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Ahead of
President Bush’s May 13-18 Middle East trip and with the ongoing crisis in
southern Israel and Gaza, Representatives David Price (D-NC) and Ray
Lahood (R-IL) began circulating a sign-on letter today supporting
Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and urging the President to find
solutions to “stabilize the Gaza situation, preserve the achievements made
in peace talks, and maintain forward momentum”.
In the
letter, Reps. Price and Lahood express their concern that, “unless
something changes, progress toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement
will continually be hampered by the violence in southern Israel and
Gaza.” The letter condemns the rocket attacks on residential
communities in southern Israel and supports Israel’s right to self
defense. The letter also recognizes that many Palestinian civilians have
been killed and wounded in Israel’s operations aimed at militant groups
and that the blockade of Gaza is exacerbating an already grave
humanitarian situation. The two Representatives provide several
recommendations to help end the crisis, including exploration of a
potential Israel-Hamas ceasefire to stop the violence and a solution for
the border crossings that addresses Israel’s security needs and provides
relief to the people of Gaza.
The Heads
of CMEP member churches, in their own
letter on Feb.
29th, urged Secretary Rice to take
urgent diplomatic action to “resolve the Gaza crisis and enable
substantive progress forward on peace negotiations”. Despite some efforts
at mediation by Egypt and others, nearly two months later the crisis sadly
remains unresolved, Israelis and Palestinians continue to suffer, and the
credibility of the peace process is weakened. Until now, Congress has not
offered constructive, forward-looking solutions. Your Representative
needs to hear from you now that you support efforts to create a climate
more conducive to peacemaking.
In addition to CMEP, the
letter is
supported by a range of Jewish and Arab-American groups including:
Americans for Peace Now, the Arab American Institute, Brit Tzedek v'Shalom,
Israel Policy Forum, and J Street.
The full
text of the Price-Lahood letter is included below, preceded by the “Dear
Colleague” letter that the two offices sent out today to garner the
support of their fellow Members. The deadline for sign-on is next Monday,
May 12th.
TAKE ACTION
Call Your
Representative TODAY! The US Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121 will
connect you to any office.
Your
Message: Sign the Price-Lahood Letter to Pres. Bush on
Israeli-Palestinian Peace Efforts. The Letter Offers Solutions to
End the Crisis in Southern Israel and Gaza and Enable Progress on
Peacemaking.
Talking Points:
I agree
with Representatives Price and Lahood that the ongoing crisis in southern
Israel and Gaza is undermining progress on the Annapolis process. The
President’s trip next week is a crucial time to re-energize
Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
The Price-Lahood
letter offers sensible solutions to stabilize the Gaza situation and keep
the peace negotiations on track, including a cease-fire to stop the
violence and an end to the border blockade that meets Israel’s security
needs and provides humanitarian relief for Gaza.
As an
American Christian, I am deeply concerned about the continued Palestinian
rocket attacks on the residents of southern Israel and the impact of
Israeli military responses and border closures on the people Gaza. I urge
you to sign the Price-Lahood letter and help provide hope to the people of
the Holy Land that peace is possible.
Text of Dear
Colleague Letter
Creating
an Atmosphere Conducive to Peace –
As Bush Heads to
the Region, Urge Efforts to End the Crisis in Southern Israel and Gaza
Dear Colleague,
The Annapolis peace
process launched by President Bush last November provided a new
opportunity for forward momentum to achieve a negotiated two-state
resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sadly, the hopes that
were raised are quickly fading, in large part due to the ongoing and
escalating crisis in southern Israel and Gaza.
Next week, President Bush will travel to the Middle East and, following
celebrations of Israel’s
60th anniversary,
will hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Sharm al Sheikh.
While this visit is an important opportunity to advance the peace process,
serious progress will only be possible if a solution is found to stabilize
the Gaza situation
and preserve the achievements made in negotiations.
So far this year, nearly 1,000 rockets have been fired by Hamas and other
Palestinian militant groups from the Gaza Strip into Israel –
intentionally aimed at residential communities in southern Israel such
as Sderot, and reaching as far as the city of Ashkelon.
We strongly condemn these attacks, which have terrorized, killed, and
injured many Israelis, and we support Israel’s
right to self defense. We also recognize that many Palestinian civilians
have been killed and wounded in Israeli operations targeted at militants.
In addition, sanctions imposed by Israel on Gaza to
pressure Hamas have exacerbated an already grave humanitarian situation.
In this climate, the credibility of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
has been weakened.
The current status quo, with its constant threat of a new eruption of
terror and violence, seriously harms the security of both the Israeli and
Palestinian people and undermines the chances for achieving progress
toward Israeli-Palestinian peace. As President Bush prepares to travel to Israel in
the hopes of re-energizing peace talks, please join us in urging him to
redouble his own efforts and commitment, and to seek solutions and
strategies that will stabilize
Gaza, strengthen the credibility of the ongoing
negotiations, and maintain forward momentum toward a lasting peace.
To sign on to this letter, please
contact
Tommy Ross with Rep. Price or Sarah Cottingham with Rep. LaHood by close
of business on Monday, May 12, 2008.
Sincerely,
s/ s/
DAVID PRICE RAY LAHOOD
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Text of Price-Lahood
Letter
May XX, 2008
Dear Mr. President:
We write to express our deep concern over the ongoing crisis in southern Israel and Gaza.
We fear that the status quo, with its constant threat of a new eruption of
terror and violence, can too easily derail progress toward achieving an
Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement in 2008.
So far this year, nearly one thousand rockets have been fired by Hamas and
other Palestinian militant groups from the Gaza Strip into Israel –
intentionally aimed at residential communities in southern Israel such
as Sderot, and reaching as far as the city of Ashkelon.
We strongly condemn these attacks and support Israel’s
right to self defense.
We recognize, too, that many Palestinian civilians and children have been
killed and wounded in Israel’s
military operations in Gaza targeted
at Hamas and other militant groups. In addition, the blockade of Gaza imposed
by Israel in
order to put pressure on Hamas is exacerbating an already grave
humanitarian situation. In this climate, popular support for Hamas
remains strong while the credibility of the current Israeli-Palestinian
peace talks is weakened.
We are concerned that unless something changes, progress toward an
Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement will continually be hampered by the
violence in southern Israel and Gaza.
We believe that for the peace process to be viable, solutions must be
found to stabilize the Gaza situation,
preserve the achievements made in peace talks, and maintain forward
momentum. Without such solutions, popular support for the peace process
among both Israelis and Palestinians will suffer, and moderate Palestinian
leadership in the West
Bank, led by President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam
Fayyad, will be threatened.
Without doubt, any solution to the crisis in southern Israel and Gaza must
include unequivocal international condemnation of the rocket attacks,
including from Arab states. We support and encourage your efforts to
reach such an international consensus through the appropriate forums.
Furthermore, any solution must end the Gaza blockade
in a secure and timely manner, including the possible re-opening of the
Egypt-Gaza border crossing under Palestinian Authority control. Any
solution will need to address the smuggling of weapons and materials from Egypt into Gaza.
We urge you to work actively with Egypt, Israel,
and, where appropriate, the international community, to find solutions to
this border challenge that address Israel’s
security needs, provide relief to the people of Gaza,
and create a climate more conducive to a successful peace process.
Finally, we believe that any solution to the current situation should
include exploration of a potential ceasefire, mediated most likely by
third parties or even by President Abbas. Recent polling data suggests
strong support for such measures among Israelis. In fact, a poll
conducted by Tel Aviv University and
the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz in
February 2008 found that 64% of Israelis support efforts to achieve an
Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
We are not arguing for direct engagement with Hamas by Israel or
the U.S.
Hamas is a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization sworn to Israel’s
destruction. Moreover, such engagement could undermine Palestinian
moderates. We also recognize the difficulties of reaching and sustaining
a ceasefire, and the need to guard against a ceasefire becoming simply an
opportunity for Hamas to rearm. For this reason, a ceasefire cannot be an
end in itself. Rather, a ceasefire has the potential to halt the rocket
attacks on Israeli civilians and prevent the need for further Israeli
military operations in Gaza for
the immediate term. It can then create the space necessary to help keep
the peace negotiations on track, to enable the return of kidnapped Israeli
soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, to address the smuggling of weapons from Egypt into Gaza,
and to facilitate improvements in the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
We strongly support Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and believe their
success is deeply connected to the national security interests of the United
States. As you continue your critically
important efforts to achieve progress in implementing the Roadmap,
including issues such as access, security, movement, and economic
development in the West
Bank, we urge you to consider the recommendations outlined in
this letter. We look forward to working with you in your efforts to bring
stability and peace to the Middle
East.
Sincerely,
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