July 28, 2006

JERUSALEM/GENEVA – As conflict escalates in Israel, the Gaza strip and Lebanon, Palestinian Lutheran Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan says the only way to end all the military operations in the Holy Land and to stop further loss of human life is "to negotiate around the unsolved and urgent core issue-the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

In a pastoral letter dated 24 July, Younan who is bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) noted it was time to move from the logic of war and from self-justifying violence and acts of terror. He also called for world leaders to admit that they have failed to bring a just peace "and humbly change course."

"Justice will be served and the conflict ended when we achieve a shared Jerusalem, the respect of the rights of the refugees, two states living side by side in peace and security according to international law. Now is the time to serve justice with action, not words or plans or maps," said Younan, who is vice-president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) for the Asian region.

The ELCJHL bishop joined the call by global religious leaders for an end to Middle East violence, as Al-Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri urged Muslims in a message recorded for television to attack Israel and its allies over the violence in the Middle East involving a war with the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah.

Younan urged the parties involved to engage in negotiations to end the violence, arguing that the current hostilities could only achieve more destruction, fear, hatred, anger and further retaliation on every side. "We must reject the idea that we can fight our way to peace and security*we cannot," he wrote in the pastoral letter titled, "It is time for all to turn away from anger and vengeance and seek justice."

More than 400 people have been killed in Lebanon and 50 in Israel since fighting erupted on 12 July when Hezbollah fighters abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid into northern Israel and began firing rockets into Israel. Israel's air strikes have damaged Hezbollah installations but also badly hit civilian infrastructure in Lebanon.

Younan described the current situation as a moral, spiritual and political crisis of global proportions. "As a Lutheran bishop, my plea is for all Christians to commit themselves to prayer and fasting to seek God's empowerment in addressing the call to repent and seek justice. This includes urging Christians to go beyond their excellent relief and emergency work to secure the future for a just peace."

A statement issued on 18 July by the LWF General Secretary on the conflict in the Middle East is available at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/LWI/EN/1897.EN.html.

Lutheran World Information
With reporting from Ecumenical News International.