"For the Peace of Jerusalem" Conference Report

The CMEP Board and staff thank all who participated in our May 6-8 conference, “For the Peace of Jerusalem.”  Your presence here in Washington, together with your work in your home states, amplifies CMEP’s voice on Capitol Hill urging U.S. policies that are conducive to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.       

CMEP’s 2007 conference was an exciting time for fellowship, in-depth education and training, and advocacy.  On Sunday, May 6th conference participants gathered in the sanctuary of National City Christian Church for an ecumenical worship service.  On Monday, participants attended plenary panels and workshops to prepare them for their Congressional meetings.  The conference culminated with a lobby day on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, May 8^th.  150 church members and clergy, from 26 states, attended the three-day conference.  Conference participants held meetings with over 65 House and Senate offices, with many of the Tuesday meetings including the Representative or Senator.  

In their meetings, church advocates conveyed a message of support for U.S. leadership to achieve a two-state solution and a negotiated resolution for Jerusalem. Conference participants had two requests for their Representative and Senators:  1)  “Support Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s new Middle East peace initiative and encourage sustained diplomatic engagement by the Administration to help bring about a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” and 2) “Support the U.S. policy that the status of Jerusalem be determined through negotiations, reject actions that would preempt a negotiated agreement, and support religious freedom in the holy city”. Participants were well prepared to talk about the need for Israeli-Palestinian peace and the sharing of Jerusalem.  They reported that their balanced approach and message of compassionate peacemaking was well received by Congressional offices.   

The conference took participants inside-the-beltway to hear government officials and policy experts from think-tanks and interest groups. Highlights of the conference included presentations by Geneva Accord negotiators Daniel Levy and Ghaith al-Omari, Lincoln Chafee, the former Republican Senator from Rhode Island who chaired the Middle East subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Judith Kipper from the Council on Foreign Relations and Robert Danin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. The 10 workshops provided participants with opportunities to hear and talk with some of the policy experts and specialists who work cooperatively with CMEP in Washington, including Americans for Peace Now, American Taskforce on Palestine, Catholic Relief Services and the Foundation for Middle East Peace.  

CMEP plans to post on our website the text of the homilies of (Armenian Orthodox) Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, (Catholic) Auxilary Bishop Denis Madden, (Episcopal) Rt. Rev. Frank Griswold, and videos of six workshops that focused on Jerusalem. Watch for a message about these transcripts and recordings.   

Legislative Update: Sens. Biden (D-DE) and Sununu (R-NH) are currently circulating a Dear Colleague letter urging support for funding for Israeli-Palestinian coexistence and peace-building activities.  The letter closes on Thursday and current signers include: Bingaman (D-NM), Brown (D-OH), Dodd (D-CT), Isakson (R-GA), Sanders (I-VT), Snowe (R-ME), Voinovich (R-OH), Warner (R-VA).  To send an email or call your Senators, urging them to sign on to the Sununu-Biden letter, click here.  Ask them to: “Please sign the Sununu-Biden Letter urging $20 million in funding for the Israeli-Palestinian Peace, Reconciliation and Democracy Fund for FY08, $10 million of which would be dedicated to people-to-people activities.  Programs that promote peace and cooperation among Israelis and Palestinians, together with a vigorous political process, are integral to achieving a negotiated two-state solution.”   

Middle East Peace addressed by ecumenical coalition in Washington

By Lucy Chumbley May 09, 2007 [Episcopal News Service] Twenty Episcopalians from around the country joined an ecumenical coalition in Washington, D.C., May 6-8 to press for sustained diplomatic engagement by the Bush Administration to bring a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict and a negotiated resolution on the status of Jerusalem.
 
Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), a coalition of 22 Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Catholic church bodies and organizations, held the conference for 150 attendees who participated in some 65 meetings with Members of Congress and key staff.  

Before meeting with the law makers, the delegates worshiped together and attended "inside the beltway" briefings on related issues given by lobbyists, representatives of think tanks, academics and government officials.
 
A silent processional, broken only by the jingling of an incense censor, set a reflective tone for the opening prayer service at National City Christian Church, which included two songs of peace in Hebrew and Arabic, "Yerushalayim shel Zahav" and "Ya ar-Rub as-Salaami."
 
"These are real heart songs of Jerusalem," said Ann Staal, a CMEP board member representing the Reformed Church in America, who organized and led the service. "If you were to sing one of these on the streets of Jerusalem, I'm sure someone would join you."

Homilies were offered by Roman Catholic Bishop Denis Madden, auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore, Archbishop Vicken Aykazian of the Armenian Orthodox Church and the Episcopal Church's 25th Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold.

Griswold described a visit to the tomb of Abraham in the West Bank city of Hebron.
 
"To my left there was a group engaged in Koran study and to my right, a group of Jewish women praying," he said. "And I thought, what is it that makes it so difficult for us to recognize each other as children of one father?"

There are three Abrahamic siblings, Griswold said, because "it's important that no one feels they've got the corner on divine love and compassion. We are reminded that God loves everyone."
 
Jerusalem is a divided city, he said, and "everything that divides us is in some way represented in those walls." Therefore peace in Jerusalem would be a "sacramental symbol" for what is possible elsewhere.
 
In her opening remarks, Maureen Shea, director of the Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations and chair of the CMEP Board of Directors, described the Israel-Palestine situation as "the single most difficult issue on which to be an advocate."

"Peace cannot be realized without the strong backing of our churches," said CMEP's executive director Corinne Whitlatch, adding that "of all the issues it is Jerusalem to which the churches bring the most credibility, clout and understanding."

Recounting the history of the American presence in Jerusalem, where the U.S. has maintained a consulate since the 1870s, Philip C. Wilcox Jr., president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, a former U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem and a member of St. Columba's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., said, "Rich with history, burdened with conflict, Jerusalem is at the heart of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict."

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, when Israel claimed Jerusalem as its capital in defiance of the United Nations Partition Plan, the U.S., which does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, kept its embassy in Tel Aviv. It still maintains a consulate in Jerusalem, which the state of Israel does not recognize.

"Our embassy remains in Tel Aviv," he said. "This will continue I am certain until there is a comprehensive negotiated settlement that is accepted by all parties."

Wilcox spoke of the "the doctrine of united eternal Israeli Jerusalem" which he said was a myth promoted by Messianic Jews and the Israeli military in the aftermath of the 1967 War. The truth, he said, is that in those days and today "East and West Jerusalem are really two cities ... Jerusalem will have to be shared if there is ever to be peace."

These and other briefings, including a presentation by Shea on "Syria, Iran and Iraq: Keys to Middle East Peace" will be available online.  

Shea and Daryl Byler, director of the Mennonite Central Committee's Washington office, reflected on their recent trip to Iran and the need for diplomatic relations between the United States and Iran and Syria. Shea, who visited Syria with a CMEP delegation last year, remarked: "It is encouraging that Secretary Rice met with her Syrian counterpart while in Egypt last week. We hope that this will be a first step toward restoring our relations with Syria, and indicative of possible future steps with Iran."

Ambassador Wilcox and Geneva Accord negotiators Ghaith Al-Omari and Daniel Levy, who also addressed the group, each pointed to opinion polls that consistently show that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians support a two-state solution.

"We know the solution," Levy said. "What we have lacked is the political will. What we also miss is American friends to help push this forward ... If you are interested in restoring America's credibility in the Middle East, you have to go back into the business of making peace between Israel and Palestine."

"Credibility is everything," said Lincoln D. Chafee, an Episcopalian and former Republican U.S. Senator from Rhode Island. "I suggest to you [the U.S.] does not have it now."
 
But, he added: "Policy is not made by Congress. The real power is only through the power of the person."
 
"The vast, vast majority of Israelis and Palestinians want the problem solved," said Judith Kipper, adviser for Middle East Programs and director of the Energy Security Group at the Council on Foreign Relations. "They want a two-state solution. We as Americans really have an important role to play ... It's an avenue to go back to our core values of peace keeping and peace making."

Conference Press Coverage:

“Mainline churches lobby for U.S. engagement”, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, May 11, 2007 http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/101773.html

“Middle East Peace address by ecumenical coalition in Washington,” Lucy Chumbley, Episcopal News Service, May 9, 2007: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_85784_ENG_HTM.htm

“ELCA Synod Bishops Urge Two-State Solution to Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, May 9, 2007 http://www.elca.org/advocacy/issues/middleeast/07-05-09-bishops.html

            CMEP Home   CMEP Members    E-mail Alerts    Government Contacts     CMEP Letters    Statements