Washington D.C., Apr 18, 2011 / 23:27 pm
The U.S. Catholic bishops have joined a coalition of Christian, Jewish, and Muslims leaders urging the president and secretary of state to take advantage of a new opportunity for peace between Israel and the Palestinian territories.
“We believe the Israeli peace initiative, the earlier Arab Peace Initiative, and the Geneva Accord, taken together, offer key principles and ideas for negotiations to achieve comprehensive Arab-Israeli-Palestinian peace,” the bishops and other leaders stated in an April 14 letter to President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.
A group of former Israeli government, intelligence, and security officials recently brought forward the proposal to create a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza according to Israel's 1967 borders. It would also allow Israel and the Palestinians to share control of Jerusalem, and provide for the return of Palestinian refugees according to a consensus agreement between the two sides.
Among the signatories were Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the retired Archbishop of Washington, D.C., and Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, chairman of the bishops' committee on justice and peace. A collection of Muslim clerics and Jewish rabbis, mostly from Reform denominations, also gave their endorsement.