06225
April 20, 2006

Clerk issues statement on suicide bombing

Kirkpatrick: Attack is ‘a grim reminder
of the violence that undermines peace’

by Sharon Youngs
OGA communications coordinator

LOUISVILLE — The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has issued the following statement on the April 17 suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, Israel:

        The attack of a suicide bomber in Tel Aviv on the day after Easter, and in the middle of the Passover season, comes as a grim reminder of the hatred and violence that have so consistently undermined possibilities for peace, security, and prosperity for the Israeli and Palestinian people.

        We mourn those who died in this bombing, and we pray for their families and friends. We join our Christian partners in the region and elsewhere and President Abbas in condemning this attack. It is our unwavering belief that the use of terror and the killing and maiming of innocent people are never justifiable.

        Although responsibility for the attack was claimed by other groups, we are disturbed, nonetheless, by news reports that Hamas leaders consider this deadly act a “legitimate response” to actions of the Israeli government. We must decry such a statement, and say again what we said in a letter to the newly elected leadership of Hamas in February of this year, “We (condemn) all forms of terror and violence that have led to such unspeakable human tragedy in the region…. All forms of violence, whatever their purported justification, have only hardened the resolve of the victims on every side and rendered lasting solutions ever more remote.”

        Once again, we call on Hamas leaders in the Palestinian government to renounce tactics of terrorism and to cooperate with Palestinians and Israelis who are seeking peace and security for all who live in the land that is holy to Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike.