Contact: James Solheim, press officer
Episcopal News Service
New York City, NY USA
Tel: 800-334-7626
Corinne Whitlatch, director
Churches for Middle East Peace
110 Maryland Avenue, NE
Suite 108
Washington DC, 20002-5622
Telephone: 202.543.8425
Email: cmepdc@aol.com
Websites: www.loga.org or www.loga.org/delegationhome.htm
www.cmep.org
JERUSALEM, December 10, 2000--Following is the text of the statement issued
here today at the conclusion of a visit to Israel and Palestine by an
ecumenical delegation of U.S. church leaders. The visit was coordinated by
Churches for Middle East Peace.
U.S. Christian Ecumenical Delegation
Calls for and Commits to Prayer
for a Just Peace in the Middle East
December 12, 2000
As is our custom as churches, we open this statement with a verse from the
Holy Bible:
What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God. --Micah 6:8
We have come as an ecumenical delegation of United States churches in this
holy season in anticipation of the birth of the "Prince of Peace" in this
land. We have heard the voices of the people in Jerusalem, in Bethlehem, in
Beit Jala, in Beit Sahour and in Gaza. We have seen the exploded shells made
in the U.S.A. found in ambulances and in families' homes. We have seen the
impact of Israeli settlements that strangulate and isolate the Palestinian
people from one another. We have seen the houses demolished by the army and
we have walked in centuries-old olive groves, uprooted by bulldozers. We
have seen the effect of the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs on the
lives of Palestinian families with its accompanying poverty and hunger.
We have heard the terror in the voices of Israeli Jews and
Palestinians--Christians and Muslims alike. We heard a rabbi express fear
for his daughter who serves in the Israeli army. We heard a Palestinian
parent express fear for their children's lives as they go out into the
street. We have met with the leaders of Christian churches, rabbis, sheikhs
and government officials representing both the Israeli government and the
Palestinian Authority.
We believe that our faith calls us to tell the truth of what we have seen and
that unless we share with the world what we have seen, the stones will cry
out. We are persuaded that the peace which must come for all-Israeli and
Palestinian alike-can only be achieved on a firm foundation of justice.
We grieve for all the victims, Palestinian and Israeli. We mourn each
precious life lost in the violence of recent weeks. As we love mercy and seek
to be worthy of receiving it, so we extend our prayers and consolation to the
afflicted and the bereaved.
We commend the churches who have extended acts of mercy and practical
assistance to Palestinian families and communities who face danger,
privation, loss, and suffering through isolation under closure and attack by
heavy weapons and helicopters. We plead for an end to the cycle of violence
that threatens to spin completely out of control.
We have heard the fears from both sides and ask each side to hear the other.
We reach out with concern to our sisters and brothers in the Israeli Jewish
community to caution them that their government's disproportionate use of
violence further deteriorates hopes for their aspirations for peace with
security.
Oppression breeds terrorism. As one Jewish voice said, "There can be no
Palestinian freedom without Israeli security, just as there can be no Israeli
security without Palestinian freedom." Therefore we make an urgent plea that
all parties heed the moral imperative to do justice. To that end, we urge
the community of nations and all people who love mercy to recognize and
condemn this new apartheid that oppresses the Palestinian people.
We have come to understand that the fundamental requirement for a durable
peace is the prompt end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian areas in
fulfillment of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. This
will require Israeli withdrawal to the borders of June 4, l967 (including
East Jerusalem and the settlements) except as may be modified by mutual
consent and exchange of territory.
We call upon our U.S. President and Congress to encourage such an end to the
occupation of Palestinian lands and neighborhoods. A peace accord that
implements U.N.S.C. 242 and 338, and all other pertinent resolutions
including U.N.S.C. 194 affirming the right of return for Palestinian
refugees, would open the way to Israel's long-term security and acceptance by
Arab nations in the region.
We believe that the following steps are additional elements in the effort to
"do justice:"
· that Israelis and Palestinians cease all acts of violence and attempts to
kill and return to the negotiating table immediately;
· that Israeli forces end the use of disproportionate force in violation of
international norms, as when tanks and helicopters are used to attack
civilian neighborhoods;
· that Israel stop further confiscation of land, house demolitions,
widespread closures, destruction of trees and agricultural fields, settlement
expansions, and other policies that victimize Palestinians and change the
"facts on the ground" before reaching a final negotiated peace agreement;
· that, prior to such a peace agreement that can end the current violence,
Palestinian populations under occupation have some form of immediate
protection provided by the international community;
· that the United States suspend current sales of attack helicopters to
Israel pending investigation of their use against civilian targets as well as
assurances that they will be used in conformity with United States law
covering "end-use" in our weapons sales;
· that the United States should make all necessary changes so that U.S. aid
to Israel is administered and made accountable consistent with the rules and
procedures that are applied to every other recipient of U.S. aid;
· that governments and relief agencies join the churches in providing
humanitarian aid to the Palestinians;
· that a final peace agreement include a plan to share the city of
Jerusalem that fully respects and protects equally the national rights of
both Israelis and Palestinians in the city (under whatever political formula
may be worked out) and, further, that guarantees the rights of access,
worship, and practice to all three faiths--Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam--with international supervision to enforce these rights as may be
needed.
Finally, we affirm our affection and love for both Israelis and Palestinians.
We promise to support efforts of reconciliation and healing and a just peace
for both communities in fulfillment of the common mandate of the three
Abrahamic faiths to love our neighbors.
Our churches in the United States and many other nations began a prayer vigil
on December 3 for an end of the violence. We will continue that vigil, and
invite our Jewish and Muslim sisters and brothers to join us in prayer until
a genuine and lasting peace is achieved.
Participants in the delegation included:
· Bishop Viken Aykazian of the Armenian Apostolic Church
· The Very Rev. Brother Stephen Glodek of the Catholic Conference of Major
Superiors of Men's Institutes
· The Rev. John McCullough of Church World Service and Witness of the
National Council of Churches
· Bishop Vincent Warner of the Episcopal Church's Diocese of Olympia and
Mrs. Janice Warner
· Bishop Edmond Browning, former presiding bishop of The Episcopal
Church, and Mrs. Patti Browning
· Bishop Dimitrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
· Former Presiding Bishop Herbert W. Chilstrom of the ELCA
· Bishop Margaret Payne, bishop of the ELCA's New England Synod
· Bishop Theodore Schneider, bishop of the ELCA's Metropolitan
Washington, DC Synod
· Donella Clemens of the Mennonite Central Committee
· Inez Allan of the Presbyterian Church USA
· Mary Ellen McNish of the American Friends Service Committee
· The Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson of the United Church of Christ
· Bishop William Oden of the United Methodist Church and Mrs. Marilyn
Oden
-End-