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• The highly valued commitment of the United States to promote religious freedom in the Middle East and elsewhere demands the encouragement of more open, more inclusive governance throughout the region. All too often in the Middle East, popular calls for the reform of repressive governments and economic inequality are expressed by factions who link protest against their regimes with protest against American influence. Our government should give more consideration to the growing and just demands for the promotion and protection of human rights in those countries where we have close relationships with the regime. 

• The exercise of discrimination against religious or ethnic groups must be discouraged wherever it occurs. Your expression of support for an end to airport profiling and secret evidence, which so often are used against Arabs and Muslims, and your outreach to American Arabs and Muslims is commendable. The U.S. quest for religious freedom globally requires persistent efforts to rid our own country of religious and ethnic prejudice and favoritism. The discriminatory practices of Turkey in favor of its secular citizens and against the peaceful exercise of religion in public life should not be supported by the United States. Nor should the discriminatory practices of Israel in favor of its Jewish citizens be supported by U.S. policies or financial assistance. The troubling examples of religious intolerance in the education of young people throughout the region deserves and requires the ongoing attention of your administration. This must be carried out in responsible ways, in consultation with those indigenous populations the U.S. seeks to protect. 

• The use of broadly applied sanctions, especially when carried out unilaterally, to punish nations or to cause changed behavior has proven to be ineffective and is now damaging to wider U.S. interests and relationships. We agree with Secretary of State Colin Powell's comment during his confirmation hearing that sanctions "show(s) a degree of American hubris and arrogance that may not, at the end of the day, serve our interests all that well." We ask that your administration consider taking actions to end or restructure the economic sanctions imposed on both Iraq and Iran. 
  
  We encourage your Administration to reassess the hostile relationship between the United States and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. We urge you to take into consideration the internal struggle between the forces of reform and those who would repress the dynamic of Iranian democratization. United States engagement in the development of Iran's energy sector would benefit both countries. 
  
  The growing condemnation by many U.S. citizens of the humanitarian consequences and diminishing support internationally for the U.N. economic sanctions against Iraq compel the United States to reexamine its position. We encourage your administration to identify alternative, nonmilitary policies that encourage the Iraqi regime to conform to international standards of behavior. 

• The threat posed by weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East should be dealt with from a regional perspective. The current U.S. policy of providing highly sophisticated armaments, by sales and grants, to our allies while seeking to prevent weapons development by those governments seen as adversaries is counterproductive to regional security and threatens U.S. interests. We appeal to you to revisit the 1991 initiative of the previous Bush administration to curb the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in the Middle East, and the missiles that deliver them. That initiative was designed to complement the U.N. Security Council's plan to eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction beginning with a moratorium on arms transfers to the region by supplier nations, including the United States. The Middle East Arms Control and Regional Security (ACRS) talks, that took place from early 1992-1995, need to be revived. Egyptian President Mubarak's proposal for creating a Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone should become an integral part of your administration regional peacemaking policy. The U.S. commitment to curb Iran's and Iraq's potential to develop such weapons cannot sustain international support until it is coupled with a U.S. commitment to bring Israel's nuclear program under international supervision as well.

• Seeking the negotiated resolution of long-standing conflicts must be a mainstay of U.S. policy. The importance and timeliness of negotiating a peace agreement in Cyprus are evident. Putting an end to this conflict which has divided Cyprus along Christian-Muslim religious and Greek-Turkish ethnic lines would complement the goals we share for conflict resolution and reconciliation in the Middle East.

• The Administration should give increased attention toward the establishment of peace agreements between Israel and both Syria and Lebanon. Such agreements are necessary for the security of Israel and for those states as well. Coordinated with these agreements must be the fulfillment of Lebanon's independence from Syrian intervention. The developing inclusive governance of Lebanon, with its multi-religious population, enhances regional stability and deserves your administration's encouragement. 

• The peace agreements between Israel and Jordan and between Israel and Egypt should be bolstered, not put at risk by United States' actions, policies and rhetoric. The issues of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and the unwillingness of the United States to insist on Israeli compliance with U.N. Security Council resolutions are matters of great concern to Arab peoples, and to our churches as well. The leaders of Jordan, Egypt and those Arab countries which have agreed to limited relationships with Israel should have their popular support enhanced by the actions and policies of the United States. We insist that our government promote the tenets of democratization within Jordan, Egypt and the other Arab nations friendly to the United States and not press their leaders to take positions that require the autocratic rule and repression of their peoples. 

• The close relationship and deep bonds between the peoples of the United States and Israel and their governments should be expressed in the context of broader U.S. interests and the application of American values and international standards to the region. A core principle for our member churches and organizations is that security for the state of Israel and its neighbors can come only through peace achieved by negotiated agreements between the parties. For each, we support the democratic expression of self-determination within internationally recognized borders. 
  
  United States' toleration, in the midst of peace negotiations, of the unrelenting settlement and road building by Israel on occupied Palestinian land has undermined those negotiations and fostered a region-wide perception of duplicity on the part of our government. We urge your administration to insist that Israel stop further confiscation of land, house demolitions, widespread closures, destruction of trees and agricultural fields, settlement expansions, and other policies that undermine peace negotiations. 
  
  We further urge that U.S. policy toward the Palestinian Authority should combine criticism of its authoritarian excesses, cronyism and corruption with encouragement of its emerging democratic practices. Too often U.S. insistence upon strong security measures has encouraged Palestinian repression of dissent, arbitrary arrest and execution, and grave violations of the rule of law. While condemning Palestinian misconduct, anti-Israeli incitement, and failure to protect human rights, the U.S. should seek ways to nurture democratic impulses and institutions in the evolving Palestinian political process. 

• The principle of sharing Jerusalem between the two peoples and three religions should be a central component of U.S. policy. We urge the U.S. government to call upon negotiators to move beyond exclusivist claims and create a Jerusalem that is a sign of peace and a symbol of reconciliation for all humankind. While we regard U.N.S.C. Res. 242 as the essential guidepost for the sharing of Jerusalem, we view the proposal that was discussed in recent negotiations for placing the entire Old City and Mount of Olives under some form of international sovereignty as a creative measure that could be widely accepted. The Patriarchs and Bishops of the Christian communities in Jerusalem have called since 1994 for a special judicial and political statute for Jerusalem to be established in common by local political and religious authorities and guaranteed by the international community. We appeal to you to honor the views of Christians throughout the world, and especially those of the Palestinian Christian community, in matters related to Jerusalem's status. Clearly, moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem prior to an agreement with the Palestinians would be an extremely provocative action. 

• The mode and level of U.S. economic assistance to Israel should be restructured and the Administration should have the freedom to set military aid levels to Israel. We are encouraged by the decision of Israel voluntarily to accept an annual reduction of its economic assistance. U.S. economic aid to Israel should be administered and made accountable consistent with the rules and procedures that are applied to every other recipient of U.S. aid. We urge your administration to direct that economic aid toward economic and human development programs for Israel's most needy people, including Israeli Arabs, and toward projects that promote reconciliation within Israel and the implementation of peace agreements made by Israel with its neighbors. 
  
  We further request that your Administration reconsider the Clinton Administration's promise to provide for the next eight years an annual increase, equal to one-half of their economic aid reduction, in military assistance grants to Israel. Your administration should maintain control of U.S. foreign assistance as an instrument of its foreign policy. The use by Israel of U.S. supplied attack helicopters and ammunition against Palestinian civilians during the current conflict as well as against the civilian electrical grid in Lebanon has been strongly criticized by our churches. We call for the suspension of the sale to Israel of Apache and Blackhawk helicopters that was announced in October 2000.

• Economic aid to the Palestinians should continue and be increased. It is in the interests of both the United States and Israel that the neglected and recently destroyed Palestinian infrastructure be developed. For the realization of Palestinian readiness for democratization, Palestinian civil society and Palestinian governmental institutions must be strongly supported. The emerging Palestinian state will require significant assistance in order to become economically viable and to absorb Palestinian refugees.

The congregations of the churches that work together in Churches for Middle East Peace have initiated a national prayer vigil for peace in the Middle East that will continue until the violence ends and we can celebrate a just and lasting negotiated resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In Washington, DC, our congregations are holding special prayer services on the twenty-second of each month. We invite your participation and that of your staff in these ecumenical prayer services. In any case, we hope you will join the vigil by taking a moment to pray on the twenty-second of each month that the spirit of justice and reconciliation may be showered upon all the people of the Holy Land and that wisdom and understanding will guide those who strive to be peacemakers. 

Sincerely, 
 

Mia Adjali  Executive Secretary for Global Concerns Women's Division,  General Board of Global Ministries United Methodist Church The Rev. Mark B. Brown Assistant Director for International Affairs and Human Rights  Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs Evangelical Lutheran Church in America J. Daryl Byler Director, U.S. Washington Office Mennonite Central Committee  Stan De Boe, OSST Director, Office of Justice and Peace Conference of Major Superiors of Men Jack Edmondson Washington, D.C. Representative Unitarian Universalist Association Thomas H. Hart Director of Government Relations Episcopal Church, USA   Eugene P. Heideman  Representative to CMEP Reformed Church in America  Peggy Hutchison Assistant General Secretary  Global Networks/ Ecumenical Relations General Board of Global Ministries The United Methodist Church

Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory Director, Washington Office  Presbyterian Church (USA) Greg Laszakovits Coordinator, Washington Office Church of the Brethren General Board Peter E. Makari Executive, Middle East and Europe Common Global Ministries Board of the  United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) James H. Matlack Director, Washington Office American Friends Service Committee  Robin Ringler Peace with Justice Program Director  General Board of Church and Society The United Methodist Church Rev. Peter Ruggere  Maryknoll Fathers  Maryknoll Office of Global Concern Joe Volk Executive Secretary Friends Committee on National Legislation Brenda Girton-Mitchell Director, Washington Office National Council of Churches – Church World Service