Photo by Chuttersnap via Unsplash
Together with more than 140 other church leaders from around the world, the Rev. Bronwen Boswell, Acting Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has signed a letter calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the halt of arms sales to Israel. Read the letter by Churches for Middle East Peace here.
“As Christians around the world prepare to commemorate the final suffering in the earthly life of Jesus Christ during Holy Week, we stand in solidarity with all in the Holy Land who suffer,” the letter states. “We repent of the ways we have not stood alongside our Palestinian siblings in faithful witness in the midst of their grief, agony, and sorrow.”
The letter asserts that world leaders “have responded with empty rhetoric and political volleying about addressing the ‘humanitarian crisis’ in Gaza while ignoring the direct causes of the catastrophe. Those causes are the daily bombing and ground invasion by the Israeli military, in addition to the shutting off of basic life-sustaining services to more than two million people who are suffering the consequences of crimes not their own.”
The United States and other nations’ “further militarization of the conflict makes no one safer and instead prolongs suffering and causes more death and destruction,” the letter states, calling on the United States and other nations to join the list of countries that have halted “additional military support and arms to Israel and not be complicit in the ongoing military campaign that is having such devastating effects on civilians in Gaza.”
“We say, ‘Enough killing!’ and together demand a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire,” the letter states before pointing out that on Oct. 7, Hamas attacked southern Israel and killed approximately 1,200 Israelis and internationals and took more than 240 people hostage in Gaza. “We have been clear in our condemnation of these actions of Hamas, which were an atrocious crime,” the letter states. “We have consistently called for the remaining hostages to be returned home to their families.”
Acting Stated Clerk Bronwen Boswell
- photo by Rich Copley
“We, as global Christian leaders, stand with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Palestine and around the world and say the killing must stop, and the violence must be brought to an end,” the letter states. “We ask world leaders to exercise strong moral courage to bring an immediate end to the violence and to open a pathway toward peace and an end to the conflict.”
On Monday, following several failed attempts, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, abstained.
“Immediate and adequate humanitarian assistance must be provided for the more than two million Palestinian people in Gaza who have such desperate needs,” the letter states. “As we prepare for Holy Week, we lament and pray for comfort for all who have lost loved ones over the past months in Gaza, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Israel.”
“We know that Jesus himself was among those who suffered, and he comforted the brokenhearted,” the letter concludes. “We say, ‘Enough atrocities in Gaza; enough violence, death and destruction! May love triumph over hate.’ We hold onto the hope that peace is possible even in the midst of this darkest hour.”
Access more materials related to Israel-Palestine here.