Brethren Witness/Washington Office director joins in meeting with Palestinian president.

Phil Jones, director of the General Board's Brethren Witness/Washington Office, joined other church leaders in meeting with the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas on May 26 in Washington, D.C. The meeting with Abbas followed meetings that been held with a variety of Jewish and Muslim leaders earlier in the day, and meetings with President Bush that afternoon.

Opening remarks at the meeting were given by a variety of Christian leaders including Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, and Corinne Whitlatch, executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace. Whitlatch facilitated the meeting. Other church leaders represented Anglican, Episcopal, Catholic, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Orthodox, and Presbyterian denominations and faith groups.

As a follow up to his meeting with President Bush, a written document was presented to President Abbas by the group, to underscore the following position: "We stand with you as you encourage President Bush to advocate for both Palestinians and Israelis and to take actions that support his expressed commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state that is viable, contiguous, sovereign, independent, and at peace with its neighbor Israel."

"With this in mind," the letter continued, "we support Palestinian leadership in calling for an end to suicide bombings against Israeli citizens, and we applaud Israeli disengagement from Gaza, as first steps toward such a resolution."

Source: 06/08/2005 Newsline
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