U.S. Christians Voice Support for Palestinian State

Finally we have some in the Christian community who support justice in the Middle East for Jews and Palestinians. The problem is that this President is totally in the back pocket of the Israeli lobby, which opposes a Palestinian state:

In recent years, conservative evangelicals who claimed a biblical mandate to protect Israel have built a bulwark of support for the Jewish state - sending donations, denouncing its critics and urging it not to evacuate settlements or forfeit territory.

Now more than 30 evangelical leaders have stepped forward to say these efforts have given the wrong impression about the stance of many, if not most, U.S. Christians.

On Friday, these leaders sent a letter to President George W. Bush saying that both Israelis and Palestinians had "legitimate rights stretching back for millennia to the lands of Israel/Palestine," and that they supported the creation of a Palestinian state "that includes the vast majority of the West Bank."

They said that being a friend to Jews and to Israel "does not mean withholding criticism when it is warranted." The letter added, "Both Israelis and Palestinians have committed violence and injustice against each other."

This movement will be given the cold shoulder by the politicians and by the press, tragically. There is only room for the Israeli lobby party line:
This group has a hard job ahead of them. They have to go up against the powerful the conservative fundamentalist Christians, whom are major political force within the Republican Party. This President's sympathies are well known. No Palestinian state during this administration:

In the past year and half, liberal and moderate evangelicals have initiated two other efforts that demonstrated fissures in the evangelical movement. Last year, they parted with the conservative flank by campaigning against climate change and global warming. This year, they denounced the use of torture in the fight against terrorism. Some of the participants in those campaigns also signed this letter.

The Reverend Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland Church in Longwood, Florida, said: "There is a part of the evangelical family which is what I call Christian Zionists, who are just so staunchly pro-Israel that Israel and their side can do no wrong, and it's almost anti-biblical to criticize Israel for anything. But there are many more evangelicals who are really open and seek justice for both parties."