The World Council of Churches (WCC) is launching an international, inter-church advocacy initiative for peace in Israel and Palestine.

Describing the past six months as "a disaster for Palestinians and indeed the whole Middle East," the leading Lutheran bishop in Jerusalem has urged US Christians to join their Middle East brothers and sisters and say they are "fed up" with stigmatization, bloodshed, hatred and occupation affecting both Israelis and Palestinians.

In a move that has been welcomed by campaigners, including many Christians, an influential group of British MPs has called on the British government to consider using economic pressure against Israel over its treatment of the Palestinian people.

Nearly 40 leaders from a broad coalition of US Christian denominations have sent a letter to President George W. Bush asking that he "make Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, in the context of a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace initiative" a priority for his administration.

A delegation of Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the State Department today to support positive American engagement in achieving a bipartisan peace agreement in the Middle East.