Religious leaders from the Holy Land are committed to advancing peace and protecting sites considered holy by various faith traditions.
Religious leaders from the Holy Land are committed to advancing peace and protecting sites considered holy by various faith traditions.
The Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land expressed this resolve after a meeting which began last Monday in Washington, the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation reported Friday.
"We, believers from three religions, have been placed in this land — Jews, Christians and Muslims. It is our responsibility to find the right way to live together in peace rather than to fight and kill one another," the council members said in a communiqué.
Ten members of the council met with American religious and government leaders.
"Each religious community should treat the Holy Sites of other faiths in a manner that respects their integrity and independence and avoids any act of desecration, aggression or harm," the council communiqué said.
The group included Chief Rabbi David Rosen, president of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations; His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem; and Sheikh Tayser Rajab al-Tamimi, the supreme judge of Sharia Courts in Palestine.
In a separate action on Monday, senior Palestinian religious leaders agreed to establish a Palestinian branch of the Religions for Peace Interreligious Council.
