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United Methodists: Support Israeli-Palestinian Peace Resolution

United Methodist General Board of Church and Society Action Alert

S. Res. 276/H. Res. 479, a bipartisan resolution introduced in the Senate and House by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Lois Capps, applauds the efforts of Israelis and Palestinians working privately toward a new peace agreement and urges President Bush and Israeli and Palestinian leaders to embrace the efforts. Sen. Feinstein is a leading Congressional voice for Israel.

The new peace agreement, known as the Geneva Accord, was negotiated by former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian Authority negotiator Yasir Abed-Rabbo. It is a detailed blueprint for a resolution of the Middle East’s most destabilizing conflict. The Accord seeks to overcome the chief defect of the Oslo peace process and President Bush’s Road Map to Middle East Peace by settling the most difficult issues right away, rather than putting them off to “final status” talks. Thus it calls for a two-state solution based on a near-total withdrawal from the Palestinian territories, a division of Jerusalem and the resettlement of most refugees in the new Palestinian state. The agreement also calls for an international force to guarantee implementation and oversight.

It is imperative that American voices support this courageous peace effort by prominent Israeli and Palestinians leaders. It puts pressure on President Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestine Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to end the conflict with a comprehensive peace based on a two-state solution. Urge your Senators and Representative to cosponsor S. Res. 276/H. Res. 479.

Background

As the Bush Administration has disengaged from leadership in seeking implementation of the ”Road Map to Peace in the Middle East,” public and political attention has shifted to the unofficial initiatives from prominent Israelis and Palestinians that lay out solutions to the final status o f issues. These initiatives include the Geneva Accord (see at www.cmep.org), a comprehensive model agreement for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which was signed in Geneva on December 1, 2003, the “People’s Voice Initiative,” a statement of principles that has generated grassroots support in Israeli and Palestinian communities, and “One Voice,” an initiative that seeks to develop broad-based consensus among Israelis and Palestinians on the disputed issues.

United Methodist Church Position

United Methodists are committed to the objective of a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace agreement that would bring recognition and security to Israel and national and human rights to the Palestinians. (2002 Book of Resolutions, p. 757.)

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