The Church of England has called on the Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, to show a renewed commitment to the peace process in the Middle East.

Following the Archbishop of Canterbury's initiative the International and Development Affairs Committee of the General Synod of the Church of England issued a statement in October calling on the two men to continue negotiations in the spirit of Oslo, to fulfil undertakings already made and to resume the process leading towards Final Status talks.

"To return to the politics of mutual negation in which the demands of one side cannot be acceptable to the other would be a recipe for permanent instability and bloody conflict. It is essential that both sides refrain from acts which would be provocative to the other party and seek to work towards mutual recognition, co-existence and eventual trust."

The committee welcomes the clear position taken by the British Foreign Secretary and his European Union counterparts. It also expresses support for the initiatives of the Church leaders in the Holy Land and expresses sympathy to the families of those who have been killed in recent days, recalling the words of the late Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, "enough of the killing".

Article from: Church of England Newspaper