[R-G] Bishops' warning over Middle East

[Suzanne de Kuyper]

Dear Mr. Shniad:  An article sent Oct 5 you labeled as very important,
frightening reading, urgent to pass on I read and attempted to pass
on, only to find that somehow none were sent on and the article is
deleted from my inbox...would it be possible for you or the rad-green
could resend me that article?  I have a wide group I want to forward
it to.  Thank you

sincerely, Suzanne de Kuyper
114 west Adams Street, #1601
Detroit, MI   48226
1 857 204 9429
suzannedk at gmail.com

On 10/7/07, Sid Shniad <shniad at sfu.ca> wrote:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7027541.stm
>
> BBC News      October 4, 2007
>
> Bishops' warning over Middle East
>
> Three senior bishops have made public a letter they wrote to the prime
> minister about hopes for peace in the Middle East after he failed to reply.
> The letter, written three months ago, accused Israel of undermining the
> chance of a future Palestinian state.
>
> The Bishops of Exeter, Winchester and Coventry believe only a two-state
> solution will create peace.
>
> But they said that this would soon become impossible unless international
> pressure was placed on Israel.
>
> The Bishop of Exeter, Michael Langrish, the Bishop of Winchester, Michael
> Scott-Joynt, and the Bishop of Coventry, Colin Bennetts, sent the letter
> privately to Gordon Brown on June 13, and decided to make it public after
> failing to get a response.
>
> 'Segregation wall'
>
> The bishops singled out what they called the "segregation wall", telling Mr
> Brown he would be horrified to see how it cut Palestinians off from farmland
> and water supplies.
>
> The Israeli government says the West Bank barrier is a security measure to
> stop suicide bombers.
>
> Critics say the structure is part of an effort to annex occupied land and it
> has been declared illegal by the international Court of Justice.
>
> They argued that the barrier should not be allowed to become Israel's new
> border because it would constitute the expansion of Israeli territory by
> force.
>
> Bishop Langrish told the BBC News website that they were not intending to
> embarrass the prime minister by releasing the letter.
>
> He said they thought it was important to get a response before the
> forthcoming peace conference.
>
> Clarify approach
>
> "We all have a long-standing engagement with the Middle East and we are
> often asked about our government's real position on the issue given he had
> made some interesting speeches," he said.
>
> "We were asking him to clarify the approach of the government in this area."
>
>
> The bishops claimed that the alternatives to a two-state solution were a
> mass movement of population or some form of apartheid, both unacceptable.
>
> Meanwhile, they said, the possibility of any independent Palestinian state
> being viable would shortly disappear.
>
> A spokesman for the Prime Minister said Downing Street's correspondence unit
> has no record of receiving a letter dated June 13, but had received a follow
> up on September 25.
>
> He said: "They thought a reply to this had gone out yesterday, possibly
> today. It should be with the bishops shortly."
>
>
>
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