President Bush will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas in the port city of Aqaba, Jordan, on Wednesday, June 4 for a summit on implementing a Middle East peace plan.
Dr. Thomas Parker, professor of history at North Carolina State University, has spent nine years conducting research and archaeological digs in Aqaba. Parker says Aqaba provides symbolism and added significance to Wednesday's summit because of the city's history of being a place that has promoted tolerance among people of different faiths.
Parker is available to speak with reporters about the history of Aqaba and the significance of the city hosting Wednesday's summit.
"The city has long figured in the history of Christian and Muslim relations, and it exhibits some important evidence of tolerance between different religions and people of those religions," Parker says. "The fact that President Bush is meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers in Aqaba is a potent symbol of the potential of peace in the region. I think the site has been selected primarily because of security reasons, but the city is loaded with history of which few people are aware."
During his work in Aqaba, Parker discovered what he and others believe to be the world's oldest purpose-built Christian church. Many artifacts from his excavations around the church site are housed in his laboratory on the NC State campus. Parker is also willing to discuss his work in Aqaba and the artifacts he has discovered with members of the media at scheduled times in his lab.
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