The death of the towering Palestinian President, Yassir Arafat, has drawn broad international awareness. From top national leaders and religious bodies down to the general public, all have been shocked by the news and are very curious about the future of the long standing Palestinian-Israeli conflicts.
While the WCC (World Council of Churches) sent the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church - the largest Christian Church in Middle East - His Holiness Pope Shenouda III attended the funeral of Arafat last week in Cairo, Egypt, and churches across the UK have been devoted in the prayer for peace between Palestine and Israeli.
Steven Hucklesby, Secretary for International Affairs from the Methodist Church of the Great Britain said, “As Palestinians mourn the loss of ‘Abu Ammar’ they must also look for new opportunities to achieve their demands for an independent Palestinian state.”
“We pray for a new peace process based on peace and constructive dialogue, and urge our government to play its part in breaking the current deadlock.”
The British Prime Minister Tony Blair appreciated Arafat’s effort in leading his people to an historic acceptance of the need for a two-state solution.
“That goal of a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel is one that we must continue to work tirelessly to achieve. Peace in the Middle East must be the international community’s highest priority,” Blair pledged, “We will do whatever we can, working with the US and the EU to help the parties reach a fair and durable settlement.”
The Methodist Church has welcomed Blair’s statement. The church’s spokesman continued, “The path to this goal can only be through peaceful negotiation. The violence of the suicide bombings and Israeli assassination operations and house demolitions has put the political process on hold.”
British Liberal Democrat Party commented that now is a very crucial time. Its Foreign Affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the “opportunity has got to be taken (by the international community) to press ahead to try and reach some settlement”.
On 21st October, Christian Aid published a report entitled “Facts on the ground: the end of the two-state solution?”. The report sharply pointed out that the issue of the land is both the problem and solution of the conflict between Palestine and Israel.
Facing the rising poverty level, mounting malnutrition and anaemia, unemployment and displacement, Christian Aid has urged the UK and Irish Governments as well as the EU to take a determined and rapid intervention in the Palestinian-Israeli dialogue.
Christian Aid is the development arm of 40 UK churches, and an associate of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI).
British Christian bodies have spearheaded the WCC’s Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme (EAPPI) in Palestine-Israel, which has proved to be very effective. The Quakers are the lead body for the Programme in Britain. Other member churches and agencies of the Middle East Forum of the CTBI Churches’ Commission on Mission are also involved.
Churches in Britain are continuing to sponsor practical peace-building work enabling EAPPI to place trained observers alongside church and voluntary bodies in zones of conflict in the Middle East.