Cultivate options for peace in the Middle East

As a Christian and a Muslim, we are both distressed about the growing violence in the Middle East. Moreover, terrible acts are committed in the name of religion.

Three Middle Eastern countries provoke our concern. In Iraq, Christians have inhabited cities for 2,000 years. They numbered about 1 million before the 1991 Gulf War, dropping to 800,000 following the 2003 U.S. invasion, and going down dramatically ever since. Today Mosul, rich in Christian history, is empty of Christians due to death threats following violent Sunni extremists marking house doors of Christians, Yazidees, Shia Muslims and other minorities.

In Syria, believed to be the land from which Christianity spread to the four corners of the world, Christians for centuries were fully integrated into the larger society, and coexisted with other faiths and cultures. Today's Syria is torn apart by civil war and sectarian violence. Christians along with other minorities have been fleeing since the uprising against Basher al-Assad's regime began peacefully two years ago.

The Holy Land is the birthplace of Jesus and holy to both Muslims and Jews. The exodus of Christians from Israel and Palestine may soon leave Bethlehem and Jerusalem without a local Christian population. Palestinian Christians, once a strong minority, are becoming the invisible people, squeezed between a growing Muslim population and burgeoning Israeli settlements. There are more Palestinian Christians in the U.S. than in Palestine.

In 2000, Mel visited a suburban home near Bethlehem in the West Bank. The home (along with its neighbors) was subjected to a regular shelling by Israeli tanks. Around five in the afternoon a tank would emerge from a recently built earthwork fort, makes its way up a hill, then turn and fire at the houses. A fragment of one artillery shell picked up from a living room was stamped 'Made in USA”. Mel felt ashamed.

The escalating military interventions by the U.S. government under successive presidents have led to suffering, displacement, death and to worsening outcomes. Violence and polarization destabilized age-old diverse communities. Our massive arms shipments are frequently purloined and used against us or those we wish to protect. They led to hatred of America and Americans and used as a successful recruiting tool of fighters by ISIS, al-Qaida, and other terrorist groups.

In 2009, President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the hope that he makes peace a reality. Sadly, America returned to the endless business of warfare. Much of the Christian exodus from Iraq and Israel/Palestine is due to our failed foreign policy. Our nation is predominately Christian and our policies continue to force fellow Christians to leave their ancestral homes.

It is time for America to have a different vision, pursue diplomacy, and cultivate options for peaceful conflict resolution.

It is also time for Americans to demand more from our media in covering global conflicts and to fully report the complexities within these countries. We want to learn more about true peacemaking: such as, the many interfaith peace groups bringing Israeli and Palestinian children and youth together to get to know one another and work together - in a land with a massive separation wall, many checkpoints and travel restrictions. These efforts give us hope for a better future for Israelis and Palestinians.

Absent from mainstream media is the ongoing peaceful resistance in the region, in Syria and Israel and Palestine. These brave and persistent peaceful efforts grow ever more difficult as more bombs drop and shells fly.

We must wage peace not war. We yearn to hear more stories of emergent interfaith collaborations, as we did few years ago when Muslims in Alexandria, Egypt protected Christians worshipping during Christmas services; and when Christians patrolled the perimeter of demonstrators in Tahrir Square during Muslim prayers. As we pray for peace, we hope that you find, keep, and treasure the friends you make across any (seeming) divide.

' The Rev. Mel Schlachter is an Episcopal priest and resides in Johnson County. Shams Ghoneim is the Coordinator of the Iowa Chapter of the Muslim Affairs Council. Comments: shamsghoneim@mchsi.com