Open Letter to President Clinton
Episcopal News Service. May 8, 1998 [98-2169]
As Israel Celebrates its Fiftieth, US. Christian Leaders Urge President Clinton to Move Peace Process Forward
Mr. President, the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Israel is a time for reflection. Many of us, as well as our clergy and laity, will be attending events in recognition of this anniversary. The prayer -- "Next year in Jerusalem!" -- became a reality in 1948, too late for almost all of European Jewry. Those who came to Palestine from Europe were joined by others from many parts of the world in building a Jewish state where every Jew was welcome. The creation of Israel and its fifty-year struggle for stability and security is seen by many in the United States as an incredible testimony to the human spirit.
Largely unseen by Americans, however, was what the Palestinians call "al Nakba" -- the catastrophe which simultaneously befell them. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians became refugees and hundreds of villages were destroyed during and after the fighting in 1948. With the Arab states having rejected the partition plan devised by the United Nations, there was little heed paid to the plight of the Palestinian people. In the decades since, the Palestinians have been a pawn in a power game between nations within and outside the Middle East.
The 1993 Oslo Declaration of Principles seemed to create a framework for ending the conflict. Many of us joined you that day on the White House lawn with our hopes and prayers for a future where the Israeli and Palestinian peoples would live in security and thrive in a new climate of cooperation along with their neighboring states. The yearlong deadlock in the peace process has led to a profound and dangerous sense of discouragement. Nevertheless, there is still evidence that many Israelis and Palestinians support active, determined efforts by the U.S. to reinvigorate the peace process.
We are entirely convinced that a resolution of the question of Jerusalem is essential for peace and cooperation among the three Abrahamic faiths. The UN partition plan (UN General Assembly resolution 181 of November 29, 1947), cited in both Israel's Proclamation of Independence and the PLO's 1988 Declaration recognizing Israel, foresaw that the status of Jerusalem would be terribly difficult to resolve, so difficult that it must be postponed. The UN blueprint called for Jerusalem to have a special international regime administered by the U.N. for a ten-year period after which, "the residents of the City shall be then free to express by means of referendum their wishes as to possible modifications of the regime of the City." But that was not the course of history. Instead Jerusalem has been subject to war and continuous, bitter dispute.
With Jerusalem accepted in the Oslo Declaration of Principles by both Israel and the PLO as an issue for final status negotiations, we stand at a point in history where the future of Jerusalem is open to peaceful resolution. As Christians, we join Jews and Muslims in longing for the time when Jerusalem, the spiritual heritage of all the children of Abraham, will truly be the City of Peace for humankind.
But peace is not the reality of Jerusalem today. It is a divided city. Again and again, actions related to Jerusalem have been flashpoints for violence and cause for halting negotiations. It is a city where Jews and Arabs fear each other. It is a city where the bombs of Palestinian extremists kill civilians. In and near the city, more and more land is taken out of Palestinian hands and placed under Israeli control for the building of houses and settlements for Jewish families. Jerusalem is now where the identity cards of Palestinians are confiscated, where Palestinians are not allowed to build homes, where Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza are not allowed to freely enter -- where institutions and hopes wither.
The absence of a resolution of the question of Jerusalem can only sow the seeds of new religious conflicts between Muslims, Jews and Christians. The goal of "a warm peace" between Israel and its Arab neighbors can only be achieved in the context of a shared city where the interests of all the parties are respected. It is essential that the two peoples who call Jerusalem their home and capital openly negotiate its future.
Representatives of the three Abrahamic religions must also have a role in shaping the ultimate resolution of issues affecting historic Jerusalem and the commitment of the international community to guaranteeing the living presence of the three religious communities in the Holy City. The creative ideas for resolving the future of Jerusalem, and the other final status issues, that emerged in 1994-5 from dialogue and unofficial negotiations between prominent Israelis and Palestinians stand as guideposts to a solution that will be acceptable to majorities on both sides.
Mr. President, we, like you, abhor the violence that has so marked the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians over the past fifty years. All acts of violence create fear and suffering and undermine confidence that peace can be achieved. We encourage you to seek agreements that both protect the human rights and security of the Palestinians as well as enhancing the security of the State of Israel. We call on you to redouble your efforts to achieve a negotiated peace in the Middle East where Israel is accepted by its neighbors and the Jewish people no longer fear for their existence; to make clear your commitment to a peace under which the Palestinian people can gather their refugees to live with dignity and security in their own democratic state; to continue your principled stand for a Jerusalem that is shared by its two peoples and by three religious communities, with no exclusivist claims; and to tirelessly promote a climate of cooperation and economic development, in which vengeance and hatred may be overcome.
If there is to be universal and whole-hearted celebration of the creation of the State of Israel this year, the reality of the dislocation and suffering. experienced by the Palestinian people must be acknowledged, and questions of restitution, self-determination (statehood) and a just peace need to be openly addressed and resolved.
While Israelis and Palestinians separately celebrate and grieve the events of 1948, we pray that God will bless and protect both peoples, and all who care about them and work for the peace of Jerusalem. May God inspire their leaders, us, and you to work for just solutions that will be honored and celebrated by all fifty years hence.