WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2010
KLMNO
EZ RE
A13
Dear President Obama,
We write to you as Palestinian businessmen and women, members of Palestinian civil society, and as Christians and Muslims on the eve of the resumption of direct final status peace talks with Palestinian, Israeli, and American leaders to wish you success in securing a comprehensive peace agreement in the Middle East within one year.
Our freedom depends on it.
We, like all people, share the U.S. Founding Fathers’ values of freedom, justice, liberty and democracy. We do not ask for freedom to be given as a gift. It is our right as human beings, enshrined in the most recognized international documents and in the treasured revelations of all our shared faiths.
Ending Israel’s 43-year occupation of our land is the first requirement for securing our freedom followed by the realization of our dream for a fully sovereign democratic and independent state.
Mr. President, as you yourself have noted, America’s, Palestine’s and Israel’s vital interests will be strongly advanced if the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is finally resolved.
We take you at your word that the United States will remain uncompromising in ensuring Israel’s legitimate security needs. We equally expect that you will be uncompromising in ensuring the legitimate security needs of all Palestinians, fully two-thirds of whom constitute the largest single refugee population in the world.
We firmly believe, Mr. President, that our mutual freedom and security can only be accomplished if the United States pursues a similarly uncompromising position in the coming months with respect to the following additional principles:
1. Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip that began in 1967 will be brought to a conclusive end;
2. Jerusalem, a city equally holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, and a historic treasure for all of humanity, will be shared equally by Palestinians and Israelis and must remain open to all who love and respect it;
3. Palestinians will be free of the daily humiliation of Israeli domination, harassment and control, and will have full freedom of movement in order for our civil society to thrive;
4. All of the Palestinians displaced since the creation of Israel must have a just and agreed resolution to their dispossession and continued suffering;
5. No prejudicial actions should be taken or allowed, such as home demolitions and the continued expansion of Israel’s settlement enterprise – both because they are illegal and because they aim to predetermine the outcome of the final peace agreement.
Mr. President, you represent the greatest hope that America can play a profoundly positive role in the region, and that it can ensure mutual freedom and security for everyone living in it in the coming all- important year. Let us work together to ensure that 2011 will be a new beginning for Palestinians, Israelis, Arabs and Americans, a year in which all of us together can raise the banner of freedom, justice, equality, and security in the Middle East.
Let us work together now so that Palestinian and Israeli children will say that this was “our finest year.”
Sincerely,
The Palestinian Business Committee for Peace and Reform 888 17th St. NW, Ste. 904 Washington, D.C. 20006 202-429-5566
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