Christian leaders warn Israel against unilateral withdrawals

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

by Michele Green
Ecumenical News International

JERUSALEM – Christian leaders in the Holy Land have urged Israel not to withdraw unilaterally from the West Bank after the election of Kadima, the centrist party founded by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister who now is in a coma.

“Unilateral measures will probably bring some temporary solutions, but such measures will not end the mutual mistrust and misunderstanding between the two peoples living in this beloved and blessed land,” leaders of the biggest churches in the Holy Land said in a March 29 statement.

They urged Israel “to demonstrate courage and wisdom by resuming the peace process with the Palestinians” and to open dialogue with the new Palestinian leadership led by the Islamist Hamas movement.

Israel’s likely future prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said in his victory speech that he will try to negotiate a final peace treaty with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. But if talks fail, he said, Israel will withdraw from most of the West Bank while holding on to a few large Jewish settlement blocs, effectively unilaterally determining its permanent borders.

Since a separate election in January, the Palestinian government is being led by Hamas, a movement that is sworn to Israel’s destruction and has killed hundreds of people in suicide bombings in the past decade.

So far, Hamas has rejected international calls to renounce terrorism, disarm and recognize Israel’s right to exist. Israel has said that it will have no contact with a Hamas government, and has frozen the transfers of $50 million a month in taxes it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas leaders have said they could offer Israel a temporary truce of up to 15 years if it withdrew from all of the West Bank.

The churches in the Holy Land, representing minority Christians, have urged Hamas to moderate its position and refrain from imposing any changes to the cultural and religious fabric in the Palestinian territories, such as by introducing Sharia, or strict Islamic law.

“As Christian leaders, we are determined to do all we can to promote peace, mutual understanding and justice amongst all, hoping to find a similar determination from the religious leaders of Judaism and Islam,” the church leaders said.