In a letter to UN Security Council members last night Embrace joined US and UK church leaders and development agency directors calling on the UN to work for a permanent and lasting solution to the conflict in Israel and Palestine that will guarantee equality and human rights for all.

Dear Members of the United Nations Security Council:

We write to you as church leaders from Europe and North America with deep ties to the Holy Land and a strong commitment to work toward a just and lasting end to the conflict in Israel-Palestine. The increased violence of the past weeks and the loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives could, and should, have been avoided. During the holy month of Ramadan, over 200 Muslims were injured when Israeli police forces deployed rubber bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas canisters inside the third most important Holy place for Muslims. Respect for, and guaranteed access to, all holy sites particularly, but not only in Jerusalem, is an essential precursor to a return to calm. We condemn all attacks against civilians —including Israel’s bombing of Gaza and rocket fire from Hamas -- as a violation of international humanitarian law.

Every effort to secure an immediate ceasefire, including direct pressure from international governments and multilateral bodies, must be pursued. Every hour without a ceasefire leads to more suffering and civilian deaths as of May 19, at least 227 Palestinians in Gaza, including 64 children, and 12 Israelis, including 2 children have died. We call on members of the Security Council, including the United States and the other permanent members, to put aside differences and call for an immediate ceasefire.

Extreme violence will remain a constant threat until and unless the root causes of the conflict are properly addressed. In Jerusalem, a city of sacred importance to Christian, Jews, and Muslims, the current unrest is linked directly to the ongoing military occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israel, and efforts to remove Palestinians residents from their homes.

In the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, several families face imminent forced expulsion from the homes they have lived in for decades, to make way for Israeli settlers. Over the past several decades we have seen a significant increase in de facto annexation, with Palestinians expelled from their homes throughout the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, to make way for expanded illegal Israeli settlements. The daily humiliations of occupation are reinforced by restrictions on movements, evictions and demolitions. For violence to end permanently Israel’s occupation must also end.

We urge the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), to act immediately to address the continuing underlying causes of injustice that will otherwise remain a constant threat to peace in the Holy Land: occupation, land dispossession, displacement, and the withholding of basic human rights we take for granted. What is required is not a temporary ceasefire, but a permanent and lasting solution that will guarantee equality and human rights for all.

Signed:

Rev. Eddy Alemán

General Secretary

Reformed Church in America

Christine Allen

Director

CAFOD

His Eminence Archbishop Angaelos

Coptic Orthodox Archbishop of London

His Eminence Archbishop Vicken Aykazian

Ecumenical Director and Diocesan Legate

Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)

Canon Anthony Ball

Chair

Jerusalem and the Middle East Church Association

Carol Bremer-Bennett

Director

World Renew U.S.

Revd Dr John Bradbury

General Secretary

United Reformed Church

Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon

Executive Director

Churches for Middle East Peace

The Rt Revd Christopher Chessun

The Lord Bishop of Southwark

Church of England Lead Bishop for International Affairs

Father Drew Christiansen, S.J.

Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Global Human Development

Senior Fellow

Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs Georgetown University

The Revd David Coffey

Former Moderator

Free Churches Group

Carole Collins

Director of Operations and Finance

Alliance of Baptists

The Most Rev Michael B. Curry

Presiding Bishop and Primate

The Episcopal Church

Anita Delhaas-van Dijk

Chief Executive

International Community of the Holy Sepulchre (ICoHS)

Rev. Paula Clayton Dempsey

Director of Partnership Relations

Alliance of Baptists

Rev. Dr. John Dorhauer

General Minister and President

United Church of Christ

Rev. Emmett L. Dunn

Executive Secretary-Treasurer/CEO Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Society, Inc.

The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton

Presiding Bishop

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Rt Rev Dr Martin Fair

Moderator

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

Sir Vincent Fean

Chair of Trustees

The Balfour Project

Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray

President

Unitarian Universalist Association

Rt Revd Jonathan Goodall

Bishop of Ebbsfleet

Church of England

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton

Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit

Susan Gunn

Director

Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

Rev. Dr. Jimmie Hawkins

Director of Advocacy for Compassion, Peace, and Justice Ministries (CPJ)

Presbyterian Church (USA)

Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe

General Secretary, General Board of Church and Society,

The United Methodist Church

Revd Canon Garth Hewitt

Founder Amos Trust

Canon of St George’s Anglican Cathedral, Jerusalem

Rt Revd John Inge

The Lord Bishop of Worcester

Lead Bishop for International Affairs

Church of England

Ida Kaastra-Mutoigo

World Renew Canada Director

Rev. Dr. Julia Brown Karimu

President, Division of Overseas Ministries,

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada

Co-Executive

Global Ministries of the Christian Church( Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ

Bishop Declan Lang

Bishop of Clifton, Chair – Department of International Affairs

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales

Rt Revd Dr Michael Langrish

Former Bishop of Exeter

Carolyn Lawrence

Vice-President

Conference of the Methodist Church in Britain

Tim Livesey

CEO

Embrace the Middle East

Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews

President

Alliance of Baptists

Very Rev Andrew R C McLellan

Former Moderator

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

Bishop Alan McGuckian

Bishop of Raphoe, Chair Council for Justice and Peace

Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference

Amanda Mukwashi

CEO

Christian Aid

Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson II

Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church

Presbyterian Church (USA)

Bishop William Nolan

Bishop of Galloway

Commission for Justice and Peace

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland

Rev. Teresa Hord Owens

General Minister and President

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada

Rt Revd John Pritchard

Former Bishop of Oxford

Church of England

Timothy Radcliffe OP

Former Master of the Order of Preachers

Dominicans

Diane Randall

General Secretary

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Rev Chris Rose

Director

Amos Trust

Richard Santos

President and CEO

Church World Service

Dr. Ron Sider

President emeritus

Evangelicals for Social Action;

Board co-chair

Christians for Social Action

Dr. Andrea Smith

Founder and Board Member

Evangelicals4Justice

Rev. JP Sundararajan

Director of Global Mission

Reformed Church in America

Revd Richard Teal

President of the Conference

Methodist Church in Britain

Rev. Dr. Al Tizon

Executive Minister of the Evangelical Covenant Church

Nikki Toyama-Szeto

Executive Director

Christians for Social Action

Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson

Associate General Minister

United Church of Christ Co-Executive, Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ

Bishop Noël Treanor

Bishop of Down and Connor

President – Justice and Peace Europe

Colin Watson

Executive Director

Christian Reformed Church in North America

Jim Winkler

President and General Secretary

National Council of Churches

Archpriest Thomas Zain

Vicar-General Antiochian

Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America