Christians for Fair Witness on The Middle East Urges Israelis and Palestinians to Go Forward With Quartet Plan

NEW YORK, Dec. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On September 23, 2011, the Middle East "Quartet" (U.N., Russia, U.S. and E.U.) issued a statement calling for "direct bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations without delay or preconditions,"  including coming forward with "comprehensive proposals within three months on territory and security. . ." in the context of those negotiations. (http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/sg2178.doc.htm)

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu accepted the Quartet peace plan on October 2, while, according to the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency (September 29),  the PLO executive committee "effectively rejected" the Quartet's proposal to resume direct negotiations with Israel without preconditions.

On December 1, a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz stated that President Abbas had given documents to the Quartet outlining a proposal for borders and security.  Neither the Palestinians nor the Quartet gave the documents to Israel, however.  According to the Haaretz report, the Quartet demanded that Israel submit its proposals to them, which  PM Netanyahu refused to do, saying that any counterproposal should be presented in direct negotiations with the Palestinians.  A U.S. State Department spokesperson agreed with Israel, and said the parties must start direct talks before there can be any negotiation on borders and security.  And in a later Haaretz report (Dec. 3) "a senior U.S. official" clarified that Quartet representatives told the Palestinians that the proposals "were not relevant, because they had not been presented in direct talks with Israel."

"Fair Witness is pleased that the Palestinian Authority has drafted proposals for borders and security and perhaps these, along with Israeli proposals, can serve as starting points for negotiations," said Pastor Scott Ickert, Senior Pastor of Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church in Arlington, VA. "But it's not helpful to draft peace plans unless you submit them to your adversary and negotiate directly with them."

"The Gospel calls us to renounce violence and work towards reconciliation whenever we can," says Fr. James Loughran, S.A., Director of the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute in New York.  "Fair Witness supports both the Israelis and Palestinians in their quest for peace. We therefore encourage Israel to continue to accept the Quartet proposal and we strongly urge the Palestinians to also accept the Quartet's plan and sit down and negotiate directly with Israel.  This is the only way peace can come to this region." 

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SOURCE Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East