06438
August 29, 2006

Israeli-Palestinian pacts failed from lack of religious input, Holy Land bishop says

by Hisashi Yukimoto
Ecumenical News International

KYOTO, Japan — Peace accords between Israelis and Palestinians have failed because there was no religious input into them, says a Holy Land Lutheran bishop who was among a group of Christians, Jews and Muslims organizing special meetings during a world interfaith conference. 
 
     “Religion should play a positive role and be a driving force for solution for the sufferer,” Bishop Munib Younan told Ecumenical News International. “The Oslo agreement failed because religion was absent there,” he said referring to the 1993 peace accord signed in Norway by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. 
 
     Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, was speaking at a break on Aug. 28 during the four-day 8th assembly of the World Conference of Religions for Peace held in Kyoto with the theme, “Confronting Violence and Advancing Shared Security.” 
 
     “We are creating an interfaith council on Jerusalem in the Middle East. We want to build bridges with others,” he said, noting that the conflict over Jerusalem needed to be solved through a two-state solution for the shared security of the city sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims. 
 
     “The process of creating the council started about a year ago. It is not new. It is still in the making,” Younan said, explaining he belonged to the group that formed the interreligious body. 
 
     During the Kyoto gathering, Christian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran leaders from the Middle East plus two chief rabbis and a Palestinian chief Islamic judge met, said Younan. They had been closed meetings, he clarified, due to the “sensitive issues for Jews and Muslims” discussed.  
 
     The council aims to learn about other religions, denounce violence, take up the root causes of the conflict and build peace together, according to the bishop.  
 
     Younan is also a vice president of the Lutheran World Federation, the Geneva-based grouping representing 66 million Lutherans around the world. He said he hoped the interreligious council would receive support from the Lutheran grouping and the worldwide ecumenical movement.