Episcopal Press and News

Churches Seek One-year Moratorium on Arms Sales to Mideast

Episcopal News Service. October 26, 1989 [89210A]

Churches for Middle East Peace, a coalition that includes participants from 13 U.S. denominations, has called on the United States to enact a one-year, international moratorium on arms transfers to the Middle East and urged the U.S. government to initiate an international conference on arms reductions in the Middle East under the auspices of the United Nations. The coalition's action comes amid the Bush administration's plan to sell 315 battlefield tanks to Saudi Arabia at a cost of nearly $1 billion. "The import of military armaments has had a devastating effect upon the Middle East... (including) the psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual damage that these weapons bring," according to a statement released by the coalition. The coalition is made up almost entirely of mainline Protestant denominations, including the United Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Evangelical Lutheran churches.