Since the
Hezbollah-Israeli crisis began on July 12th with
Hezbollah’s raid and capture of two Israeli soldiers, it has
escalated into a terrible spiral of violence, wreaking havoc on the
civilian populations of
Lebanon
and Israel. An immediate cease-fire is needed to save innocent
civilian lives and allow humanitarian aid to be delivered, as the
first step in a diplomatic process to address the causes of the
current crisis and bring a lasting cessation of hostilities. The
continued violence is increasing anti-American and anti-Israel
sentiment in the region, weakening the Lebanese government,
strengthening extremist forces at the expense of moderate voices,
inflaming Arab-Israeli hostility and making prospects for a
comprehensive Middle East peace even more difficult. Negotiations
are underway to achieve a cease-fire and on how best to ensure
Israel’s security and Lebanon’s independence so that the current
crisis does not recur. A UN Security Council resolution is
expected sometime this week. As diplomatic efforts continue, now is
also the time for the
US,
in cooperation with the international community and parties in the
region, to address the absence of a comprehensive Middle East peace,
which the G-8 leaders called the “the root cause of the problems in
the region.” Below are commentaries from two former US officials
and a report from the International Crisis Group, all pointing to
the necessity of a US-led comprehensive Middle East peace process
that would include renewed attention to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. This crisis has brought with it tragic human
consequences, and at the same time a new opportunity to bring peace
and security to a region that has been troubled for far too long,
but a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace will only be possible with
sustained US engagement.
“Beyond Lebanon:
This Is the Time for a U.S.-Led Comprehensive Settlement”,
Brent
Scowcroft,
Washington
Post,
July 30, 2006
“…The current
conflagration has energized the world. Now, perhaps more than ever,
we have an opportunity to harness that concern and energy to achieve
a comprehensive resolution of the entire 58-year-old tragedy. Only
the United States can lead the effort required to seize this
opportunity. The outlines of a comprehensive settlement have been
apparent since President Bill Clinton's efforts collapsed in
2000…What seems breathtakingly complicated, however, is how one
mobilizes the necessary political will, in the region and beyond, to
transform these principles into an agreement on a lasting
accord…That responsibility falls to others, principally the United
States, which alone can mobilize the international community and
Israel and the Arab states for the task that has defeated so many
previous efforts. With a cease-fire and international security
force in place, the Quartet would then construct a framework for
negotiating the specific elements of a comprehensive settlement,
after which Israel, the Palestinian Authority and appropriate Arab
state representatives (e.g. Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon)
would be added to the process to complete the detailed
negotiations…..”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/28/AR2006072801571.html
“Stop the
Band-Aid Treatment: We Need Policies for a Real, Lasting Middle East
Peace”,
Jimmy Carter,
Washington
Post,
August 1, 2006
“…These are
ambitious hopes, but even if the U.N. Security Council adopts and
implements a resolution that would lead to such an eventual
solution, it will provide just another band-aid and temporary
relief. Tragically, the current conflict is part of the inevitably
repetitive cycle of violence that results from the absence of a
comprehensive settlement in the
Middle East,
exacerbated by the almost unprecedented six-year absence of any real
effort to achieve such a goal. Leaders on both sides ignore strong
majorities that crave peace, allowing extremist-led violence to
preempt all opportunities for building a political consensus…The
general parameters of a long-term, two-state agreement are well
known…Except for mutually agreeable negotiated modifications,
Israel's official pre-1967 borders must be honored. As were all
previous administrations since the founding of
Israel,
U.S. government leaders must be in the forefront of achieving this
long-delayed goal…The people of the Middle East deserve peace and
justice, and we in the international community owe them our strong
leadership and support.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/31/AR2006073100923.html
“Israel/Palestine/Lebanon: Climbing Out of the Abyss”,
Middle East Report N°57, International Crisis Group,
July 25, 2006
“The Middle
East is immersed in its worst crisis in years following the capture
of three Israeli soldiers by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance
Movement (Hamas) and Lebanese Party of God (Hizbollah) in late June
2006 and early July, Israel’s comprehensive offensive throughout the
Gaza Strip and Lebanon, and the daily firing of rockets deep into
Israel…A political solution to the twin crises of Lebanon and
Palestine must be the international community’s urgent priority.
Waiting and hoping for military action to achieve its purported
goals will have not only devastating humanitarian consequences: it
will make it much harder to pick up the political pieces when the
guns fall silent…As the international community wrestles with this
crisis, analysis from the ground suggests several key principles
that ought to be followed.… an immediate Israeli-Lebanese ceasefire
is necessary: pursuing a military knockout is unrealistic and
counterproductive…to be sustainable, the ceasefire needs to be
urgently followed by intensive diplomatic efforts to tackle root
causes – all of them. A ceasefire by definition will be fragile and
at best temporary, for it does not meet core concerns.
Israel
would be left with a hostile, armed force to its north; Lebanon with
the reality of an autonomous militia and a southern neighbour eager
to eradicate Hizbollah; and both the latter and its Syrian ally with
unaddressed political issues. The U.S. is correct in asserting that
“root causes” need to be addressed, but this cannot be done
selectively nor should the international community stop half-way by
focusing exclusively on Hizbollah’s status…The accelerated plunge
into the abyss is the price paid for six years of diplomatic
neglect; without a negotiating process, regional actors have been
left without rules of the game, reference points or arbiters. In
this respect, although their dynamics are different and they need
separate solutions, the Palestinian and Lebanese crises clearly
intersect. Only through a serious and credible rekindling of the
long dormant peace process can there be any hope whatsoever of
addressing, and eliminating, root causes…”
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=4282
2.
gaza
crisis continues and still requires diplomatic solution
While attention
is focused on the Hezbollah-Israeli violence, the Gaza crisis is
receiving little attention although it continues unabated. Since
the kidnapping of Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit on June 25,
2006, Israeli-Palestinian violence has escalated rapidly in the Gaza
area with Israeli military actions and Palestinian militant rocket
attacks. The continued violence is having severe consequences on
the civilian population of
Gaza,
detailed below in two reports from various humanitarian agencies. A
diplomatic solution is needed that ends the violence, alleviates the
humanitarian crisis, secures a safe return of the captured Israeli
soldier and restores an Israeli-Palestinian political process, which
should begin with US encouragement of dialogue between Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“Gaza
Humanitarian Crisis: Call for Action”,
Issued by 26 International NGOs working in Gaza, July 27, 2006
“International
non governmental organizations providing humanitarian assistance to
the civilian population in
Gaza
warn that more and more people are in need of help as hostilities
between
Israel and Palestinian factions continue unabated. Humanitarian
access to the hardest hit communities remains difficult, and access
of humanitarian staff in and out of Gaza is restricted to expatriate
staff only. While global attention quite rightly focuses on the
Lebanese civilians trying to escape the fighting in Lebanon, the 1.4
million people of Gaza are trapped, unable to flee from the current
hostilities…”
http://www.careinternational.org.uk/Gaza+humanitarian+crisis+-+call+for+action+July+27,+2006+7095.twl
“Statement on
Gaza by United Nations Humanitarian Agencies working in the occupied
Palestinian territory”
(UNRWA, UNICEF, WHO, OCHA, WFP, OHCHR), August 3, 2006
“The United Nations humanitarian agencies working in the occupied
Palestinian territory are deeply alarmed by the impact continuing
violence is having on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza,
which has resulted in a sharp decline in the humanitarian situation
facing 1.4 million people, more than half of them children. We are
concerned that with international attention focusing on Lebanon, the
tragedy in Gaza is being forgotten. We estimate that since 28 June,
175 Palestinians have been killed, including approximately 40
children and eight women, and over 620 injured in the Gaza Strip.
One IDF soldier has been killed and 25 Israelis have been injured,
including 11 Israelis injured by homemade rockets fired from the
Gaza Strip. Palestinians have fired on average between 8-9 homemade
rockets per day towards
Israel
(319 in total) and the Israeli military has fired on average 200-250
artillery shells per day into the Gaza Strip and conducted at least
220 aerial bombings. The latest IDF incursion in the area around the
Gaza
Airport
overnight has left eight Palestinians dead, including a 12 year-old
girl and 20 injured. UNRWA estimates that at least 475 families
have fled their homes in the area and are now being sheltered in an
UNRWA school in nearby Rafah…”
http://ochaonline.un.org/DocView.asp?DocID=4775
3.
us and international statements on
mideast
crises
“President
Bush and Secretary of State Rice Discuss the Middle East Crisis”,
Prairie Chapel Ranch, Crawford, Texas, August 7, 2006
“THE
PRESIDENT: Good morning. Since the crisis in Lebanon began more than
three weeks ago, the United States and other key nations have been
working for a comprehensive solution that would return control of
Lebanon to its government, and to provide a sustainable peace that
protects the lives of both the Lebanese and the Israeli people.
Secretary Rice and diplomats from other countries are developing
United Nations resolutions to bring about a cessation of hostilities
and establish a foundation for lasting peace. The first resolution,
which the Security Council is now considering, calls for a stop of
all hostilities. Under its terms, Hezbollah will be required to
immediately stop all attacks. Israel will be required to immediately
stop all offensive military operations. In addition, the resolution
calls for an embargo on the shipment of any arms into Lebanon,
except as authorized by the Lebanese government. A second
resolution, which the Security Council will begin working on as soon
as possible, will help establish a sustainable and enduring
cease-fire and provide a mandate for a robust international force
that will help the legitimate government of Lebanon extend it's
authority over all of Lebanon's territory…These two resolutions are
designed to bring an immediate end to the fighting, to help restore
sovereignty over Lebanese soil to Lebanese democratic government --
to Lebanon's democratic government, excuse me -- to strike a blow
against the terrorists and their supporters, and to help bring
lasting peace to the region…”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/print/20060807.html
“Text: Draft UN
Lebanon resolution”,
BBC News, August 5, 2006
The following is
the US-France
draft UN resolution on the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict, as of August
5, 2006. After the resolution was circulated over this past
weekend, a number of Arab countries, including the Lebanese
government, expressed objections. An Arab League delegation is
scheduled to meet with the UN Security Council today. It is unclear
what, if any, changes will be made as a result of negotiations. The
resolution is expected to come up for a vote sometime this week.
“The text of a
UN Security Council draft resolution aimed at ending the conflict
between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon…”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5249488.stm
“Statement on
Three-Part Comprehensive Settlement”,
Secretary Condoleezza Rice,
Jerusalem, July
31, 2006
“Over the course
of the past eight days, I have participated in a series of intense
meetings and discussions with leaders in Israel and Lebanon -- as
well as leaders from throughout the world gathered in Rome and
Malaysia -- to try to find common ground and bring an end to the
violence that has claimed so many lives. This morning, as I head
back to
Washington,
I take with me an emerging consensus on what is necessary for both
an urgent cease-fire and a lasting settlement. I am convinced we can
achieve both this week -- and I am convinced that only by achieving
both will the Lebanese people finally be able to control their
country and their future, and the people of Israel finally be able
to live free from the threat of attack from terrorist groups in
Lebanon. Based on what we have accomplished, and the urgency of the
situation, we will call for the United Nations Security Council
action this week on a comprehensive settlement that includes three
parts: a cease fire, the political principles that provide for a
long-term settlement, and the authorization of an international
force to support the Lebanese army in keeping the peace…”
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2006/69726.htm
“Excerpts from
Rome
conference statement on Lebanon”,
Reuters, July 26, 2006
“Following are
excerpts from a statement released at the end of an international
conference on
Lebanon.
The statement was issued by co-chairs Italy and the United States,
and agreed by the participants in the meeting in
Rome.
‘The participants pledged their united determination to work in
partnership with the international community to provide immediate
humanitarian relief to the people of Lebanon, expressing deep
concern for civilian casualties and suffering, the destruction of
civil infrastructure and the rising number of internally displaced
people. Calling
Israel to
exercise its utmost restraint, they welcomed
Israel's
announcement of humanitarian corridors to
Lebanon,
including for humanitarian flights into
Beirut
International Airport, and within Lebanon that can allow for the
rapid delivery of relief aid, and called for their immediate
operation. The Rome conference participants expressed their
determination to work immediately to reach with the utmost urgency a
ceasefire that put an end to the current violence and hostilities.
That ceasefire must be lasting, permanent and sustainable…’”
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nL26383717&from=business
“G-8 Leaders’
Middle
East Statement”,
St. Petersburg, July 16, 2006
“Today, we the
G-8 Leaders express our deepening concern about the situation in the
Middle East, in particular the rising civilian casualties on all
sides and the damage to infrastructure. We are united in our
determination to pursue efforts to restore peace. We offer our full
support for the UN Secretary General's mission presently in the
region. The root cause of the problems in the region is the
absence of a comprehensive
Middle East
peace. The immediate crisis results from efforts by extremist
forces to destabilize the region and to frustrate the aspirations of
the Palestinian, Israeli and Lebanese people for democracy and
peace…These extremist elements and those that support them cannot be
allowed to plunge the Middle East into chaos and provoke a wider
conflict. The extremists must immediately halt their attacks. It
is also critical that Israel, while exercising the right to defend
itself, be mindful of the strategic and humanitarian consequences of
its actions. We call upon Israel to exercise utmost restraint,
seeking to avoid casualties among innocent civilians and damage to
civilian infrastructure and to refrain from acts that would
destabilize the Lebanese government. The most urgent priority is to
create conditions for a cessation of violence that will be
sustainable and lay the foundation for a more permanent solution…”
http://en.g8russia.ru/docs/21.html
4.
seeing the humanity of the other, Amidst violence and polarization
Below are two
articles challenging readers to see the humanity of the other during
this time of violence that is breeding hostility, resentment and
anger. The first article is by an Orthodox Christian priest in the
US, active in interfaith relations, and the second is by an Israeli
mother, who is a member of the Parents Circle, a group of Israeli
and Palestinian parents who’ve lost their children to the conflict
but work together to support peace and coexistence.
“The enemy also
suffers,”
The Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky, The Orthodox Church in America,
UPI Religion and Spirituality Forum, July 29, 2006
“As this is written, we are observing with anguish the violence in
the Middle East. The military forces of
Israel
are in confrontation with Hezbollah in
Lebanon
and with Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank. Cities in northern Israel
are hit by rockets fired by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon…The
violence in the Middle East is an urgent and alarming reality, with
no just resolution in sight. It is not right that the citizens of
Israel, both Jewish and Palestinian, are under threat of bombardment
and terrorist attacks. It is not right that the people of
Lebanon
and the Palestinian Authority are under threat of air strikes. When
violence is directed against Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah, the
innocent suffer. When violence is directed against militants and
extremists by
Israel,
the innocent suffer. It is obvious that offering political
solutions or strategies is usually not in the competence of churches
and religious communities. It is in our competence, however, to
insist on the value of human life, on the importance of mercy and
compassion, on the urgent need to see the "other" as a fellow human
being. In other words, it is the task of churches and religious
communities to confront hatred and prejudice, to offer insistently
the insight that the suffering of the "other" is not something to
rejoice over, but something to grieve over…Only the recognition of
our common humanity can show us the way to the recognition of the
presence of the living God among us…”
http://religionandspirituality.com/view.php?StoryID=20060729-115712-7037r
“No winners,
just broken hearts”,
Robi Damelin (Member of Parents Circle - Families Forum, Bereaved
Israeli and Palestinian Families supporting Peace, Reconciliation
and Tolerance), Haaretz, August 4, 2006
”Listening to the rhetoric of this war reminds me of a sports
tournament. We beat them by however many points, or they beat us by
however many points. But it is not points we are talking about and
there is no trophy. The points are human beings with families and
loved ones fleeing their daily lives, sometimes succeeding and
sometimes not. Whose side shall we take in the tournament? After
all, we feel very good about ourselves when we have a side to back.
Will we pick the green in Lebanon - they are the underdogs – or
shall we pick the blue in Israel? We would perhaps feel better about
the blue if they lost more men. Is this how the world looks at a
conflict, as a glorified tournament?...My heart aches for every
picture of the victims I see in the paper. I understand what is
waiting for the mother and father and all the family and friends. I
know the longing, the pain and the eyes constantly brimming with
tears, anguish and hurt…For so many years we have repeated the
tournament of violence, it is time to look for another way, not the
narrative of winning but rather a way of dialogue toward
reconciliation, a way to see the human being behind the stigma – in
other words, a way to recognize our joint pain…”
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/746313.html
=========================================================================
The views
expressed by the authors of the items 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.
For more
information contact Julie Schumacher Cohen, CMEP’s
Legislative Coordinator at 202-543-1222 or at
Julie@cmep.org.
