ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 30, 2006  

ELCA and Episcopal Bishops Call for U.S. Diplomatic Intervention in Gaza
06-089-AL*

     WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson,
presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA), joined the Rev. Frank Griswold, presiding bishop of The
Episcopal Church, in a letter appealing to President Bush to do
everything possible to calm the crisis in Gaza.
     In retaliation for the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by
Palestinian gunmen June 25, Israel has launched air strikes on
the Gaza Strip in Palestine, which resulted in the destruction of
bridges and the only power plant in Gaza. An estimated 700,000
Palestinians are currently without power, and engineers estimate
it will take three months to restore it.
     "We condemn the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier and pray
for his safe return," said Hanson and Griswold in a letter to
President Bush. "We recognize the grief this brings to all
Israelis, but we cannot accept the response which punishes all
Palestinians in Gaza."
     Hanson and Griswold specifically noted the destruction of a
power plant as "further (escalation of) the mounting humanitarian
crisis" in Palestine. "Our churches and institutions there are
filled with anguish as they try to meet the needs of Palestinians
- whether Christian or Muslim," they said in the letter.
     Hanson and Griswold urged the president to use the United
States' "long friendship with Israel to find a diplomatic
solution which will not further impoverish and burden ordinary
Palestinians."
     Both the ELCA and The Episcopal Church also expressed the
urgency of the situation in Gaza through a June 29 letter written
by Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), a coalition of which
both denominations are members.
     In letters to Michael Doran at the National Security Council
and Assistant Secretary of State C. David Welch, the executive
committee of CMEP characterized the destruction of Gaza's power
plant and bridges as "acts of collective punishment that have
resulted in tremendous suffering by ordinary Palestinian people."
     "The mediating efforts of (Egyptian) President Hosni Mubarak
and the call by the foreign ministers, including (U.S.) Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice, of the Group of Eight nations are
important and appreciated, but this is not adequate," said the
CMEP letter. "The United States, as Israel's closest ally, must
work closely with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister
Amir Peretz (of Israel) and insist that they restrain their
military response and work with (Palestinian National Authority)
President Mahmoud Abbas to find a diplomatic resolution to the
crisis."
     CMEP endorses the statement of the Middle East Council of
Church's Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees that "a
diplomatic solution would spare not only the lives of the
kidnapped soldier and of countless others but would [also]
preserve what is left of the Palestinian infrastructure."
- - -
     The text of the letter from bishops of the ELCA and The
Episcopal Church is available at
http://www.ELCA.org/advocacy/issues/middleeast/06-06-30-
president_letter.html on the ELCA Website.
     Information about ELCA ministries in the Middle East is
available at www.ELCA.org/middleeast on the Internet.
     Information on ELCA advocacy is available at
www.ELCA.org/advocacy on the Internet.
*Annie Lynsen is the director for grassroots advocacy and
communication, ELCA Washington Office.

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