~November 9, 2005~

November 9, 2005

Jake Walles

U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem

Dear Mr. Walles,

With this letter, I introduce you to Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) and extend warm greetings from our Board and staff.  CMEP is a coalition of 21 Orthodox, Catholic and Protestants churches and church agencies that serves in Washington, DC as their ecumenical voice.  I hope that a delegation from CMEP might meet with you during a visit to Jerusalem in early April, 2006.

The status and future of Jerusalem is a primary and long-held concern for CMEP and its member churches. CMEP supports the policy of this and previous admin-istrations that the status of Jerusalem must be resolved through negotiations, and that actions must not be taken on the ground that prejudge a negotiated agreement. CMEP calls for the sharing of Jerusalem by the three faiths and by the two peoples, as the undivided capital of both Israel and a future state of Palestine.

CMEP is alarmed by news reports of plans by Irving Moskowitz, a U.S. citizen, to establish a new Jewish “neighborhood” within the Sheik Jarrah quarter of East Jerusalem.  We ask that you encourage Israeli officials to stop the plan, noting that this activity would be in violation of the Road Map’s call for an end to settlement building. Additionally, it would prejudge the future status of Jerusalem and is detrimental to the President’s vision of a two-state solution to the conflict.

Irving Moskowitz’s activities are troubling to all who seek a negotiated resolution of the conflict and peace in Jerusalem. We know that many American Jews and Israelis agree that these actions contradict a peace process that can lead to the security of Israel. Ha’aretz reports that in addition to the building in early 2003 of a settlement in the Ras al-Amud quarter of East Jerusalem, he is behind the building of a new Jewish neighborhood inside the Old City and has bought another site in Abu Dis, on West Bank land just outside Jerusalem. 

We appreciate your attention to this problem and our request.

Sincerely,

Corinne Whitlatch                                  J. Daryl Byler

Executive Director                                  Chair of the Board

cc:  C. David Welch, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs  

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