Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) has appealed to the Bush Administration’s top diplomats for the Middle East to do everything possible to calm the crisis in Gaza.  In letters to Michael Doran at the National Security Council and to Assistant Secretary of State C. David Welch, the Executive Committee of CMEP characterizes the destruction of Gaza’s power plant and of bridges as “acts of collective punishment that have resulted in tremendous suffering by ordinary Palestinian people.”

Text of CMEP letter to Welch and Doran:

Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) appeals to you to encourage the Administration to do everything possible to calm the crisis in Gaza.  CMEP condemns the capture by Palestinian militants of Cpl. Gilad Shalit and prays that he will be released by Hamas without further delay and returned safely to his family.

CMEP urges the immediate intervention of the United States at the highest level with both Israeli and Palestinian officials. The mediating efforts of President Mubarak and the call by the foreign ministers, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, of the Group of Eight nations are important and appreciated, but this is not adequate. The United States, as Israel’s closest ally, must work closely with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz and insist that they restrain their military response and work with President Abbas to find a diplomatic resolution to the crisis. 

The CMEP coalition of 21 Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches and church-related organizations receives reports from Palestinian partner churches and agencies.  The Middle East Council of Churches’ Department of Services to Palestinian Refugees, in a June 29 update of the situation in Gaza, reports on the horrible impact of the military campaign on the people of Gaza. Israel’s attack on civilian infrastructure in Gaza including disabling the only power plant in Gaza and destroying bridges are acts of collective punishment that have resulted in tremendous suffering by ordinary Palestinian people.

CMEP endorses the statement of the MECC’s Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees that

“A diplomatic solution would spare not only the lives of the kidnapped soldier and of countless others but would [also] preserve what is left of the Palestinian infrastructure.”