This is the first in a new series of periodic updates that CMEP has initiated to highlight key issues, analyses and resources on the Arab-Israeli conflict. 

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1. Issue Highlight: After the Gaza Withdrawal, What Next? 
2. Where to on the Road Map Peace Plan?
3. Jerusalem News
4. Update on Christians in the Holy Land

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1. Issue Highlight: After the Gaza Withdrawal, What Next? 

The world watched with appreciation and relief as Israel completed its historic withdrawal from Gaza and four settlements in the West Bank in less time than most had anticipated and with almost no violence (demolition of settler’s homes and evacuation of military installations continue and should be completed by mid-September).  Now many are turning their attention to the road ahead.  What’s next after the Gaza withdrawal and how can both parties maintain this momentum to make progress on the Road Map peace plan?  The articles listed below provide helpful guidance on how the United States can encourage further positive steps forward by Israel and the Palestinians. 

“The Road After Gaza”: Robert Malley and Aaron D. Miller, Washington Post, August 24, 2005

“…Israel wants time to digest a traumatic disengagement. Palestinians need convincing that it is only a first step. A feasible middle course would entail focusing on rapid, practical improvements in the West Bank, such as Israeli withdrawal from reoccupied cities, a lifting of checkpoints and release of prisoners, in tandem with improved Palestinian security performance. It would also entail preventing steps that prejudge final-status issues and might in fact preclude their resolution…”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/23/AR2005082301177.html

“How Sharon and Abbas Can Both Win”: Khalil Shikaki, Jerusalem Post, August 16, 2005. 

“…successful coordination might not only facilitate the dismantling of the infrastructure of violence, but as importantly, a return to meaningful negotiations. Moreover, for the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, successful coordination promises stronger hands in defeating their domestic foes by delivering economic prosperity and improved security.”

http://www.commongroundnews.org/index.php?mode=1&lang=en&PHPSESSID=f3b74aa1125f6a3cabf04e31c4a36474#939

“Gaza withdrawal: winners and losers”: Four Israeli and Palestinian Viewpoints, Bitterlemons.org, Aug. 29, 2005

(Bitterlemons is a website that presents Israeli and Palestinian viewpoints on prominent issues of concern. It focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and peace process.) 

http://www.bitterlemons.org/previous/bl290805ed31.html

2. Where to on the Road Map Peace Plan?

Road Map Sponsors to Meet on September 20^th:

In August, the sponsors of the Road Map—The United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia---announced that they will meet in mid-September to assess Israel’s disengagement from Gaza and the northern West Bank.  At the last meeting of the Quartet on June 23, members issued support for Israel’s pullout – calling it “a moment of optimism, an opportunity that should not be missed” – and reaffirmed that the “the two-state vision and the road map are the best way to achieve a permanent peace and an end to [Israel’s] occupation” of the West Bank and Gaza.” 

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/612935.html

“Rev up the road map”, Dennis Ross, The Jerusalem Post, August 30, 2005  

”…the administration must build a bridge to the future. The two sides have very different expectations of what will happen after disengagement: Sharon wants a pause to absorb the emotional trauma, and Abbas wants next steps. Each needs an explanation of what is next. The administration should declare that it will take the moribund road map and negotiate a common understanding on every Israeli and Palestinian obligation.” 

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125368484250&p=1006953079865

3. Jerusalem News

Settlement expansion in the Jerusalem area: Over the summer a number of plans were announced by the Israeli government regarding settlement expansion in the Jerusalem area, including the seizure of West Bank land to extend the separation barrier around the settlement of Maale Adumim, preparations to build a new police station east of Jerusalem in what is known as the E-1 area and initial plans to build a new Jewish settlement in the heart of the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.  These developments could threaten the peace of the city at this fragile time. 

Resources: 

Ir Amim, ("City of Nations", "City of peoples") is an Israeli organization that was founded in order to actively engage in those issues impacting Israeli-Palestinian relations in Jerusalem and the political future of the city.  Ir Amim’s key professionals released a position paper in August discussing new settlement expansion in Jerusalem and how it damages long-term Israeli interests. 

http://www.ir-amim.org.il/EngArticles/JerusalemInTheShadow.html

Americans for Peace Now released a new Settlements in Focus report, “Targeting the Old City’s Muslim Quarter”, on August 19, 2005, providing details and background on Israel’s plans to build a Jewish settlement in the Old City (produced by Lara Friedman, Government Relations Director at Americans for Peace Now and Daniel Seidemann, founder and Consulting Legal Advisor for Ir Amim).

http://www.peacenow.org/briefs.asp?rid=&cid=1316

4. Update on Christians in the Holy Land 

Christian Presence in the Holy Land Diminishing

The Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in America issued a statement of alarm concerning the diminishing presence of Christians in the Middle East (the majority of Palestinian Christians are of the Greek Orthodox Christian tradition).  Below is an excerpt from their statement: 

“…As a consequence of the violent confrontations and the poverty and economic instability of the Palestinian population, emigration from the region continues and accelerates. Thus, the entire Christian population, and especially the Orthodox Christian population, is diminished month by month.  In demographic terms, within the foreseeable future the Holy Land will be a land of holy sites and holy stones, with the Christian population reduced to the status of mere custodians of these holy places, no longer able to maintain a viable community life….” 

http://www.scoba.us/news/newsdetail.asp?id=145

Holy Land Lutheran Bishop Calls for Reconciliation Between Palestinians and Israelis

Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) delivered the opening sermon of the Lutheran World Federation Council Meeting held in Jerusalem from August 31- September 6.  Younan affirmed that a two-state solution with a shared Jerusalem is possible if Israelis and Palestinians realize their interdependence.  His sermon emphasized that for true reconciliation to take place people must be willing to hear the truth about each other and to forgive: 

“…At the core of any reconciliation is the readiness of people in the conflict to anticipate a shared future together…I urge all Israelis to see God in the Palestinians and urge all Palestinians to see God in the Israelis. I urge both to accept each other's humanity with all of its pain and suffering. If we do so in the spirit of forgiveness, then we can recognize each others human, civil, religious, national and political rights. Only then will the Holy Land be the Promised Land of milk and honey for Palestinians and Israelis. It is my fervent prayer that my children and grandchildren will live one day side by side with their Israeli neighbors in just peace and reconciliation.” 

http://www.lutheranworld.org/council/2005/20050830-council.html

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The views expressed by the authors of the articles included do not necessarily reflect those of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP).  CMEP is a coalition of 21 Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant church bodies and organizations that work together in pursuit of a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict where two viable states, Israel and Palestine, live side-by-side within secure and recognized borders.