American Committee on Jerusalem Welcomes U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Statement on behalf of the Palestinians
November 14, 2000

The American Committee on Jerusalem (ACJ) today welcomed Cardinal Bernard F. Law’s proposal that the U.S.’s Roman Catholic bishops collectively endorse Palestinian statehood. Law, chairman of international policy committee which drew up the proposed document titled, “Returning to the Path of Peace in the Middle East,” emphasized that \"just peace\" in the Middle East must include the establishment of a Palestinian state. He continued, \"Clearly, there will be no genuine peace for Israel without justice for the Palestinian people, nor will there be genuine justice for the Palestinian people without peace for Israel.\"

According to news reports, the declaration also calls for Israel to withdraw from all occupied territories and for the United States to reject any unilateral actions which could undermine negotiations between the parties. Law also called for unspecified steps to shore up the population of Christians in Israel and the Palestinian territories, which he said was dwindling. The statement stressed that \"Muslims, Jews and Christians, Palestinians and Israelis cannot separate themselves into walled enclaves, they must find ways to live together.\"

The Bishops’ statement reinforces the position of Christians in Palestine and responds to their plight as articulated yesterday by the Senior Palestinian Christian clergymen at the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit in Qatar. Speaking at a news conference after the Summit, Roman Catholic Bishop for Palestine Lutfi Laham commented: “We have come to assert our national unity as an inseparable part of this nation and this land in which we have shared with Muslims for more than a 1,000 years.” Theodosios Hanna of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem added that “Peace in the Middle East could only be achieved when a Palestinian state is formed with Jerusalem as its capital…We do not accept an international status for Jerusalem as this would mean giving up our Arab right to the city. Occupied East Jerusalem is a Palestinian Arab city and is the capital of a Palestinian sovereign state.”

ACJ calls on the leadership of the Christian communities around the world to rally behind the Palestinians in their quest for statehood. The status quo of occupation is intolerable, illegal, and untenable. Palestinian Christians and Muslims in East Jerusalem cannot be asked to suspend their rights to accommodate Israeli occupation. The foot-dragging of Israel in not recognizing East Jerusalem as occupied territory constitutes a reckless ongoing provocation. The recent round of violence which has resulted in the death of over 217 and injury of over 7000 Palestinians shows without a shadow of a doubt that it is high time for the occupation to end.