The Friday Edition
A Peace Plan That Does Not Bring Peace
Source: The National Council of Churches
http://nationalcouncilofchurches.us/a-peace-plan-that-does-not-bring-peace/
Published February 3, 2020
They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
when there is no peace.
-Jeremiah 6:14 NRSV
President Trump’s proposed Middle East ‘peace plan,’ titled “Peace to Prosperity,” will not bring peace nor is it a realistic plan. Instead, his proposal – formulated with Israel without Palestinian participation – ensures violence, continued animosity, and further encroachment by Israel on land that belongs to the people of Palestine.
It is for those reasons that the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) calls upon the international community to take up the mantle of brokering an agreement that brings peace and security to Israelis and Palestinians without trampling upon the rights of either.
For many years, the NCC has joined in supporting a two-state solution, the right of refugees to return to their homes, the dismantlement of the settlements, and the establishment of Jerusalem as a shared international city. This latest plan, developed without input from Palestinians, does not move us toward peace or resolve conflict in the region.
In order to be viable, a nation must have contiguous land with populations secure in their borders and in control of their destiny. The current peace deal does not offer this. The illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory has become normative, both Israeli and Palestinian societies have become restive, and the dream of peaceful coexistence side-by-side has all but extinguished. Nothing about the new Trump peace plan breathes life into the hope for justice and peace.
Instead of bringing both Palestinians and Israelis to the negotiating table, the Administration has worked only with the Israelis. Rather than mapping out an authentic Palestinian state, the architects of the plan have put forth a map recognizing Israeli-imposed “facts on the ground” and granting Palestinians the remaining pockmarked non-contiguous territory, which resembles a block of Swiss cheese more than a nation-state. The plan reinforces the indignity by offering the Palestinians a $50 billion payoff to do what they can to accept this untenable “solution.”
We urge all parties to get back to the hard work of creating a real plan for justice and peace. This land and all the people who live there deserve no less.
LATEST OPEN LETTERS
- 20-03Stand up to Trump
- 18-02Average Americans Response
- 23-12Tens of thousands of dead children.......this must stop
- 05-06A Call to Action: Uniting for a Lasting Peace in the Holy Land
- 28-05Concerned world citizen
- 13-02World Peace
- 05-12My scream to the world
- 16-11To Syria and Bashar al-Assad
- 16-11To Palestine
- 24-10Japan should withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN), WHO's controlling parent body, to protect the basic human rights and lives of its citizens.
Latest Blog Articles
- 01-07If Israel cannot stand alone, why do we let it?
- 01-07Mohammad Marandi: Why Israel Blinked — And What Iran Is Planning Next
- 01-07Israel is DESTROYING Itself: Alastair Crooke PREDICTS US-Iran War Before It Happened
- 30-06The Evangelical Pope | God is Lord of Time
- 26-06Our Friday News Analysis | What the World Reads Now!
- 25-06Our Wednesday News Analysis | Israel’s attack on Iran: The violent new world being born is going to horrify you
- 24-06Israel’s attack on Iran: The violent new world being born is going to horrify you
- 24-06Sumud: The unyielding heart of the Palestinian cause in Gaza
- 23-06The Evangelical Pope | Jerusalem – Yad Vashem
- 19-06Our Friday News Analysis | What the World Reads Now!
- 17-06Our Wednesday News Analysis | Greta Thunberg tried to shame western leaders – and found they have no shame