BALTIMORE (CNS): As key leaders from Israel, the Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Syria and other nations gathered in Annapolis for a November 26-28 Middle East peace conference and related meetings, local Catholic leaders said they were hopeful the meetings would trigger further discussions for making a lasting peace in the Holy Land.
Peace is attainable, they said, but it will take assertive leadership from the United States to make it a reality.
“I’m guardedly optimistic in the sense that I’m always happy when there’s some kind of negotiation going on in the Middle East,” Baltimore Auxiliary Bishop Denis J Madden said.
Bishop Madden previously served as associate secretary general of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association and director of the Pontifical Mission for Palestine office in Jerusalem.
He said the lack of strong leadership from the United States in recent years has been a contributing reason the peace process has stalled. He was hopeful the US-led Annapolis conference would change that.
The conference and related meetings included participants from 50 organisations and countries, including Israel, the Palestinian territories and several Arab states.
“I think it’s very important for the US to show seriousness about all of this,” Bishop Madden told the Catholic Review, newspaper of Baltimore archdiocese.
“There’s a need for an outside party to provide leadership, as long as it’s going to be even-handed.”
Bishop Madden said there is general consensus about what steps are needed to achieve peace. Israelis would like greater control of the terrorists who pose a threat to security, he said, while Palestinians are looking for a cessation of Israeli settlement-building, the return of land and freer travel.
The bishop led a 12-day October pilgrimage to the Holy Land during which his group met with a variety of government leaders, representatives of local organisations, educators, religious leaders and others.
“The Israelis and Palestinians can and do live in peace,” he said. “We have extremist groups that always topple the equilibrium and when there’s an episode everything comes to a screeching halt.”
