NIH Director Joins Call For Mideast Cease-Fire

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The head of the National Institutes of Health has joined a nonprofit group's public campaign demanding an "immediate cease-fire" in the Middle East, a stance at odds with Bush administration policy.

Elias A. Zerhouni, a physician whom President Bush appointed director of the NIH in 2002, lent his name to a half-page ad in yesterday's Washington Post by the Arab-American Institute Foundation. The ad, which featured the names of 36 prominent Arab Americans, called upon "all those in power to stop the violence" through a cease-fire so that "reconciliation and reconstruction" efforts can begin.

American values of justice and mercy and compassion, values that abhor oppression and racism," the ad reads in part. "American leadership in the political and humanitarian challenges ahead is a sacred duty."

The administration has rejected Arab and European calls for an immediate cease-fire, saying a cease-fire should come only as part of a broader agreement that can endure for years and rein in Hezbollah militants.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/28/AR2006072801519.html