THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND Overseas Board & Committee on Church and Nation
"Statement: Israel and Palestine
The Church of Scotland Overseas Board and the Church and Nation Committee today express outrage at the events in Israel and Palestine and call for an immediate cessation of all hostilities.
We condemn the present occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel and the ruthless manner in which its military machine is terrorising the Palestinian people, endangering international observers, violating churches and destroying the infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority. We call on Israel to recognise that its policy of meeting violence with more violence is utterly futile and leads to greater insecurity for its people.
Equally, we condemn the attacks on innocent Israelis by Palestinian suicide bombers, gunmen and those who encourage them and the resulting fear and insecurity felt by the people of Israel. Terror against innocent civilians is unacceptable to all civilised people.
Bishop Riah of the Church of Scotland's partner church, the Diocese of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem preached on Sunday to a cathedral half empty because of the military action. "The biblical drama continues,' he said, ' the actors change but the plot stays the same. This year, the Easter story has been vivid and clear as never before. We weep before those who continue to watch the cross from afar, as if the scene means nothing to them."
Dr Bernard Sabella of the Middle East Council of Churches wrote "On 1 April President Bush said 'There will never be peace so long as there is terror.' The Palestinian people are saying 'There will never be peace so long as there is occupation."'
The need to end terror in Israel is one side of a coin; the other side is the need to end occupation in Palestine. Violence and fear is rooted in the illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel. We condemn all violence and call for an immediate cessation of all hostilities and an early end to the illegal occupation of Palestine.
We call for prayers for the situation in Palestine and Israel and for Christian people to join in discussion and action with Jewish and Muslim neighbours who share a common longing for a just peace. The terrible tragedy of violence must cease. To be silent is to be complicit with the violence."
Wednesday, 03 April 2002