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On peacemaking and Middle East violence

    From The Tablet:
    A two-state solution, negotiated by Israel and Palestine with the support of the international community, is the only way to peace, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to United Nations, Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, said during the UN International Conference in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace.
    Read Full story: http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/5798/0/holy-see-peace-process-in-israel-and-palestine-is-the-responsibility-of-believers

    From The Tablet:
    The world community needs to get serious about ending the conflict in Syria and call out those who claim to support peace while making money from arms sales, Pope Francis has said.
    Read Full story: http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/5795/0/pope-francis-there-is-no-military-solution-for-syria-only-a-political-one

    From CBN News:
    More than a decade of war has left Iraq’s minority populations on the brink of extinction, a new human rights report warns.
    Read Full story: http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2016/july/years-of-islamic-violence-pushes-iraqs-minorities-to-near-extinction

    From Religion News Service:
    The explosions targeting U.S. diplomats, Shi’ite worshippers and a security headquarters at a mosque in the holy city of Medina follow days of mass killings claimed by the Islamic State group, in Turkey, Bangladesh and Iraq. The attacks all seem to have been timed to coincide with the approach of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that celebrates the end of the fast.
    Read Full story: http://religionnews.com/2016/07/04/suicide-bombers-hit-three-saudi-cities/

    From Tikkun:
    It is with great sadness and profound grief that we have to once again express our deep sympathy to the recent victims of the savage crimes of ISIS in Orlando, Turkey, Bangladesh, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
    Read Full story: http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/a-significant-muslim-voice-on-recent-mass-murders-supposedly-in-the-name-of-islam

    From United Church Observer:
    Terma Harrak had lived all of her 94 years in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. She was devoted to her Assyrian Christian church, spoke the language that Jesus spoke, communed at peace with her Muslim neighbours.
    Read Full story: http://www.ucobserver.org/faith/2016/07/exodus/

    From Church Leaders news:
    Two days ago, the Iraqi capital of Baghdad experienced the worst bombing in at least a decade. The latest news reports 250 people are dead, with the death toll still expected to rise.
    Read Full story: http://www.churchleaders.com/daily-buzz/282747-baghdad-sees-worst-bombing-years-dont-mourn.html

    From Prophecy News Watch:
    The potential signing of a Middle East peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians – and by extension the Arab world- would be a highly significant event on God’s prophetic calendar.
    Read Full story: http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=471

    From Christian Today:
    Amid the flood of Chilcot report coverage focusing on the build-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion, there has been little attention on Iraqi Christians, whose perilous plight echoes that of displaced and persecuted Christians in the Middle East more widely.
    Read Full story: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/iraq.invasion.sounded.death.knell.for.iraqi.christians/90086.htm

    From Christian Today:
    Sir John Chilcot has said that Tony Blair’s government agreed to the invasion of Iraq before “peaceful options…had been exhausted” and that military action was “not a last resort”.
    Read Full story: http://bit.ly/29xWEQr