More than 50 US Christian leaders, including some leading evangelists, yesterday wrote to President Barack Obama to support his efforts to achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East and echo his call for an end to Israeli settlement activity, writes Harvey Morris in New York .

Organisers of the ecumenical initiative said the letter represented the voice of a previously silent majority in a debate that was dominated by strongly pro-Israeli Christian Zionists during the presidency of George W. Bush.