The
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Salaam and grace to you from
We are profoundly and deeply saddened by the recent escalation of violence that killed 8 in the Yeshiva last night and 120 in
We in the church have been steady and strong voices for non-violence. As it says in one of our Lutheran schools, "violence is the tool of the incompetent." I believe it is also the tool of the desperate and the hopeless. This is not to excuse any violence on any side but to face the hard reality that unless people have something to live for they have nothing to lose. A human rights report this week reports that the 1.4 million people in
We must not allow the deterioration of the situation to accelerate the vicious cycle of violence. Lasting peace and security will never come at the point of a gun or in the rubble of the shelling, but only through hard and tough dialogue and the upholding of equal human rights and international law.
Leaders and people in the
We urge our sisters and brothers in this Land, Israeli and Palestinian, to stop the violence: the missiles, shelling, shooting, rockets and incursions, and to restore basic human rights to the people of
May God bless all the families of those who have been killed, and may God help us together, to reach a more just and dignified future for us all. With the writer of Revelation, we yearn for the day when "death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more." (Rev. 21:4)
We ask all our partner churches in the world and all people of good conscience to make time in their services for prayers of mercy for all people in the
Sincerely,
Bishop Munib Younan
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