REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, praises Interfaith Mission for Peace and Understanding mission that consists of 24 prominent leaders of the Abrahamic faith communities, representing both US and Indonesian participants. She responded to the statement by the mission team, after visiting Jakarta, Amman, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Washington DC. 

“One of my major policy objectives at the State Department has been to expand our dialogue with civil society around the world, including with communities of faith, to address common challenges,” she said in a statement released by the US embassy in Jakarta on Tuesday. 

The Interfaith Mission for Peace and Understanding consists of 24 prominent leaders of the Abrahamic faith communities, representing both U.S. and Indonesian participants. “Collectively, we represent over a hundred million people of faith in our respective countries,” according to the mission on its statement. 

Their objectives are to explore the ways in which faith can serve as a bridge to peace and understanding in a world challenged by rising religious extremism; to deepen the relationships between prominent US and Indonesian faith leaders and leading political, diplomatic and NGO leaders in two key regions of the world.

“Given that peace is one of the highest principles of the Abrahamic traditions we are pained to witness the ongoing conflict in the world and, in particular, in the Middle East, the birthplace of our common ancestor, Abraham.” 

In the end, the mission calls on all parties to that conflict to work vigorously toward a just and lasting peace that recognizes the national aspirations of both the Palestinian people and the Israeli people and embraces the human rights and the political rights of both. 

Rabbi Sidney Schwarz leads the Interfaith Mission for Peace and Understanding. Among 24 religious figures are Imam Yahya Hendi (President Clergy Beyond Borders; Muslim Chaplain, Georgetown), Mohammad Syamsi Ali Imam (Chairman of the Indonesian Muslim Community), Rev Chloe Breyer (Executive Director, The Interfaith Center of New York), Slamet Effendy Yusuf (Central Board of Nahdlatul Ulama Chairman), Fr Ignatius Ismartono (Director of Volunteer Community ‘Friends of Humanity'). 

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