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4th
August, 2006
The
following is the text of a statement issued by Rev Dr SAMUEL
KOBIA, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches,
on 3rd August...
On 21st
July 2006, I wrote a letter to the permanent members of the
United Nations Security Council amongst others, calling for
an immediate cease-fire, protection of civilians as prescribed
by law, including the Geneva Conventions and multilateral
implementation of long-delayed UN Security Council resolutions
for peace in Lebanon, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian
Territories, including an urgent end to the illegal 39-year
occupation that is the vortex of the region’s violent
storms.
"The
television images of corpses of little children and
old women struggling to find their way through the
debris and rubble of their homes and a nation held
in fear are heart-wrenching. Much needed aid and assistance
that could be of help in these dire circumstances
has been hampered and is unable to reach those in
need."
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Despite this and
other such letters by religious leaders, a major tragedy continues
to unfold in the troubled region of the Middle East. A war
of ominous dimension and of far-reaching consequences is causing
unimaginable and untold suffering to the people in Lebanon.
In a period of three weeks, over six hundred people have lost
their lives and over a million have been displaced. The television
images of corpses of little children and old women struggling
to find their way through the debris and rubble of their homes
and a nation held in fear are heart-wrenching. Much needed
aid and assistance that could be of help in these dire circumstances
has been hampered and is unable to reach those in need.
Yet these developments
seemed to have no effect on the leaders of countries like
Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom. We call
on the Israeli government to give guarantees that humanitarian
organisations will be allowed unhindered access to those in
need of assistance. Dozens of villages have been flattened
into ruins by merciless bombings of the Israeli forces that
are continuing unabated despite promises of a temporary cease-fire.
In the circumstances, the World Council of Churches decided
to rush a pastoral delegation to Lebanon, but regrettably,
due to security concerns and difficulties of transporting
them to the affected areas, the visit for the time being has
been put on hold.
The present disproportionate acts of violence of immense magnitude
can have no justification. It is indeed shocking and disgraceful
for world leaders to stand before the bar of public opinion
and announce in a most callous manner that fighting will continue
till strategic military objectives are met. In effect they
are saying more people can continue to be killed while they
take their time to settle their political differences.
Appeals for sanity and restraint by religious leaders and
others for the cessation of hostilities and an immediate cease-fire
have fallen on deaf ears. Once again the United Nations Security
Council has been paralysed by the power and politics of the
dominant nations and its charter undermined. This blind faith
in military violence to resolve disputes and disagreements
is totally unwarranted, illegal and immoral. It is not the
way human beings should be approaching just peace in the 21st
century. It can never be too soon nor too late to seek a cease-fire
and a comprehensive peace. Our hearts cry out to the leaders
of the international community, especially to those from the
United States, Israel and the United Kingdom. Recognising
that humanitarian assistance cannot address the underlying
political conflicts, we appeal to them to do whatever is possible
to stop the bombings, negotiate a cease-fire and a comprehensive
peace settlement. We beseech them to trust in the promise
of peace for the alternative is horrors of war that we are
witnessing today.
We pray for all the people of Lebanon, Muslims and Christians
alike. We pray for the people of Israel who have fallen victims
to the missiles that continue to be fired indiscriminately
into their towns and villages. To the Christians and churches
in Lebanon we say, "May (the Lord) strengthen you in
his glorious might with ample power to meet whatever comes
with fortitude, patience and joy; and to give thanks to the
Father who has made you fit to share the heritage of God’s
people in the realm of light" (Colossians 1:11 to 12).
~ www.wcc-coe.org
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