Episcopal Press and News
Presiding Bishop Joins in Letter to President Clinton on Jerusalem
Episcopal News Service. March 16, 1995 [95046]
(ENS) Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning joined seven other church leaders in calling on the administration of President Bill Clinton to use its influence to halt Israeli construction in East Jerusalem and expansion in Palestinian areas. In a letter called "Jerusalem: City of Peace," released March 6 in anticipation of a meeting with President Clinton, the leaders warn that Middle East peace efforts will be jeopardized if Israel continues to attempt to assert exclusive sovereignty over the city.
"Making Jerusalem a subject for open negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians is essential for reaching an accord on the question of Jerusalem," the letter contends. Noting that the city is sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, the letter states "We stand at a special point in history where the future of Jerusalem is open to peaceful negotiation. The three communities of faith must have a part in those deliberations."
In particular, the letter urges, the administration should "use its influence to prevent this vital issue from being settled by force of events or the creation of facts on the ground." Threats to a negotiated resolution of the issue of Jerusalem include the movement of land out of Palestinian control by "annexation, expropriation, and private purchases, often coercive or of questionable legality." The church leaders voice their concern that the administration has failed "to recognize and support Palestinian rights and interests in Jerusalem," contesting an October, 1994, letter to Clinton from 279 members of the House of Representatives that argues against the U.S. government giving credibility to Palestinian claims on the city.
Signing the letter, in addition to Browning, are Cardinal William H. Keeler, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops; the Very Rev. Gerald L. Brown, S.S., president of the Roman Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men's Institutes; the Rev. Herbert W. Chilstrom, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Kara Newell, executive director of the American Friends Service Committee; Archbishop Iakovos, primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America; Metropolitan Philip Saliba of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America; and Robert A. Seiple, president of World Vision.