Episcopal Press and News
Christians Call for a Shared Jerusalem
Episcopal News Service. August 22, 2000 [2000-122U]
(ENS) "At last Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have broken the taboo and discussed concretely how to share Jerusalem between their two peoples and the three Abrahamic religions," said Corinne Whitlatch, director of Churches for Middle East Peace.
Churches for Middle East Peace is a Washington-based program of the Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church and more.
Whitlatch applauded the summit's discussions as a monumental and necessary step toward a resolution to the controversy over the Holy City's future and rejected conclusions that the summit failed.
"We are further encouraged because, in the course of the Camp David talks, Israeli and Palestinian officials met with Jerusalem's Christian patriarchs and heard their perspectives on the need for an internationally guaranteed special stature for the Holy City," she said.
Whitlatch added, "For too long, the Israeli public and many Americans have been led to believe that peace between Israel and the Arabs is possible while Israel maintains exclusive sovereignty over all of Jerusalem and the West Bank land annexed to Jerusalem by Israel since 1967. That is just not possible."
Churches for Middle East Peace asks that the United States place a higher regard on international law, as found in U.N. Security Council resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention, as the basis for a durable solution that can be endorsed by the international community.