Why we think the Bishops are wrong: (part 5)

• It should by now be clear to everyone that the only hope for a peaceful resolution of the crisis in the Middle East is for the Arabs to give up their murderous and suicidal determination to destroy Israel and "drive the Jews into the sea".
  This will require all who hope to make a constructive contribution to the peace process to be firm in their determination to reject the PLO and all that it stands for. Encouraging the Palestinians in their belief that Israel is the cause of their problems will only encourage more violence. Furthermore, such "coddling" of terrorist leaders such as Arafat postpones the time when a genuinely moderate leadership might emerge. To accept, as our Bishop and many other Episcopal leaders have done, the terrorist version of Middle East history - in which the Jews are the aggressors, and Palestinians the passive victims - is to collude with Palestinian self-delusion. And as with alcoholics and drug addicts, collusion only empowers the underlying pathology and postpones the day of healing.

Bishop Thomas Shaw with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat.