Interreligious Action on November Peace Conference

Churches for Middle East Peace strongly encourages interreligious dialogue and cooperation on Israeli-Arab peace issues, and thanks the church leaders engaged in the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative (NILI) for Peace in the Middle East.  The following message asks for advocacy to US elected officials ahead of the November peace conference.  CMEP urges you to email the NILI message to Secretary of State Rice and to use the congregational prayers for peace linked below.   

[SPECIAL NOTE ON 9/26 CMEP CONFERENCE CALL]  This advocacy message is a timely follow-up to the Sept. 26th  CMEP Network Conference Call with Amb. Philip Wilcox which focused on the challenges and possibilities associated with the November summit and what advocates can do now to help encourage a successful conference.  We were pleased to have over 55 participants from all across the nation, as well as Jerusalem, and to receive over 25 emailed questions.  We apologize for a technical difficulty at the beginning of the call that caused some of you an inconvenience.  This conference call was the first in a new program initiative that CMEP will be doing occasionally.      

United States policy in the Middle East is at a new crossroads between a path toward peace or a path that will likely lead to more violence and possibly new war.  This is not a reference to U.S. policy in Iraq, which also obviously is at a crucial juncture, but to the decision, announced by President Bush in July, that the United States will host a conference for Arab-Israeli-Palestinian peace this fall. 

On August 10 a delegation of prominent Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders representing heads of 25 national organizations in the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace (NILI) presented specific recommendations to the State Department (see Aug 17th Press Release) for what the United States needs to do to maximize chances that this "conference for peace" will be successful. The religious leaders fear if the conference fails, that people's hopes will once again be dashed, chances for a "two-state" solution will be diminished, forces in the region favoring violence and extremism will grow stronger, and it will be only a matter of time until there is a new Israeli-Palestinian or Arab-Israeli war.  

The peace conference is supposed to take place in November but there still are questions about who will be represented at the table and what issues will be on the table.  We encourage you to send the following "Urgent Message re: November Peace Conference" to Secretary of State Rice and to engage in prayers for peace in your local church and community.   

TAKE ACTION

Pray for Peace: Use congregational prayers for peace prepared by the U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East 

Take “5 minutes for peace” to email Secretary Rice using this Web Email form (under topic, select Secretary of State) or call 202-647-6575.   

We support making Arab-Israeli-Palestinian peace a top, urgent priority of U.S. Middle East policy and we support the United States hosting a peace conference  at the highest level of U.S. leadership and involving Israel and all her neighbors.    

We believe the following steps, consistent with the Baker-Hamilton recommendations, are important to maximize prospects for the conference to be successful. 

If the conference fails we fear that forces favoring violence and extremism will become stronger and new violent confrontation almost inevitable. 

3 Steps for a Successful Arab-Israeli-Palestinian Peace Conference: 

1) Conference invitees should include all Israel's neighbors, as well as Israel and the   Palestinian Authority; and all issues to resolve the conflict should be on the agenda. 

Comment:  Israel and all of its neighbors, i.e. the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, as well as Saudi Arabia, should be invited to the conference; and all the issues needing to be resolved to end the conflict, including Israeli-Palestinian final status issues, should be on the agenda. 

2) Pre-meeting steps on the ground and agreement on principles for peace are essential. 

Comment:  As part of preparation for the conference, the U.S. needs to press harder for concrete steps by Israel and the Palestinian Authority to improve conditions on the ground, including agreement on a ceasefire and on principles to resolve the final status issues, i.e., borders and security, settlements, refugees and Jerusalem. 

3) The split between the West Bank and Gaza is inconsistent with a durable peace.

Comment: The split in Palestinian governance could thwart success of the conference. As Secretary of State Rice said July 18, "There is one Palestinian people, there should be one Palestinian state."  The United States should quietly support efforts to form a united Palestinian government that can represent Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and is committed to reject violence and negotiate a two-state peace agreement with Israel.

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