December 20, 2004

JERUSALEM/GENEVA - Palestinian Lutheran Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan has called on the global Lutheran communion and its partners to support an initiative of the Roman Catholic bishops in the Middle East and Africa to observe Wednesday, December 22 as a day of fasting and prayer for Israel and Palestine.

In statement signed by 22 bishops attending the October 11-16 Conference of Bishops of the Region of North Africa and the Conference of Latin Bishops in the Arab Regions in Rome, the Roman Catholic leaders called on Christians worldwide to do more to show commitment for peace in the Holy Land.

Against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Younan, head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (ELCJ) and vice-president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) for the Asia region, reiterates the Catholic bishops conviction that the churches can do still more. "If all the churches of the world recognize their duty toward the Holy Land, and if they all join together in common and concerted action to sensitize their governments, their people and the international community, their intervention will become a decisive factor in the attainment of justice, peace and reconciliation in the Holy Land," he asserts.

His plea for solidarity to Christian churches stresses the need to relieve suffering on all sides of the conflict. "We do not call you to take one side against the other. On the contrary, we want you to help both sides find the way to reconciliation."

On the conflict, he affirms: "The situation has dragged on for many years now, and requires, today more than ever, action to put an end to the sufferings of all inhabitants of this land, Jews, Christians and Muslims, who have become equally incapable of ending the conflict, fettered as they are in a spiral of cruel and irrational violence."

In the context of Advent and Christmas, Younan concludes: "We believe that the babe of the manger in Bethlehem will hear the yearnings of every suffering person and will transform the hearts and minds of peoples and politicians toward justice, peace, forgiveness and reconciliation for Christ is our only hope in our troubled Middle East."

The 3,000-member ELCJ has congregations in Israel, Jordan and Palestine.

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