President Shimon Peres met with Christian leaders in his official Jerusalem residence on Monday in honor of Christmas and the Christian New Year, 2008.
"We all have one God," Peres told the Christian religious leaders, "and war, bloodshed 
Despite the pleasantries, a recent expression of extreme intolerance by a church leader... was left unremarked.
and enriching uranium weren't among His commandments; rather, to spread goodness in the world and to promote peace."
Attending the meeting were heads of the main, well-established Christian sects active in Israel, including the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theofilos III, the Roman Catholic Archbishop Michel Sabbah, the Armenian Patriarch Torkom Manoogian, and Archbishop Elias Chacour of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Peres told the religious leaders that Israel would continue to protect churches and ensure freedom of worship for all.
Regarding the central threat of religious violence in the West today, Peres said, "The Palestinians are not our enemy and neither is Islam. The enemy of all religions is terrorism, violence and death." He called upon the churches to make Israel "the land from which a message of tolerance and love goes out to the world."
Concluding his remarks to the Christian leaders, President Peres said, "In the name of all the people in Israel, I wish all of you and all the Christian faithful a good year, a year of calm and peace for us and for the entire world."
Interior Minister Meir Shetreet also addressed the church representatives. He noted that Israel is a spiritual and religious center, but he expressed his hope that it would also become a center of peace in 2008.
Theofilos III, speaking for all the assembled delegates, said that the Christian clerics promote peace, coexistence and understanding among all religions. "Forthrightness and love are our values," he said. Regarding Jerusalem, Theofilos called for continued "harmony and tolerance" in the holy city.
Despite the pleasantries, a recent expression of extreme intolerance by a church leader who was in attendance at the Monday meeting with President Peres was left unremarked. On December 19, Archbishop Sabbah explicitly rejected the idea of Israel as a Jewish state and he blamed Israel for the ongoing conflict with the Arabs. "If Israel decides for peace, there will be peace," Sabbah asserted at the time.
However, inter-Christian tolerance may have been given a boost Monday, as the Greek Orthodox and Armenian religious leaders sat together in peace. On December 27, about 50 priests and worshipers from the two sects came to bloody blows inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem when Greek Orthodox priests trespassed on Armenian Church property. The famous site is jointly administered by the Roman Catholic, Armenian and Greek Orthodox churches, with each sect maintaining a section to itself.