General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, General Assembly Council Executive Director John Detterick and General Assembly Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase said “the visit to Hezbollah and the comments on that occasion by members of this Presbyterian group do not reflect the official position of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on peace in the Middle East.”

LOUISVILLE. Three top officials of the Presbyterian Church (USA) issued a statement today disavowing comments made by members of a Presbyterian delegation during an Oct. 17 visit to a former Israeli prison that is now a Hezbollah-run museum and memorial in southern Lebanon.

News that the delegation — comprised mostly of members of the denomination’s Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) — had met with a group on the U.S. government’s watch list of terrorist organizations has further eroded relations between Jewish groups and the PC(USA).

One ACSWP delegation member — Ronald Stone, a recently retired professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary — was quoted as saying: “As an elder of our church, I’d like to say that according to my recent experience, relations and conversations with Islamic leaders are a lot easier than dealings and dialogue with Jewish leaders.”

General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, General Assembly Council Executive Director John Detterick and General Assembly Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase said “the visit to Hezbollah and the comments on that occasion by members of this Presbyterian group do not reflect the official position of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on peace in the Middle East.”

A number of American Jewish groups have been at odds with the PC(USA) since the denomination’s General Assembly voted in July to “initiate the process of phased, selective divestment” from corporations contributing to the Israeli government’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

The process includes dialogue with corporations and the filing of shareholder resolutions in an attempt to bring about changes in corporate behavior. The earliest actual divestment of stock could occur is June 2006, when the next General Assembly meets in Birmingham, AL.

Some Jewish groups have been sharply critical of the General Assembly’s decision and demanded that it be rescinded. Now, word that a delegation sponsored by the PC(USA)’s Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy met with Hezbollah representatives at a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon on Oct. 17 — and comments attributed to delegation members in the international press — has created a firestorm of condemnation.

The full text of the statement:

“A group of Presbyterians currently visiting the Middle East has received media attention by international press, as well as reporters in the region about their visit with Hezbollah leaders in South Lebanon. The Presbyterian group consists of members of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) and staff support for the committee. ACSWP is an advisory committee that develops social witness policy for the PC(USA), which it in turn recommends to the General Assembly for action.

“So far, the group’s itinerary has included stops in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. At the request of church partners, the group visited the Khiam Detention Center in South Lebanon, a former Israeli prison now controlled by Hezbollah, a group that has been associated with terror attacks.

“The visit to Hezbollah and the comments on that occasion by members of this Presbyterian group do not reflect the official position of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on peace in the Middle East. The reports of this visit should not be interpreted in any way as lessening our deep commitment to continued Jewish-Christian dialogue, Muslim-Christian dialogue, or Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue.

“The 216th General Assembly (2004) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) called “terrorism — whether state, group, or individual — immoral because it wrongfully and deliberately attacks innocent civilians,” and is “a dead-end alternative to a negotiated settlement of the conflict.”

“We pray regularly for all those in the Middle East who live with the constant threat of violence. The Presbyterian Church (USA) continues to work for a just peace for all peoples, including Israelis and Palestinians.”