Religious leaders reach unprecedented joint accord on Holy Land

More than a dozen of senior Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders from the Holy Land concluded late Monday an unprecedented joint declaration pledging themselves to work together for a just and lasting peace.

The agreement, to be known as the First Alexandria Declaration of the Religious Leaders of the Holy Land, was approved earlier in the day at a landmark conference of religious leaders in Alexandria, chaired by Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey.

"The violence in the Holy Land is an evil which must be opposed by all people of good faith," the religious leaders said in a statement.

The seven-point declaration pledges the faith of leaders to use their religious and moral authority to work for an end to violence and resumption of the peace process.

It also envisages the establishment of a permanent committee of leaders from the three religions in the Holy Land to pursue the implementation of the declaration.

The accord also calls on Israeli and Palestinian political leaders to implement the Mitchell and Tenet recommendations.