McCarrick calls for U.S. engagement in Mideast peace process

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April 2007

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McCarrick calls for U.S. engagement in Mideast peace process
During a March 10 visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C. and member of the Board of Directors of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), called for continuing active U.S. involvement to support a just peace in the Holy Land that would guarantee security for Israel and a viable state for Palestinians.

The Cardinal met with local religious leaders of Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths, as well as government officials, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, during a visit Wednesday to Gaza City. In addition, he had the opportunity to meet with youth groups and student leaders in Gaza who are helping to promote peace within their schools and local communities.

“We truly believe that peace in the Holy Land is a key to peace in the Middle East,” McCarrick said. “The U.S. has a unique opportunity to act as an honest broker and seek a two-state solution that gives Israel the ability to exist securely within its borders, and at the same time, allows Palestinians to feel at home in a viable state of their own.”

The Cardinal met with the recently formed Council for Interreligious Institutions, which brings together the leaders of the three faith communities in Jerusalem. After the meeting, he indicated there is reason for hope, but remarked “the time is shortening, and there is always concern a disaster could arise which could put the progress of peace back.”

A new United Nations report finds nearly half of households in the Palestinian territories are malnourished as a result of the current conflict and the international boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority. CRS provides emergency food assistance to a combined 150,000 people in the West Bank and Gaza and also supports programs in education, job creation and youth development.

In January, McCarrick led an inter-faith delegation that met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to promote peace in the Holy Land as a priority for foreign policy. Members represented the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East (NILI), a group of Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and active U.S. leadership in the peace process.

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