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This week 55 Middle
East peace-building NGOs came to Washington as part of the annual
conference of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP).
These organizations are engaged in promoting people-to-people coexistence,
cooperation, and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians across
borders and Arabs and Jews within Israel. Their activities include
peace education, reconciliation programs, inter-religious dialogue, joint
schools and sports, community development, business cooperation, joint
medical projects, and shared environmental initiatives. The
NGOs held meetings on Capitol Hill, at the Administration and foreign
embassies, and with advocacy organizations, including CMEP, to mobilize
support for their efforts.
Last year Congress created a new U.S. grant program with $9 million to
support coexistence programs. As Congressional appropriators consider
spending for FY 2009 foreign operations, Reps.
Joseph
Crowley (D-NY) and Jim Moran (D-VA) began circulating a sign-on letter to
Foreign Operations
Chair Nita
Lowey (D-CA) and Ranking Member Frank Wolf (R-VA)
asking
for increased funding of $11 million in 2009 for these types of programs. The
deadline for the sign-on letter is end of the day, Monday, March 17th.
As the events of recent weeks have shown, there are many obstacles to
making progress toward peace. The continued work of peace-building
organizations to build public support for peace, together with robust U.S.
diplomacy, can help move the Annapolis process forward.
View the
text
of the Crowley-Moran Letter.
TAKE ACTION
Call your Representative Today or Monday!
Capitol
Switchboard:
202-224-3121
Your Message:
Ask
your Rep. to Sign the Crowley-Moran Letter in Support of Middle East Peace
and Cooperation Funding
People-to-people activities together with a robust political process
supported by the United States can help move forward on the promise of
peace made in Annapolis. The achievement of a negotiated peace agreement
and its implementation will require steadfast American commitment and the
support of both the Israeli and Palestinian publics.
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