The intervention of this round table on " Religion, Co-existence and Peace in the Middle East", is one of the most important issues that someone from the Middle East can address. God, blessed be His name, has blessed the region with three monotheistic religions:

Judaism, Christianity and Islam. What unites these three religions is much more than what divides them. They all believe in one God. God in their view, is the God of all. They all believe in the prophets that came to the world carrying the message of reform for humanity. They all consider Abraham their father; they are his descendents and take him as a role model for the relationship between God and humankind. In all religions, there is respect for the Law and the commandments that God gave to the people. We can see in the practice and use in the teachings of the three religions the Ten commandments that God gave to the Jews through Moses. They all provide witness to God through their work and conduct with each other. Jews, Christians and Muslims use one way of worship in their rituals. They obey God and try to satisfy God in order to achieve closeness to god on the final day.

One important point remains in talking about a common ground between the teachings of these religions, and that is defending human dignity through creation's wholeness, service to all people and maintaining family values in society. I think we can pause at this point and reflect in order to see how the three heavenly religions provide a witness to society through their defense of human dignity. For the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims, God created humans in His image. God created humans and breathed the life into them and in the Holy Qur'an, there is the assurance that God made man and breathed His spirit into him. Human dignity stems from that spirit that god has breathed into them.

There are different kinds of dignity. First the dignity of life, which means humans should stay away from anything that gives rise to killing. In Judaism, Christianity and Islam honoring motherhood, refusing abortion and refraining from all kinds of human torture which might lead to death, are facts that need to be translated into real life. And then, there is the dignity of the spirit, the spirit that God created in humans and no one has the right to take it away. And I would like to mention here what our Lord Jesus has said: "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul ; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt.. 10:28)

From the dignity of life and spirit to the dignity of conscience through which all believers try to get economic and technological development to go hand in hand with moral and spiritual development. Thus, we move to the most important dignity for human being -freedom. We are talking about coexistence without realizing that the most important feature in coexistence is f�r people to have complete freedom without discrimination between one re!igion and another, one denomination and another, or even one affiliation and another.

I would like to mention a symposium held by the Ministry of Endowments in Syria titled "Religious Fraternity". Regional religious leaders, Muslim and Christian, along with other prominent people gathered for this symposium. If anyone were to read the papers read at this symposium would come to the conviction that the three religions were only to build strong ties between human beings. It is true that the goal of this symposium was to support national unity in a country where religions, denominations and streams of thought vary. On the other hand, Christian and Muslim c!ergymen's speeches clarified that heavenly teachings do not change or alter. They all invite us to religious fraternity, coexistence, national unity and complete freedom in performing re!igious rites, regardless of what might divide the society through artificial devices that people may use for their own interest. There are various examples in history that out the !ight on the cooperation between the two religious to suppress streams of thought which are against the teachings of the Bible and the Qur'an.

We, in the Syrian Orthodox church of Antioch, read in our histoty that the Syrians welcomed the coming of the Muslim Arab conquerors. They received them as liberators of the country, especially given that most of the Arab tribes in Iraq and Syria were Christian. These Arab Christian tribes supported the Muslims, who were of different religion, but were related to them through ties of blood language, heritage, and civilization. For these reasons the Arab Christian tribes joined the Arab Muslim army and fought with the Arab Muslims to end the rule of the Persians. When Syriani historians talk about the Muslims and their ruling, they call them 'the Just'. Co-existence between the two religions is not a new matter brought about by virtue of current rulers, since our history attests to the fact that we all used to live in harmony in all circumstances, except for when there were external hands using religion to splinter the nation for their own ends.

Dear sisters and brother,

On this topic of co-existence we see another dimension that calls for economic stability, which keeps people from poverty, need, disease and epidemics. This economic stability would achieve an environment suitable for justice and equality. These are called for by all religious teachings, and through them fraternity, cooperation and coordination between all believers in God would also come to pass. With economic stability, comes openness to civilizations .The whole world now talks about giobalization. In the first place this means openness of people and nations to each other in terms of culture. It also means the exchange of technological and industrial achievements. When the world moves from the status of conflicts between civilizations into the status where cultures meet and unite, that would keep religions away from fundamentalism and narrowness. That would give new opportunity for human openness to each other.

All of these matters are in the sphere of perpetual peace that we all wish for our region. We call for peace which stems from the basics of our religious teachings. My hope is that such an encounter led by the Community of St. Egidio.

This encounter has taken onto its shoulders inviting significant religions leaders from different religions to meet, exchange experiences, and identify points of weakness that threaten the word "existence". The leaders of this community have also worked on bringing out the positive sides that call for comprehensive peace in the entire world. The Uomini e Religioni di Communita di Sant'Egidio does a great deal for the coexistence between religions and peace among nations. They have been doing this since 1986. I would like to end my intervention by inviting all of those who see in themselves the ability to help nations and people from various religions to put an end to conflict, strife and killing and to work for the well being, safely and security of all people.