McGuinness shares peace building insights with Middle Eastern delegation

Palestinian Christian church leaders met with Martin McGuinness today to hear his experience of peace building and to discuss the Middle East conflict.
~ Tuesday, 30 November 2010

The leaders are Archbishop Theodosius Hanna of the Greek Orthodox Church, Monsignor Manuel Musallam of the Latin Catholic Church and Mr Constantine Dabbagh of the Middle East Council of Churches.

They are taking part in an Ireland-wide speaking tour organised by SADAKA, the Ireland Palestine Alliance, in partnership with Christian Aid and Trócaire.

The Church leaders expressed their concern about the difficulties experienced by Christians living under Israeli occupation in Palestine, in particular, the lack of freedom of access to religious sites. As a consequence, they said, Christian emigration is increasing and the Christian population is in steady decline.

The deputy First Minister said: "I welcome the opportunity to exchange views on the Middle East situation and to share our experiences of living in and through conflict.

"Conflict remains very much a part of daily life in the Middle East causing great hardship for all. We too have experienced dark days but, by building trust, risk-taking and a desire for peace we have created a peaceful society, building on past experience to make a better future for us all.

"By sharing our lessons from the peace process and listening to their experiences we have all broadened our understanding and hopefully made a positive contribution to the future of all the people in the Middle East."

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