Theophilus Bela Ketua Umum Forum Komunikasi Kristiani Jakarta Sekjen Indonesian Committee of Religions for Peace Duta Besar Perdamaian (Ambassador for Peace) HP 0816 180 6644
Dear friends, Warmest greetings from Indonesia Israeli assaults on Gaza now comes to the third week . 1400 people have been killed in Gaza and this figure includes 400 innocent children .More than 4000 people have been injured in Gaza . United Nations is helpless to this situation . On the day of New Year, January 1st, 2009 our group of religious leaders had made a meeting in Jakarta and issued a statement with an appeal to the United Nations to end the conflict as soon as possible . On January 7th our group of religious leaders together with leaders of political parties, artists and people of cultural life visited the office of United Nations in Jakarta and submitted our appeal that the international body takes all necessary steps to stop the conflict in Gaza .The UN representative promised to sent our appeal to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in New York . On Friday, January 9th our group visited the US Embassy in Jakarta to submit our letter to President-Elect Barack Obama urging him to pay due attention to the people of Gaza .In our letter to Mr.Obama we wrote, ".... The plight of millions of Palestinians should never escape your attention and the attention of millions of Americans. For decades, millions of Palestinians -especially women and children- have been living in fear and injustices. For decades, Palestinians have been enduring the terrible impacts of oppression. For decades, the Palestinians have been struggling to restore their dignity as a sovereign nation free from any oppression from outside forces.For decades, millions of Palestinians have been yearning for those values cherished by America : sustainable and genuine peace based on the values of justice, equality, and freedom. ...." The letter was red by Rev.Dr.Richard Daulay, Secretary General of National Communion of Churches in Indonesia in front of Indonesian group and the officials of US Embassy . Mr.Theophilus Bela, Secretary General of Indonesian Committee of Religions for Peace blamed the US Administration for failing to listen to an appeal of US Bishops' Conference, asking for sending a high ranking official to the Middle East to make peace between Israel and Hamas . In his remarks Bela quoted Bishop Howard Hubbard from Albany, New York, Chairman of US bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace, who was calling for a high-level US representative to be sent to the Middle East to help negotiate peace between Israel and Hamas . The appeal came in a letter dated January 1st, 2009 from Bishop Hubbard to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice . In his letter the Catholic bishop urged for an "immediate, visible and decisive US leadership is urgently needed..." The letter of Bishop Hubbard can be found in the website www.zenit.org from Rome You may find in the attachment an English report about our visit to UN office in Jakarta on January 7th. Our visit was also reported by the Catholic News Agency in Asia in their website www.ucanews.com under the title "Indonesian Religious Leaders urge UN to stop Israeli Assault on Gaza" . You may find in the report pictures of Din Syamsuddin and Theophilus Bela (in dark suit) The same news agency also brings a report from Indonesia titled "Indonesian Youth, Religious Leaders Protest Israeli Assault on Gaza" . On the coming week end our interfaith group will hold a fund raising evening for the victims of Gaza In the middle of February this year Theophilus Bela will visit Australia to attend the Interfaith Summit organized by Multi-Faith Centre of Griffith University in Brisbane . He will speak about interfaith dialogue in Indonesia : Opportunity and Challenges during the Interfaith Summit in Brisbane from February 16 till 22 . He is thinking of visiting other friends in Australia but he has not yet fixed his plan . Thank you very much for your kind attention and I wish you all a successful new year 2009 best regards from Jakarta Theophilus Bela Secretary General of Indonesian Committee of Religions for Peace President of Jakarta Christian Communication Forum (FKKJ) Ambassador for Peace office : FKKJ Graha Bethel, 2nd Floor Jalan Ahmad Yani kav. 65 Jakarta 10510 Indonesia mobile phone +62-816 180 6644 Fax +62-21-4265903 email : [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: Jusfiq Hadjar To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 12:43 PM Subject: [MURTADIN_KAFIRUN] The Christian Post: Churches Decry Protracted Gaza-Israel Clash; Offer Aid 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! 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