NEW YORK (AP) — As Israelis and Palestinians take faltering steps toward peace in the Mideast, Christian groups watching from the United States have taken sharply different stances on the peace plan backed by President Bush.
The majority of churches — Roman Catholic, Orthodox, mainline Protestant and some evangelical groups — welcome the three-step plan called the “road map,” which envisions the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
President Bush is hosting Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas today to discuss the initiative, and is to meet Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
A vocal segment of evangelical Protestants, however, are lobbying the Bush administration to abandon the plan because they believe it rewards terrorism and violates God’s promise to give the Jewish people the historic land of Israel.
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