Contact:
Sr.Ruth Lautt, O.P., Esq.
(212) 870-2320
sr.ruthl@gmail.com
(New York, New York) December 19, 2006

Christians For Fair Witness on the Middle East questions the relative silence from mainline Protestants as Hamas and soldiers loyal to President Abbas move closer to civil war following the murder of three children of a senior Fatah officer and the ensuing violence between the two main Palestinian factions. There has also been silence from our churches with regard to the assassination of Pierre Gemayel in Lebanon on Nov. 21.

“The specter of violence in the Middle East has many faces,” says Fair Witness National Director Sister Ruth Lautt, O.P., Esq.  “The despair of Palestinians about their future and an independent state is pushed further by the violent internal battles being waged among their own political parties and militias.  Why are our churches reluctant to confront this situation?”

“Over recent years, U.S. churches have fashioned strong ties to the Palestinian community,” noted the Rev. Dr. Peter A. Pettit at the Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding of Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA.  “They therefore have an opportunity, and perhaps a burden, to raise their prophetic voices again in solidarity with the Palestinian people.  Whether the Palestinian churches can address the violence in their own society is another question, but at least their partners in the U.S. need to be challenging these dire developments and offering resources to find another way forward.”

Rev. Roy Howard, pastor of Saint Mark Presbyterian Church in Rockville, MD, says, “The commitment to peace cannot be limited to the conflict between Israel and its adversaries.  When innocent lives and the stability of daily life are shattered by internal strife, we are called to address the powers responsible and call them to a more responsible stewardship of their power.”

“For the churches to remain credible, we cannot raise our voices only to point out Israel’s faults.  Our Christian commitment to peace and human dignity demands honest and searching critique of all the forces in conflict.  If we become only megaphones for one side or the other, we lose any hope of effective engagement.  The Palestinian and Israeli peoples deserve better from us,” says Rev. Bruce Chilton, Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College and rector of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist, Barrytown, N.Y.