"New generations of Muslims, Jews and Christians a deserved a future without hatred and fear." - Imad Falouji (Palestinian Telecommunication Minister) ************************************************************************ Christians apologize for Crusades 900 years on June 13, 1999 Web posted at: 1:50 PM EDT (1750 GMT) GAZA (Reuters) -- After hundreds of years, a group of Christians from the West paid a visit to the Gaza Strip on Sunday to offer apologies to descendants of Muslim victims of the Crusades. "We deeply regret the atrocities committed in the name of Christ by our predecessors," read a message delivered to a Palestinian cabinet minister by 14 members of the Reconciliation Walk group of evangelical Christians mainly from Europe and North America. On a tour of the Middle East, the group begged forgiveness for the violence of 11th-13th century military expeditions mobilized by Western Christendom to try to capture holy places under Muslim control. "We renounce greed, hatred and fear...and condemn all violence done in the name of Jesus Christ...Forgive us for allowing his name to be associated with death," they said in their apology. Palestinian Telecommunications Minister Imad Falouji said in response that new generations of Muslims, Jews and Christians a deserved a future without hatred and fear. But Falouji did not say whether Muslims would accept the apology. The eight major crusades to the Holy Land that began in 1095 ultimately failed to hold Christian sites, and by 1291, Acre, the last Crusader foothold in Muslim-ruled Palestine, was lost. The Christian group, which said it aims at reconciliation with Jews and Orthodox Christians as well as Muslims, said it offered love and brotherhood in contrast to Crusaders it said "were motivated by hatred and prejudice." Gaza Mufti Abdel-Karim al-Kahlout, a religious authority of the overwhelmingly Muslim strip, said that while the Christians were apologising for acts committed long before they were born, present-day "Israel is just an extension of the Crusades." Copyright 1999 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
