HOME
Churches Decry Protracted Gaza-Israel Clash; Offer Aid
A large number of churches from around the
world this past week joined the international call for a cease-fire
between Hamas and Israel as the conflict entered its second week and
the death toll approached nearly 1,000 lives lost.
Sun, Jan. 11, 2009 Posted: 09:06 AM EST
________________________________
A large number of churches from around the world this past week
joined the international call for a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel
as the conflict entered its second week and the death toll approached
nearly 1,000 lives lost.
Christian leaders in the United Kingdom, including the Rt. Rev.
Michael Langrish, the Bishop of Exeter joined with Jewish rabbis and
Muslim leaders on Friday to urge British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to
renew efforts to end the raging violence between Gaza and Israel.
“Behind all the horrors of death and destruction in Gaza are
human faces and human stories,” said Langrish in a statement. “Behind
all the statistics for those killed and wounded, on either side, are
human beings, each one a child of God.”
The faith leaders – which include Rabbi Danny Rich, head of
the organization Liberal Judaism and Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari,
secretary-general of The Muslim Council of Britain – warned that
continued violence in Gaza will only “exacerbate tensions and nurture
hatred.”
Since the fighting began on Dec. 27, more than 850
Palestinians and 13 Israelis have been killed, according to Reuters.
Among the casualties are children, who make up 50 percent of Gaza’s
population, and innocent civilians.
More than 230 children have been killed thus far in Gaza,
including one Palestinian girl during Sunday’s fighting, according to
CNN. Palestinian medical sources say about 3,300 people have been
wounded.
Israel says it is only targeting Hamas and has blamed the extremist Muslim
group for using civilians as human shield.
Despite the U.N. Security Council’s call to stop the conflict
this past week, Israel and Hamas on Sunday both vowed to keep fighting.
Hamas’s exiled leader, Khaled Meshaal, said his group will not cease
fighting until Israel ends its military offensive and lifts the
blockade on the Gaza Strip, according to Reuters.
Israel, meanwhile, is demanding a complete stop to Hamas
rocket fire as well as regional and international guarantees to a stop
in arms smuggling to Hamas through Egypt.
On Sunday, one day after about a dozen rockets were fired into
Israel, two rockets hit the southern town of Beersheba, 26 miles inside
Israel
Two chief rabbis of Israel this past week told visiting
Lutheran leaders from the United States and Canada about the suffering
of Israelis living in southern Israel who have been subjected to
continuous rocket firing by Hamas for nearly eight years.
“When you return to your countries, please be ambassadors to
our feelings,” said Rabbi Yona Metzger to the bishops of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Canada. “We don’t want war. We don’t want to kill innocent
people. We want only to defend ourselves.”
Metzger and his colleague, Rabbi Shlomo Amar, said they feel
“deep distress” for the loss of innocent lives in the Gaza conflict.
Other churches and denominations that have called for a
cease-fire and peace between Israel and Gaza this past week include the
World Council of Churches, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the
Presbyterian Church USA, the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, and the
Church of the Brethren.
Brethren Disaster Ministries has requested an $8,000 grant to
help with the work of Church World Service in Gaza, while the relief
arm of the Baptist World Alliance is working in Egypt to provide
medical care to people who have fled from Gaza.
U.K.-based Barnabas Fund is meanwhile working with the
Palestinian Bible Society, the Bible Society in Israel and the Arab
Israeli Bible Society to provide food coupons to 400 Christian families
in Gaza. The coupons can be exchanged for food at local grocery stores.
About 1,500 Arab Christians live among the 1.5 million people
who inhabit the Gaza Strip, although some have fled because of the
violence, according to SAT-7, the Christian television service for the
Middle East.
Ethan Cole
Christian Post Reporter
________________________________
Copyright © 2006 Christianpost.com. All rights reserved.
Questions or Comments
Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy - Copyright Policy
---------------
Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
Post message: [email protected]
Subscribe : [email protected]
Unsubscribe : [email protected]
List owner : [email protected]
Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
