Dear friends,
In a letter to President Barack Obama of the United States, Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), a coalition of 24 US-based church denominations and organizations in Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions, has conveyed “regret that the United States vetoed the resolution in the United Nations Security Council February 18 reaffirming that Israeli settlements activities in the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, are illegal.”
Recognizing that there exists strong US “opposition to the expansion of Israeli settlements”, the letter insisted that there be courageous and immediate new steps “to prevent this veto from further damaging America’s credibility as a broker to help resolve this conflict that threatens the security of both peoples and denies self-determination to Palestinians.”
The letter observes that “negotiations to end this conflict have foundered not just because of remaining differences over the specific issues, but also because of deep fear and mistrust.” It affirms that “both sides need to have confidence that any agreement for a just peace with security will be lasting and reliably executed in a reasonable timeframe.”
Calling on the US to open up “broad new channels of diplomatic effort to encourage both sides to take responsibility now for creating the conditions necessary for talks to succeed”, the CMEP letter goes on to suggest inclusion of all relevant parties regardless of their ongoing relations with Israel. CMEP also underlines the importance of building on the Arab Peace Initiative and insists that the US initiative must mobilize support from the Middle East Quartet, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference. CMEP underscores “concerns of persons displaced over the years by the conflict” and asks that these should be addressed.
Rejecting any hint of an “interim agreement”, the letter warns that any “stagnation in this peace process can be explosive” and urges “bold actions now to help bring about resolution of all final status issues and a definitive end to this conflict.” This alone, they argue, is the way for “peace, healing and reconciliation of neighbors” to be achieved.
Calling on the president to seize the moment, the letter notes that there is “rapid change underway in the Arab world” suggesting that “the time to act is now – before events make the task of reaching an agreement more difficult.”
The letter further urges the president and the other Quartet leaders to “travel to the region together soon, visiting Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring Syria, to propose specific steps to achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace between Israel and all its neighbors.”
We urge members of the PIEF network living in the United States to share this information with their own networks, and to participate in the CMEP campaign by sending a letter to their member of congress.
Ranjan Solomon
PIEF communications consultant
For more on advocacy actions by churches around the world please see http://pief.oikoumene.org
You receive this message because your name is on our 'PIEF Alerts' distribution list. Please send an e-mail to Beatrice Merahi (beatrice.merahi@wcc-coe.org) if you no longer wish to receive PIEF Alerts.
