THE Bishop of Chelmsford, Rt Revd John Gladwin, spoke in a debate ‘to take note on Gaza' in the House of Lords on February 6.

Responding to Lord Malloch-Brown, Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Bishop John said: "I was enormously grateful to the Minister for beginning by talking about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. It underlines for me, as a former chair of Christian Aid, the universal importance in our country of the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal and the need for it to be properly publicised. This is urgent.

"May I also say that I am president of the English Friends of Sabeel, which is a Christian organisation in the Holy Land that is working on the issues of Palestinian liberation.

"Every situation is different - but I am reminded of what we experienced in the north of Ireland during the days of the Troubles. We are bound to say, are we not, that no one can win? Both sides may have claimed to have won this conflict, but in fact both have lost.

"Diplomacy is clearly the starting point, and is surely geared to turning diversity and difference to the task of peace with justice. Ways must be found to bring to the table all, including those to whom some say they will never speak.

"Diplomacy behind the scenes, whatever the rhetoric up front, clears the ground to make that possible, and I wonder how the international community is thinking of strategies for enabling that diplomatic task to succeed.

"Clearly we must use all the strength of our international community to insist that the parties negotiate a solution. Whatever is said about the wider international community, we all know that the behaviour of the new American Administration will be critical. The friend of Israel must now become an honest broker in this dispute.

"There are promising signals, not least the difficult agenda that Barack Obama has opened up in carrying forward his desire to open up negotiations with Tehran.

"By crossing these divides, the international community can begin to pull the parties to the table. We know that some will come kicking and screaming, but the international community must use its influence and power to achieve that task."

Bishop John added: "It is vital that the powerful voice of faith traditions in the Middle East are brought to bear on this task. Again, when I was last in the region, everyone said that one of the problems with the Oslo accords in the 1990s was that they excluded the faith traditions, which was a mistake. We must mount ourselves over the fantasies that many have that all religious Jews in Israel are fanatical right wingers, that all leaders of Islam are potential terrorists and that the leaders of the Christian Church spend their time arguing about who controls the holy sites. It is time we got out of this mode and got to the substance of the contribution that they and people behind the political leaders can contribute as community leaders in creating a climate which encourages the process to peace.

"Only the international community can bring hope into all of this. Not only do the people of Gaza need their lives and homes rebuilt, confidence needs patiently to be rebuilt. With it, there needs to be a focus on peace and justice, from which all of us should refuse to be diverted."

? To read the full version of the speech, visit www.chelmsford.anglican.org/bishopspeeches

? Support the Faiths Working Together Appeal for emergency work in Gaza - visit www.faithsworkingtogether.org

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