On February 15th, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and 14 other Christian organizations sent a briefing paper to all
members of Congress and to the Trump Administration calling for U.S. policies that promote
peace, justice, and equality between Israelis and Palestinians.
Toward Peace, Justice, and Equality in Israel and Palestine
February 15, 2017
As U.S.-based Christian churches, agencies, and
organizations, we urge Congress and the Administration to take actions which
will enhance the prospects for peace, justice, and equality in Israel and
Palestine, and refrain from actions that would harm those prospects.
2017 marks 50 years since Israel occupied the West Bank and
Gaza and 24 years since the signing of the Oslo Accords. Over the last 50
years, but particularly since the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993, there
have been significant changes on the ground in the occupied Palestinian
territories that have a negative impact on efforts to achieve peace with
justice. Violations of human rights and international law have continued
without consequence and are enabled further by Israeli legislative actions.
An example has been the continued and growing expansion of
settlements, an approach long condemned by Republican and Democratic
administrations alike as a violation of Israel’s obligations as an Occupying
Power under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Settlement
expansion forcibly takes property and resources from Palestinian landholders,
many of whom have held legal title to their lands for generations.
·
Settlements now control 42% of all West Bankland, areas that are recognized by the international community, and
international law, as Israeli-occupied Palestinian land.
·
Since 1993 the number of Israeli settlers in the
West Bank (not including East Jerusalem) has increased from 110,900 to over
400,000, and the number of Israeli settlers in Jerusalem has more gone up from
146,800 to over 300,000.
·
More than 15,000 Palestinian homes have been
destroyed since the signing of the Oslo Accords, often as a result of Israeli
authorities refusing to grant permits to Palestinians for modifying or building
structures on their own lands, then destroying any homes that are modified.
These changes, among others, have caused analysts, scholars,
diplomats, and politicians to assert that the window of opportunity for a
viable two-state solution is closing or may have closed. As that reexamination
is occurring, the underlying need for equality of rights remains.
The principle of equality is foundational to true
democracies as well as to international law. It is necessary if a sustainable
future is to be found for both Palestinians and Israelis. Regardless of the underlying political governance structures, equal
rights and opportunities must be assured for all people in the region – not
someday based on an idea of future negotiations, but as a fundamental human
right today. Yet the present situation and trajectory neither reflect nor
promote equality, as demonstrated by these facts, among others:
·
Freedom of movement for individuals of
Palestinian descent is inhibited, based on discriminatory and separate
criteria;
·
Trials for Palestinians in the West Bank take
place in military courts, while trials for Israeli settlers take place in
civilian courts;
·
A two-tier system of laws, rules, and services
operates for the Israeli and Palestinian populations in areas of the West Bank
under Israeli control, providing preferential services, development, and
benefits for Jewish settlers while imposing harsh conditions on Palestinians.
·
The parameters that determine political
participation in Israel break down according to ethnic and geographic lines: in
the West Bank, for example, Jews can vote while their Palestinian neighbors –
regardless of whether they live in “Palestinian” Area A or in “Israeli” Area C
– are not eligible to vote.
Neither Israelis,
Palestinians, nor those of us in the U.S. will ultimately benefit from
structures and approaches that reinforce inequality and injustice. To
address this untenable situation, U.S. policymakers should make clear their
commitment to ensuring fundamental human rights by:
·
Urging the Israeli government to immediately
take action to secure an end to the occupation and all discriminatory policies
resulting from the occupation, including home demolitions and inequitable
distribution of land and water resources;
·
Applying Leahy vetting processes and other
mechanisms to all recipients of U.S. security assistance consistently;
·
Upholding and protecting the rights and
abilities of human rights organizations and defenders to do their work, and
including them as part of delegation visits to hear their perspectives;
·
Urging Israeli and Palestinian leaders to uphold
the values of peace, justice, and equal rights for all peoples; and urging both
to refrain from actions that lead to violence while encouraging efforts to work
for peace, justice, and reconciliation;
·
Protecting the rights of U.S. citizens seeking
to carry out nonviolent economic protests to challenge unjust policies.
Our perspectives on the situation in Israel and Palestine
are based on decades, and in many cases centuries, of organizational engagement
in the Middle East. We fervently pray for a just and peaceful resolution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and look forward to working with Congress and the
Administration to support policies that promote equality for all people in the
region.
American Friends
Service Committee
Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
Church of the
Brethren, Office of Public Witness
Conference of Major
Superiors of Men
Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America
Friends Committee on
National Legislation
Global Ministries of
the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Maryknoll Office for
Global Concerns
Mennonite Central
Committee U.S.
National Council of
Churches of Christ in the USA
Pax Christi
International
Presbyterian Church
(USA)
Reformed Church in
America
United Church of
Christ
United Methodist
Church, General Board of Church and Society
