At the invitation of the Middle East Council of Churches, the group, headed by NCC President and Christian Methodist Episcopal Bishop Thomas Hoyt Jr. and the Rev. Robert Edgar, NCC secretary, visited Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders from Cario, Beirut, Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

“For people whose hopes have been dashed so many times, it is very difficult to be optimistic,” said Bishop Christopher Epting, who is Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold’s deputy for ecumenical and interfaith relations. “We met with Latin and Orthodox patriarchs, Muslim sheiks, Jewish rabbis, interfaith groups, U.S. State Department officials, as well as members of both the Israeli and Palestinian governments, and they all stressed the importance of  the United States’ renewed involvement and the need for U.S. churches to stand in solidarity with Christians in the Middle East at this time.”

Initially scheduled because of potentially hopeful signs in the Middle East with the election of President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, coupled with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plans to disengage from settlements in Gaza, the 10-day visit left the delegation’s members with hope, if not optimism.

Sobering analysis

After a sober analysis of the facts on the ground in Israel and Palestine, English professor Hanan Ashrawi, a former elected member of the Palestinian Authority and an Anglican, said that she placed her hopes in the resilience and faith of the Palestinian people and on communications’ technologies, which make it is less likely that people will have to suffer in silence.

“That is part of our task,” said Epting. Near the walls of the Old Jerusalem, the delegation released a statement summarizing what it saw and recommending and an end to violence on all sides, support for the two-state solution that guarantees Israel’s right to exist within secure borders, and a viable and democratic state of Palestine.

Toward those ends, the group called on President George W. Bush to appoint a credible special envoy to the Middle East to give attention to peace and justice. It also congratulated Abbas on his election and Sharon on his plans to begin pulling Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip.

Barrier wall a concern

Concerns remain, the delegation said, about the ongoing building of Israeli settlements around Jerusalem and the West Bank and the “Separation Barrier.” In many places, the group said, the barrier is not built along the agreed upon “green line,” but instead involves confiscating Palestinian land, which cuts off families from one another, from access to places of employment and especially from health-care facilities.

A Palestinian state, existing as a series of “islands” separated by walls, tunnels and housing units, does not appear to be economically or politically viable. “While we don’t believe, finally, that ‘fences make good neighbors,’” said Epting. “Like any other nation, Israel has a right to build a barrier if it chooses. It should simply not be built on other people’s land. Steps must be taken to reverse this practice, and sooner rather than later.”

More than anything else, the trip intended to express solidarity with Christians in the region. Worship experiences included observances of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in a Maronite Church in Beirut and St. George’s (Anglican) Cathedral in East Jerusalem. The delegation also had an audience with Pope Shenouda of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo and attended his weekly Bible study in the cathedral, joining 8,000 Christians from many different Christian communions for the weekly event.