This year’s Lutheran World Federation Conference, under the motto “The Church: Called to the Ministry of Reconciliation”, ended in Bethlehem Tuesday with a plea to intensify peace efforts in the Middle East conflict.
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The leadership council of the LWF demanded that Israel end its occupation of Palestinian territories and condemned the limits to Palestinian freedom.

LWF President, Bishop Mark S. Hanson, said in his closing statement that Jerusalem must remain an open city for Christians, Jews and Muslims. He welcomed Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip as a sign of hope in the direction of a two-state solution, which guarantees Israeli security and an independent Palestine.

The LWF also gave hard criticism to Israel for negative impact of their partitions on Palestinian territory.

President Hanson and the LWF’s General Secretary, Ishmael Noko, also met with the Minister President of Jordan, Adnan Badran, during the conference, which ran from 30 August to 6 September, to discuss the peace process, the future of Lutheran schools in West Jordan and interfaith dialogue.
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At a press conference Tuesday, Hanson said that this year’s conference had been particularly significant because of its location. He said it was important for representatives of the LWF churches to be in the Holy Land and to stand in solidarity with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), which hosted the event.

The next World Lutheran Federation Conference will take place in 2010 in Stuttgart, Germany.