wfn.org | Church delegation presents letter to Secretary of State Powell

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2001-143

Church delegation presents letter to Secretary of State Powell

     June 7, 2001

     The Honorable Colin Powell
     Secretary of State
     United States Department of State

     Dear Mr. Secretary:

     We are grateful that you have given us this opportunity to meet with you and 
are mindful of the additional heads of U.S. churches who joined us in signing 
this letter.  We come with thanks for the wise and strong leadership you are 
giving to our government's State Department.  We come with support for your 
effort to end the Israeli-Palestinian cycle of violence and rebuild the trust and 
mutual confidence that are critical for a negotiated settlement. 

     There is no higher priority for peacemaking in the world today than that 
between Israel and the Palestinians.  This long and tragic conflict is a cancer 
that threatens the health of the whole region, U.S. relations with Arab and 
Muslim countries, and interfaith relations worldwide. We, particularly those of 
us who have precious partnerships with our sister churches in the Holy Land, 
offer our prayers and encouragement to our government in this crucial work.

     Along with many others, we are deeply concerned that the peace process has 
broken down so violently and tragically between the government of Israel and the 
Palestinian leadership.  The sobering current reality compels us to take a higher 
profile in advocacy of U.S. policies conducive to peace. 

     Few things have done more to destroy the hope and pursuit of peace through 
negotiations than Israel's unrelenting settlement activity.  Over these recent 
years, we have heard from our Palestinian Christian partners, and seen for 
ourselves, the destructive impact of Israel's settlement policy -- separating 
village from village, confiscating more and more Palestinian land, creating 
friction with its military checkpoints.  For over twenty years our churches have 
appealed to the U.S. government to require Israel to cease this transfer of its 
civilian population into occupied territory, a clear violation of international 
law and United Nations resolutions.  Each administration has spoken in opposition 
to the settlement activity, only to watch the settlements increase and expand as 
Israel ignores the advice. 

     It is time for the United States to do what it must to bring Israel's 
settlement activity to an end.  We urge you to make clear to Israel and the 
Palestinians that the United States is committed to a negotiated end of Israel's 
military occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem as called 
for in U.N.S.C. Res. 242 and that an immediate freezing by Israel of its 
settlement activity including "natural growth" is imperative.  It will likely 
require considerable diplomatic pressure, and possibly economic pressure as well, 
to convince the government of Israel to recognize that this is a major policy 
concern of the United States.  

     Breaking the cycle of violence is fundamental to restarting the peace 
process and rebuilding the hope and will for peace.  While we condemn the violent 
words and actions of Palestinians, we understand the rage that comes from decades 
of occupation, dislocation and the feeling of having been betrayed by the peace 
process.  We appeal to the Palestinians, as have you, to abandon violence as a 
means to end the occupation. 

     We understand as well Israel's quest for security for the state and its 
people, but condemn the disproportionately violent and destructive means it is 
using.   Israel's practice of assassination and the economic strangulation of the 
fledgling Palestinian state are counterproductive to either security or peace.  
We hope that Israel is responsive to your appeal that it lift the siege of 
Palestinian towns and pay the taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority.  We call 
upon Israel to abandon military force and return to negotiations as the path to 
security.

     A delegation of church leaders on a December pastoral visit saw the 
destruction wrought by Israel's military might on the homes and livelihood of the 
Christian towns of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour.  The delegation urged 
that the United States suspend the 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.  We ask you to place a hold on any pending delivery of attack 
helicopters or fighter jets to Israel and to reconsider the promise made by the 
Clinton Administration that the United States will increase military aid to 
Israel for each of the next eight years. While we recognize that it has been U.S 
policy to support Israel militarily in order to insure its security and to 
encourage it to move forward with confidence in negotiations, the use of F-16 
fighter jets against civilian populations is unacceptable and must be challenged 
by the U.S. government.  Like the U.S. effort to stop settlement activity, 
stopping the use of these heavy weapons against civilians will require 
considerable diplomatic pressure and possibly economic pressure.

     Although our concern extends to each person suffering from this conflict, we 
are extremely worried about our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters.  
Facing daily threats from violence and economic deprivation and lacking hope for 
peace and a viable Palestinian state, many feel the pressure to emigrate. The 
demise of the living Christian community from the birthplace of the Christian 
religion would certainly be an irreparable tragedy for the Middle East and the 
Christian community internationally.  For their sake, and for the sake of all, we 
seek a restoration of hope for a negotiated sharing of the Holy Land and the city 
of Jerusalem, holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims.  We tremble to consider the 
destructive consequences that would follow the premature moving, as called for by 
Congress, of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. 

     We have heard the cries of fear and mourning of Palestinian Christians and 
Muslims and of Israeli Jews and pray for their healing and the reconciliation of 
the Abrahamic family.  Be assured of our prayers for you and the President and 
all others in the Administration as you seek to forge a fair and just policy for 
the two peoples and three faiths who share a common religious heritage in the 
land we hold as holy.  

     Sincerely Yours, 

     The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold 
     Presiding Bishop and Primate
     The Episcopal Church

     Bishop Vicken Aykazian 
     Diocesan Legate and Ecumenical Officer
     The Armenian Orthodox Church

     The Very Rev. Brother Stephen Michael Glodek, S.M. 
     President
     Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Mens' Institutes

     The Rev. John L. McCullough
     Executive Director
     Church World Service

     Bishop Donald J. McCoid
     Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod
     Chair, Conference of Bishops of the 
     Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

     Bishop Dimitrios of Xanthos
     Ecumenical Officer
     The Rev. Alexander Karloutsos
     Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

     Bishop William B. Oden 
     Immediate Past President
     The Council of Bishops
     The United Methodist Church

The following heads of churches and faith-based organizations join the delegation 
in this expression of concern and appeal to Secretary of State Colin Powell:

     Bishop McKinley Young
     Presiding Bishop, 10th Episcopal District
     African Methodist Episcopal Church

     The Rev. Dr. Robert H. Roberts
     Interim General Secretary
     American Baptist Churches USA

     Mary Ellen McNish
     General Secretary
     American Friends Service Committee

     Metropolitan PHILIP, Primate
     Antiochian Orthodox Christian
     Archdiocese of North America

     The Rev. Dr. Richard L. Hamm
     General Minister and President 
     Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 
     in the United States and Canada

     The Rev. Judy Mills Reimer
     Executive Director
     Church of the Brethren General Board

     The Rev. H. George Anderson
     Presiding Bishop
     The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

     Michael E. Livingston 
     Executive Director
     International Council of Community Churches

     The Rev. Dr. Seung Koo Choi
     General Secretary of
     Korean Presbyterian Church in America

     Dr. Ron J. R. Mathies 
     Executive Director 
     Mennonite Central Committee 

     The Rev. R. Burke Johnson
     President
     Moravian Church - Northern Province

     The Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar
     General Secretary
     National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA

     The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick 
     Stated Clerk
     Presbyterian Church (USA)

     The Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson
     General Secretary
     Reformed Church in America

     Archbishop Cyril Aphrem Karim
     Archdiocese of the 
     Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch
     for the Eastern USA 

     The Rev. John Buehrens
     President
     Unitarian Universalist Association

     The Rev. John H. Thomas
     General Minister and President
     United Church of Christ

     Bishop Melvin G. Talbert
     Ecumenical Officer
     Council of Bishops
     The United Methodist Church