Church leaders rap Bush on Israeli settlements

[Classical_Liberal]

Church leaders rap Bush on Israeli settlements
From PCUSA NEWS <[e-mail]>
Date Mon, 19 Apr 2004 15:01:34 -0500



Note #8201 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04182
April 19, 2004

Church leaders rap Bush on Israeli settlements

Concessions to Sharon are 'a road map to war,' CMEP says

by Carol Fouke
National Council of Churches News and Information Office

WASHINGTON - U.S. church leaders reacted with disappointment and alarm to President Bush's April 14 remarks that seemingly reversed 35 years of longstanding policy on Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), a coalition of 19 Protestant,
Catholic and Orthodox church organizations, including the National Council of Churches, criticized Bush for endorsing Israel's large Jewish settlements in the West Bank and its intention of preventing any Palestinian refugees from ever being resettled within Israel.

Corinne Whitlatch, executive director of the coalition, said, "We had
hoped that the Gaza withdrawal could be a first forward step toward peace." Instead, she said, "President Bush has betrayed decades of diplomatic advances, undercut the future of the Road Map peace plan and ignored its cosponsors - the U.N., the European Union and the Russian Federation. His repeated assurance that he wants a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel is losing credibility. The President's blatant disregard for Palestinian and Arab participation and sentiment places a future peace and our own security at risk."

Father Drew Christiansen, a member of CMEP's Leadership Council and
editor of the Jesuit magazine America, said Bush's decision "makes U.S. policy hostage to Prime Minister Sharon's expansionist goals, and
"legitimating West Bank settlements is a recipe for protracted conflict which will continue to impact adversely the dwindling Christian presence in the Holy Land.".......

http://www.wfn.org/2004/04/msg00141.html