CPTNET
CHICAGO: JERRY FALWELL URGED TO RECONSIDER INITIATIVE WITH
ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU

Citing devastating consequences on the Middle East peace process and the
plight of Palestinian Christians, Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding
(EMEU), a Chicago-based organization with a twelve year history of work in
the Middle East, asked Rev. Jerry Falwell to reconsider his pledge of
January 20, 1998, to contact 200,000 Evangelical pastors on behalf of
Israel.

In a letter to Falwell, EMEU leaders noted that the Palestinian Christian
population has dropped dramatically since Israel's creation in 1948. "As
Evangelical leaders," the letter stated, "we must call into question policies
and practices that cause the decline of Christ's church." The Christian
Peacemaker Teams program in Hebron and North America has repeatedly called
upon Christians who support the expansionism of Israel to reconsider their
position in light of the Biblical call for justice.

The letter to Falwell continued: "We urge you to listen to your sisters and
brothers in these lands before pursuing this policy." The EMEU Board
invited Rev. Falwell to travel with them to visit the Christians of
Bethlehem and see the Holy Land from that perspective.

"We are living in exceedingly violent times, particularly in the Middle
East. As the United States begins to prepare the international community
for military action against Iraq, the long anticipated peace between Israel
and its Arab neighbors is dying," EMEU stated.

The letter concluded by asking Rev. Falwell to join EMEU in taking three
steps that might offer a "middle path to peace and justice for Jews and
Palestinians:"

l. To join EMEU in a week of prayer and discernment for peace with
justice in the Middle East, beginning Sunday February 15, 1998, and inviting
the nations churches, synagogues, and mosques to join the effort;

2. To set aside Monday, February 16th, as a national day of prayer
and fasting for peace in the Middle East;

3. To urge Rev. Falwell to come to Bethlehem for the week of
February 8-15 to see and experience the situation first hand, and to join
them at a conference at Bethlehem University, organized by Palestinian
Christians, to consider how they will survive in the coming years.

To contact Rev. Falwell write: Rev. Jerry Falwell, Thomas Rd. Baptist
Church, 701 Thomas Road, Lynchburg VA 24502 tel. 804-239-9281 FAX
804-832-2026 e-mail jbbonar [at] liberty [dot] edu

For further information on the EMEU letter to Rev. Falwell, please contact:
Dr. Don Wagner, Director of EMEU and Professor of Religion at North Park
University in Chicago (tel. 773-244-5785; email dwagner [at] northpark [dot] edu)