Canadian church leaders are calling for renewed dialogue to resolve conflict in the Middle East, as hopes for peace continue to ebb away.
In their first joint statement on the Middle East in more than a decade, the leaders of nine Canadian churches, including Anglican Primate Archbishop Michael Peers, echoed the November statement of other Christian partners in Jerusalem who appealed to churches worldwide to work for a “comprehensive, just and durable peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”
While backing the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians to security and determination of their futures, the recent statement states that a “just and durable peace” is only possible if “both states are guaranteed a peaceful coexistence within secure borders.”
The church leaders urged Canadian Christians to pray for the people of the Holy Land and appealed to all peoples to resist “the promotion of hatred wherever it occurs.”
The statement commended the Canadian government for the humanitarian assistance it has lent to victims of violence in the conflict.
Churches represented by the statement are the Anglican Church of Canada, the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Canadian diocese of the Holy Apostolic Armenian Orthodox Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto (Canada), the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the Orthodox Church of America, Diocese of Canada and the United Church of Canada.
For the complete text of the Canadian church leaders’ statement, follow this link.