President Bush has shown little interest in interceding for the sake of peace, preferring to stand by while innocent lives are lost. He is sending Secretary Rice to monitor the birth pangs of a new Middle East.
Meanwhile, religious leaders are calling for an immediate end to the violence. Read statements by a variety of Christian leaders in their entirety below the fold.
Pastoral Letter from ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson Regarding the Escalating Situation in Lebanon:
I write to you out of my deep sadness and concern regarding the escalating conflict in the Middle East, which has expanded recently into Lebanon. The kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militants has caused a severe reaction from Israeli forces. The escalation of the conflict moves the Middle East further away from a just and lasting peace for which we have been praying and working. I continue to call on the international community and the U.S. administration to do everything possible both to negotiate an immediate stop to the violence that has caused the killing and suffering of innocent people and to urge all parties to resolve the conflict through dialogue.
I speak often with Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. In our conversation on July 15, 2006, I heard both his deep concern that, as the war spreads, the future of Christianity among Arab people is at risk and his call for our renewed commitment to praying and working for peace.
The ELCA is providing immediate humanitarian relief through the work of the Middle East Council of Churches. I ask ELCA congregations to continue to pray for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East that will bring an end to the pain and misery experienced by all people in the region.
May the God of peace fill our hearts and our world with peace.
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
July 17, 2006
Lutheran World Federation General Secretary Noko Denounces Current Grave Escalation of Conflict:
I join all those who have raised their voices to denounce the current grave escalation in conflict in Israel, the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. I lament the loss of life and the suffering that this violence has visited upon so many people, and its impacts on whole communities. And I grieve for the severe injury that these events have inflicted on hopes for a revival of the peace process in the region. Extremism, and only extremism, will benefit from the continuation of the violence.
If there is one lesson that the troubled history of the Holy Land teaches us, it is that violence does not bring peace. But in the face of so much experience of the cyclical nature of violence, the failure to learn the lesson of peace seems deliberate. In this situation, talk of "appropriate means" and criticism of "disproportionate responses" are simply inadequate. In order to forestall the accelerating spiral of violence, there needs to be a clear rejection of all violence as a means of securing peace, together with a genuine commitment to justice for all the people of the Holy Land.
I pray that all those for whom violence is the instinctive response to violence will be led to the path of peace. I pray that no more sons and daughters of Abraham, whether Israeli or Arab, will have to die in the name of violent and exclusivist ideologies. I pray that "the things that make for peace" will yet be learned, that the Holy Land will yet become a land of peace and an inspiration to the world. I pray especially for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and the other Christian churches in the region, that their witness for peace will be amplified against the louder drumbeats of war. And I pray that all those - including the staff of the LWF's field program in Jerusalem - who are engaged in providing relief and support to communities affected by the current situation will find that their essential work is enabled and supported as it should be.
Faced with the current crisis, the international community must finally move beyond platitudes, to doing what is necessary to calm the violence, to restore hope, and to push forward towards peace with justice. There is no hope, and no reason, in the deadly cycle of violence. The violence, by whomsoever committed and with whatsoever proclaimed justifications, must cease. Fundamental injustices must be redressed, if peace is to be more than just a word. It is past time for the international community to be clear, resolute and unconditional in this message. The international community's efforts to promote peace in the Middle East - the Oslo Accords and the "Road Map" alike - have been mortally wounded by the continued resort to violence and by the failure to redress obvious injustice. A different approach to peace in the Holy Land is required, in which justice is at the heart. If the members of the international community do not insist on justice as a basis for peace, they will be complicit in the inevitable perpetuation of conflict.
Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko
General Secretary
The Lutheran World Federation
July 18, 2006
World Council of Churches Pastoral Letter on the Violence in the Middle East:
Dear Member Churches in the Middle East, Europe and North America,
Greetings to you as sisters and brothers in Christ and fellow disciples of the Prince of Peace.
In recent days we have all been stirred with compassion and beset with sadness at the shedding of innocent blood in the Middle East. The people of Lebanon are suffering violence whose scale defies comprehension; citizens of Israel fear death from the sky; Palestinians and Iraqis mourn new losses day after day. No end to the suffering is in sight. The earth shakes in Galilee, and nations seem to crumble before our eyes. Ancient cries of anguish echo in our ears: Even when I cry out,"Violence!" I am not answered. I call aloud, but there is no justice. (Job 19:7) At such a time we must turn to God with our laments, seek comfort from each other and offer signs of hope to neighbours in distress.
Many of us feel a mixture of fresh alarm and old frustration that so much is so dangerously wrong in the Middle East. World leaders are troubled, too. They met while bombs and rockets flew, yet returned home without uniting for peace. The world watched with tired hope but saw no bold actions to save lives.
The international community's capacity in such a crisis grows if it finds unity around what needs to be done. Alternatives to the violence in Lebanon, Israel and Gaza are well within its grasp, including cease-fires that end the spiral of violence, pressure to stop attacks on innocent civilians and protection for civilians according to international humanitarian law, support for negotiations on equitable terms and the deployment of a multinational force capable of keeping peace.
However, instead of policies anchored in law, certain states seem bent on applying new and dangerous remedies to well-known problems in the region. Their leaders excuse uses of force that go well beyond the constraints of international law. They brand enemies as `terrorists', bypass laws, courts, and juries, and mete out punishment at will even including assassinations from the air. Militant groups adopt similar tactics, fuelling conflicts and spreading contempt for human lives. In Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank and Israel as well as Iraq, no amount of fear and anger can justify retaliatory targeting of homes, bombing of communities and destruction of a nation's infrastructure. There, as in Afghanistan, deaths, injuries and damages inflicted through retaliation have far, far outnumbered the casualties and damage caused by the initial attacks. Acts of terror do not give license to wreak terror in return.
"Acts of terror are criminal acts and should be addressed by the use of instruments of the rule of law," the WCC Assembly said in February of this year. "Measures to counter terrorism must be demilitarized and the concept of the `war on terror' must be firmly challenged by the churches." The militarization of the `war on terror' has put civilians at greatest risk. State and public security is not found in violence but in justice, in governance and development that serves marginalized groups, and in respect for human rights and the dignity that God has given all people.
As churches we are inheritors of resolute hope. Our tradition is to support those who suffer, to assist those in need, and to advocate for those denied justice. Let us then raise our laments to God and bring the requirements of peace to those who have ears to hear:
First, let us join in lamenting the loss of life and destruction of homes and livelihoods; praying for healing of those who suffer and for justice to constrain those who would destroy; and praying for the safety and well-being of all communities in the Middle East--Muslim, Christian, and Jewish.
Second, let us help. 500,000 people have already been uprooted by the attacks on Lebanon, the UN reports. Gaza lives under collective punishment, incursions and siege. Dwellings and workplaces in Israel have been destroyed. Churches and related agencies are serving some of these needs. They need our support, and Action by Churches Together is co-ordinating appeals for aid (for contact information, please see below*).
Third, we must speak out. Churches of the Middle East consistently ask sister churches around the world to speak out on their behalf to parishes, the public, their governments and to the embassies of governments most directly involved in the Middle East--the United States, Israel, the European Union and Russia. We commend such action to you and ask the churches to use policies that you have set through the WCC and similar policy-making bodies. Calls to bring to public attention include:
- immediate cease-fires; protection of civilians as prescribed by law including the Geneva Conventions;
- release of all those in detention, or trial under due process of law and according to international norms;
- multilateral implementation of long-delayed UN Security Council resolutions for peace in Lebanon, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including an urgent end to the illegal 39-year occupation that is the vortex of the region's violent storms.
The World Council of Churches has always held that justice among the states and peoples of the Middle East must be based on the international rule of law and on rigorous implementation of United Nations Security Council resolutions pertaining to the conflicts. May we continue to stand together, praying for peace with justice to embrace all concerned. As we pray, so may we believe. And so, too, be moved to action.
Yours in Christ,
Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia
General Secretary
July 21, 2006
Statement by the Middle East Council of Churches and Letter to President Bush by Churches for Middle East Peace (both documents available here):
During the past 24 hours, the Israeli military operations have grown in intensity, with the use of internationally banned arms, particularly in the South of Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Beqa'. Heavy shelling has targeted residential buildings and innocent civilians, in addition to the destruction of factories (milk) and farms. The Israeli army has tried to advance into Lebanese territory, facing strong resistance by Hizbollah fighters.
Since our last update of July 19, the death toll has reached around 750 (including those still buried under the rubbles) and the number of the injured has gone up to 1,200. 650,000 persons are now reported to have been displaced. Entire villages are burnt and destroyed, hundreds of families have been torn apart and basic infrastructure (buildings, bridges, highways, electric power stations, gas stations to every port on the Lebanese coast, the International airport as well as small military airports) severely damaged.
Despite the many centers opened for the population in the different sectors of Beirut and regions of Lebanon where the displaced have taken refuge, hundreds have settled in public gardens and parks where tents have been installed.
The blockade has lead to the decreasing availability of fuel, butane gas and fuel oil, as well as food and medicines. As a result, prices have gone up and fluctuate from one hour to the other.
MECC/ ICNDR was able to start its response thanks to the rapid response and support provided by the Mennonite Central Committee in Lebanon. ICNDR's immediate action reached 260 displaced families in Mount Lebanon and Beirut, providing food supplies. This was implemented with the help of local partners and associations.
Field trips carried by ICNDR staff and freelancers revealed the extent of the need for immediate intervention. Data concerning the displaced including numbers and their most urgent needs are available. Implementation will be possible with the availability of funds, particularly in the North, Beqaa, Beirut and Mount Lebanon. As for the South, the relief operations will be very difficult due to continuous shelling, air raids and complete destruction of roads. Two colleagues Ghaith Maalouf and Robert Nicolas and their families are safe and managed to flee the shelling targeting civilians in their villages. The church they had sought refuge in was damaged and 5 were injured. Nevertheless, ICNDR local partners are ready to secure goods from the local markets and arrange for their distribution in coordination with the Lebanese army and Red Cross.
In Beshwet, the ICNDR center for the mentally handicapped opened its doors to 75 displaced persons mostly women and children and is relying on friends and neighbors as the only source of support to secure food on a daily basis.
It should be noted that the Lebanese population living in the proximity of centers for the displaced is expressing solidarity and providing support to the displaced families, offering hot meals, clothes, blankets, sheets and other basic items.
In Beirut, ICNDR staff are deploying efforts and working with the municipality to secure water to one of the referral centers, a public garden, where 100 families are settled and where no facilities or access to water are available. Food items were offered yesterday morning to these families.
In the North, the expressed priorities include mattresses, sheets, diapers, infant formula and medication for chronic diseases in the areas of Tripoli, Akkar and Batroun.
The evacuation of non-nationals continues by sea to Cyprus or by land via Syria.
July 21, 2006
The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Bush:
We urge you to work with other world leaders to secure an immediate cease-fire in the violent conflict raging now between Hezbollah and Israel.
We are deeply concerned for the innocent victims of the attacks and reprisals between non-state parties in Lebanon and the government of Israel. This violent conflict has created a grave humanitarian crisis, and no hoped-for benefit should outweigh the cause of saving innocent lives.
If this conflict continues, the current humanitarian crisis could escalate toward a catastrophe. Already in the first days of attacks and reprisals, reports say that 34 Israelis have been killed, including 15 civilians, others injured, and thousands have been made to leave their homes, and, in Lebanon, at least 335 people, most of them civilians, are reported killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced or sought refuge in other countries.
In the face of such a humanitarian crisis, calls for the fighting parties to be restrained in their actions fall short of what is needed. Your presidential leadership and the full weight of the United States, acting in concert with the international community, must be applied now to launch an immediate cease-fire and to launch an intensive diplomatic initiative for the cessation of hostilities. This is a necessary first step toward the diplomatic resolution of this crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the way toward a comprehensive Middle East peace.
Sincerely,
Leaders of churches and churches-related organizations of Churches for Middle East Peace
Dr. Robb Davis
Executive Director, Mennonite Central Committee
Marie Dennis
Director, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Rev. Robert Edgar
General Secretary, National Council of Churches USA
Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson
General Secretary, Reformed Church in America
The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Rev. Dr. Stan Hastey
Executive Director, Alliance of Baptists
Very Rev. Dominic Izzo, OP
President, Roman Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men's Institutes
Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church, (USA)
Rev. John L. McCullough
Executive Director & CEO, Church World Service
Metropolitan PHILIP Saliba
Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of North America,
Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America
Rev. William G. Sinkford
President, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
Rev. John H. Thomas
General Minister and President, United Church of Christ
Joe Volk
Executive Secretary, Friends Committee on National Legislation
The Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins
General Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
James W. Winkler
General Secretary, General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist Church
Statement by the National Council of Churches and Church World Service
July 14, 2006
"As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, `If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!'" (Luke 19: 41-42a, NRSV)
Jesus' lament echoes over the landscape of the Middle East, and in the hearts of men and women everywhere, as we witness the senseless violence engulfing the region. Is there ever to be an end to violence in the land we call holy?
What has violence solved these last 60 years? What has violence solved these past weeks?
Any hope for peace, itself a miracle in the midst of occupation, was stifled with Israel's missile strike on Gaza and the death of innocent Palestinians. Any chance of reconciliation was hindered by the retributive attacks and kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Hamas. Any call for restraint was ignored with disproportionate retaliations by Israel. Any plea for reason was cast aside with the capture of two more Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah. Any prayer for an end to this escalation of hostilities was silenced with the Israeli incursions into Lebanon, the subsequent shelling of Haifa and Beirut, and the death of more and more civilians.
We hear Jesus' lament in the cries of the Israelis, Palestinians, and Lebanese, the Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others whose lives are threatened by this unending violence. Where can this cycle of vengeance, retribution and violence lead?
When will all Israeli leaders see that aggression only breeds more aggression, and that security cannot be achieved through the oppression and humiliation of others? When will all Palestinian leaders understand that calls for justice demand the doing of justice, and that suffering injustice does not confer moral license to respond with violence? When will the United States see that being an honest, effective broker for peace requires fairness in our dealings with both the Israelis and the Palestinians, and now the Lebanese, and that doing nothing to end the violence costs us dearly in spirit, blood, treasure, and moral integrity?
The National Council of Churches USA and Church World Service:
- Call upon our own government and all governments, recognizing the success of former peace initiatives, to encourage aggrieved parties to engage in earnest negotiation, and through the United Nations to work with all concerned parties to address immediate humanitarian needs and to resolve the long-term issues underlying the continued violence;
- Call upon all parties in the Middle East to end the current hostilities, to develop non-violent strategies for engagement, and to work toward a just and sustainable settlement of the issues that plague the region;
- Call upon the religious communities of the region to pray, teach and lead their people in the ways of peace, and upon religious communities throughout the world to walk with them in solidarity until peace is achieved; and,
- Call upon its member communions to pray for all those who have suffered and died as a result of this violence, and their families and communities, and to engage in humanitarian and advocacy actions for peace.
We issue this statement remembering the words of Jesus Christ: "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword" (Matthew 26:52, NRSV).
For more resources, please visit the following:
ELCA Middle East Connections
Peace Not Walls: A Campaign for Middle East Peace by the ELCA
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land
Lutheran World Federation Office of International Affairs and Human Rights - Peacemaking and Reconciliation
Action by Churches Together (ACT) International
World Council of Churches: International Affairs, Peace and Human Security
World Council of Churches: Justice, Peace and Creation
Overcoming Violence - World Council of Churches' "Decade to Overcome Violence"