| At the end of this
message you will find a letter which CMEP faxed to Assistant Secretary of
State William Burns yesterday and which follows the advocacy guidance from
CMEP's December newsletter "Demand on Settlement's Must be Bush's Response
to Israel's Aid Request." In your advocacy and education efforts,
continue to argue that loan guarantees and new foreign aid to Israel be
dependent upon the Israel government ending settlement activity.
I also want to bring to
your attention an op-ed in the February 11 edition of the New York Times.
The New York Times website (which requires registration for access) is
www.nytimes.com
David Kimche, a former
director of Israel's foreign ministry, calls for an American-led body of
observers/third-party monitors to "ensure that the Palestinian Authority
is making a credible effort to end terrorism while also guarding against
Israeli human-rights violations." He calls Israel's reluctance to accept
international monitors "short-sighted" and writes that Israel would be the
biggest beneficiary. His op-ed concludes with a forward-thinking note: "As
the violence abated, the observers would also verify compliance with the
road map, including meaningful Palestinian reforms, the withdrawal of
Israeli forces from areas taken during the intifada, a freeze on Israeli
settlements, and, eventually, a two-state solution."
http://www.acj.org/Daily%20News/2003/February/index.htm#3
CMEP has encouraged the
insertion of third-party monitors/observers as a means to quell the
violence and to verify commitments made by the parties. With anxiety high
about the possibility of an escalation of Israeli-Palestinian violence in
the context of a war against Iraq, I hope that Kimche's endorsement opens
the way for policymakers to push for third-party monitors.
LETTER ON CMEP
LETTERHEAD to Ambassador Burns
February 11, 2003
Ambassador William J. Burns
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern
Affairs
United States Department of State
Dear Mr. Burns,
On behalf of Churches
for Middle East Peace, I write with concern about a news report in
Ha'aretz on February 9 about Israeli officials' visit to Washington on
Thursday. The article forecasts that the Administration will request
Congressional approval for additional financial assistance to Israel with
the only requirement being that a deduction be made in the amount of loans
guaranteed equal to the amount invested, in that year, by the Israeli
government in the settlements.
It is imperative that
the United States condition the loan guarantees, if not all foreign
assistance to Israel, on significant changes in Israel's settlement
policy, beginning with Israel's agreement to freeze immediately all
settlement activity and pledge a readiness to dismantle settlements for
the sake of peace.
The settlements and the
related infrastructure and policies have long been recognized as a major
obstacle to peacemaking, and President Bush has said that, "Israeli
settlement activity in the occupied territories must stop." For decades
the U.S. churches that are members of Churches for Middle East Peace have
called for an end to settlement building as an essential step to end the
occupation and resolve the conflict.
The human, political,
economic and moral costs of this conflict are a tragedy of profound
dimensions. We appeal again to the United States government to place
Israeli-Palestinian-Arab peacemaking as its top foreign policy priority in
the Middle East.
Sincerely,
Corinne Whitlatch
Executive Director
|
