The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East has expressed the firm hope that Jerusalem, known as a city of peace, would become a "symbol that could change our present world, the starter of the new order".

Bishop Samir Kafity, a prominent Palestinian and leader of Anglicans throughout the Middle East, was giving a sermon for the opening of an international conference on the "Significance of Jerusalem for Christians, and of Christians for Jerusalem". Christians from around the world, including many Palestinians, are taking part in the conference, which is sponsored by the Palestinian Liberation Theology Centre, in Jerusalem, in consultation with the Middle East Council of Churches and other Christian organisations.

Bishop Kafity called Jerusalem the mother not only of the Christian Church, but of Judaism and Islam as well. The holy city, he said, was "a mother who loves all her children equally and alike. She loves her three children, the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims. She has no preference.

"We pray that it may once again be the answer to the quest for peace," Bishop Kafity said. "May it be a city completely shared in every respect and at every level by Jews, Muslims and Christians - including a sharing of sovereignty."

In an opening address, Canon Naim Ateek, founder and director of the Palestinian Liberation Theology Centre, called attention to the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on the future of Jerusalem, due to begin in May.

Bishop Kafity said that the freedom of Jerusalem meant more than access to the city by Christians from abroad.

"It is the birthplace of Christianity and the roots of Judaism and Islam are here as well. No one should ever be denied the right to pray in Jerusalem," he said.

"The full-time vocation and comprehensive calling" of Christians, Bishop Kafity said, "is to be peace-makers. Not peace negotiators or peace-keepers, but peace-makers." He defined a peace-maker as "one who loves self and the other equally". Quoting words used by the US President Woodrow Wilson during the First World War, the bishop called for "peace without victory, so that all parties will feel they are victorious. There must be no victor nor victim, triumphant or defeated. This is the victory of peace."

Bishop Kafity's sermon which was given at the Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr also marked the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

The conference, one of whose goals is to foster relationships with Palestinian Christians, ended on 27 January.