THE Bishop of Bath
& Wells, the Rt Revd Peter Price, was recently a
member of a delegation to Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
They went in the hope that they might do something to encourage the
task of peace promotion.
Along with the Bishop of
Worcester, the Rt Revd John Inge, and others, he met Christian Aid
partners, including the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights
in the Occupied Territories, B'Tselem; and the Palestinian
Agricultural Relief Committees. He also met local people, including
this Palestinian (above, left).
On his return, Bishop Price
spoke in the House of Lords of his hope that the recent ceasefire
between Israel and Gaza would offer some measure of peace. "What is
hopeful is an increasing sense among the young that this situation
[of conflict] cannot last for ever," he said.
Bishop Price has long taken
a particular interest in foreign affairs and international aid, and
has contributed to peace-making in Northern Ireland, Iraq, and
Zimbabwe.
On this occasion, he told the House of Lords, he had been
particularly struck by a group of ten-year-old girls in a
post-trauma session who were articulating their dreams about the
future: how they wanted to be doctors, lawyers, or teachers. He
said that he watched, "saddened, as some could articulate their
pain only through dark drawings". He wondered "what kind of
humanity leaves behind a child - any child - unable to hold on to
its future?" He was not making a partisan point, he said, "but a
humanitarian one".
