• Letters from the Association to Secretary Collin Powell, Presidents George Bush and Bill  Clinton.

• The U.S. Peace Initiative in Palestine/Israel.
  
  Secretary Colin Powell,                                        May 22, 2001
  U.S. Secretary of State,
  Department of State,
  2201 C St. NW,
  Washington, D.C. 20520        Re: The U.S. Peace Initiative in Palestine/Israel.
  
  Dear Secretary Powell:
  
  The initiative you announced yesterday to bring peace to Palestine/Israel is a welcome step to demonstrate that the United States has not abandoned its commitment to peace in the Middle East and its obligations under the Oslo accords and the Camp David agreements. Your endorsement of the Mitchell Commission Report and its recommendations is one step in the right direction.
  
  While there are many positive aspects to the Commission's report, especially the demand that Israel halt all settlement activity, it fails to adequately address the root cause of the conflict, which is Israel's occupation of Palestinian land. Furthermore, in your endorsement, you seem to put aside the most positive aspect of the report which is the call for Israel to "completely freeze all settlement activity, including the 'natural growth' of existing settlements."
  
  Since the beginning of the Oslo peace process in 1993, Israeli settlements increased vastly, with at least 80,000 additional settlers introduced into the occupied territories. A report issued yesterday by the Israeli group Peace Now says that Israel has created at least 15 new settlements since January. While Palestinian towns and villages were placed under total siege, the Israeli army was busy bulldozing their lands to expand existing settlements and construct new ones.
  
  The avowed purpose of the settlements is to make Palestinian independence and statehood impossible. They are in complete violation of Article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention, which prohibits all settlement activity in occupied territories, defining them as a human rights abuse against the occupied population. They are also prohibited by numerous UN Security Council resolutions. The International Committee of the Red Cross recently stated that Israeli settlement activity constitutes a "war crime."
  
  The Commission report completely dismisses Israeli claims that the uprising was planned by the PNA, and recognizes that Israel's use of deadly force against unarmed protesters was the key factor in sparking and fueling the rebellion. However, the report fails to acknowledge the urgent need for international protection for the Palestinian people, arguing that even an international observer force, the minimum one would expect under such circumstances, cannot be created without Israeli approval. This logic is in marked contrast to approaches taken in other conflicts, such as those in the Balkans or in East Timor. Recent Israeli escalations, including the illegal use of American supplied attack helicopters and F-16 warplanes to bomb defenseless Palestinian towns under Israeli occupation has made the need for such protection very clear.
  
  We agree fully with your statement that "negotiations provide the only path to a just, lasting and comprehensive peace." However, you failed to specify that what must be negotiated is an end to the occupation, as required by international law and UN Security Council resolutions. For the Palestinian people, the occupation has meant 34 years of subjugation, land confiscation, house demolitions, impoverishment, dependence on work and travel permits, curfews, torture, and living under separate and unequal legal systems, all enforced by a hostile foreign army. Such oppression cannot continue. Simply calling for an end to violence, without acknowledging that the occupation imposes a system of violence on every aspect of the daily lives of the Palestinian people, misses the point entirely. Israel must be told in no uncertain terms by the United States and the international community that the occupation must end quickly and completely."
  
  Since the Madrid conference, the Palestinians have negotiated in good faith for nine years. While Israel used the negotiations to kill and maim Palestinians, confiscate their lands, demolish their houses, bulldoze their orchards, besiege their towns and villages, destroy their economy, steal their water and deny them any rights to freedom and happiness. For the Palestinians to trust any negotiations with Israel, the United States must first declare that the continued occupation by Israel of any part of the territories invaded in 1967 is illegal. The negotiations should center on how to maintain full and comprehensive peace and security for all parties. The return of all occupied territories should be a clearly attainable objective for the Palestinians. It is dictated by international law and U.N. resolutions and is not an issue that can be left for Israel to determine.
  The Bethlehem Association calls upon the Bush Administration to:
     1- Support international efforts to provide protection to the Palestinian
           people.
      2- Declare that all Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories occupied
           since 1967 are illegal obstacles to peace.
      3- Apply pressure on Israel to resume peace negotiations within a strict
           timetable for withdrawal from all territories occupied in 1967.
  
  Nothing short of forceful actions by the United States can bring a just and permanent peace.
  
  Sincerely,
  Dr. Edward A. Hazboun,
  President, The Bethlehem Association.

• PEACE IN THE HOLY LAND
  

• President George W. Bush,                    May 5, 2001
  The White House,
  1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,
  Washington, D.C. 20500                    Re:     Peace in Palestine / Israel.

Dear President Bush:

Over the small town of Bethlehem, there are no angels proclaiming peace to the world!. Instead, there are Apache and Cobra gunships shelling civilians in their homes and fields. Shepherd’s Field and Manger Square have become refugee quarters for people whose homes have been destroyed by American weapons.

For the past six months Palestinian children and teenagers have been killed and maimed everyday. Israel says that the lives of its soldiers and settlers are being threatened and they feel obliged to protect themselves. These soldiers and settlers are illegally occupying and colonizing Palestinian lands and towns. The world is asking how can children and teenagers, throwing stones, frighten trained Israeli soldiers who are hidden in their tanks, armored vehicles and behind their shields. The world is asking which is more lethal - the stones thrown by children or Israeli machine gun bullets, long range snipers, missiles, tank shells and Apache gunships?

Everyday the list of victims is increased by many names, 528 killed or murdered, 15,000 wounded and maimed, and thousands detained and tortured. Civilians are being shelled in their homes and whole neighborhoods demolished. Thousands are being made refugees in their own towns. People are running out of fuel, medicine, and basic food supplies while their towns, villages and camps are besieged by Israeli tanks and army checkpoints, while their skies are being violated by Cobra and Apache gunships relentlessly shelling their homes. New refugee camps are sprouting everywhere, from shepherd field near Bethlehem to the suburbs of Ramallah and Nablus. Instead of celebrating Easter and world peace, people in Bethlehem are mourning their dead and caring for their wounded and handicapped.

These are American supplied helicopters, missiles and shells that are killing, maiming and terrorrizing innocent civilians and destroying their homes and property. People are blaming the United States not Israel.

It is the moral responsibility of the United States, the champion of human rights and world order, to put an end to this brutal terrorism by curbing Israel and its terrorist government. It is Israel that is raining violence on defenseless civilians not the Palestinians. It is time the United States publicly denounced the evil at work in the Israeli Government and its military and to demand that American weapons not be used against civilians.

There can be no reason why two million people should live under a military occupation for thirty-three years, have their lands confiscated, children murdered, houses demolished, orchards bulldozed, towns and villages besieged, economy destroyed, their water stolen, freedoms curtailed and rights violated. The road to peace and stability in Palestine and the region begins with the need to end the Israeli domination, humiliation and massacre of the Palestinian people and ethnic cleansing of their territories which Israel is busily colonizing with American taxpayers money and settlers from Brooklyn and Russia.

As a first step, the United States must demand that its weapons, which were supplied to Israel for defensive purposes only, may not be used for aggression against civilians, otherwise, immediate severe sanctions will be imposed and implemented.

Second the United States, which led international intervention in such hot spots as Kuwait, Bosnia and Kosovo, can't turn a blind eye to the yearnings of Palestinians for peace and freedom. It must demand that Israel withdraw its forces from all occupied areas. It should then support the immediate dispatch of an international force to protect the Palestinians and to enforce a just and internationally sanctioned peace in the area.

Sincerely,

Dr. Edward A. Hazboun
President,
The Bethlehem Association

---

Dear President Clinton:   

RE: SUPPORT BETHLEHEM 2000 TO PROMOTE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

The advent of the millennium, marking the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, is significant not only for the people of Bethlehem and Palestine, but for all Christians and humanity.

Our Association represents over 10,000 Americans of Bethlehem origin. We would like to express our support for Bethlehem 2000, an important international initiative to encourage regional cooperation and sustainable development in the Holy Land, which holds significance for three of the world's major religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.

As custodians of the birth place of Jesus Christ, the Palestinian people, with the support of UNESCO, launched the Bethlehem 2000 Project in December 1996 with the mandate to host the people of the world in celebrating the second millennium of Christianity in Bethlehem. They have been preparing a program of celebrations spanning 16-month, from Christmas 1999 to Easter 2001.

However in today's unsettled world, it is also important that the messages of peace, hope and fraternity that Bethlehem represents continue beyond the early years of the new millennium. Accordingly, Bethlehem has been designated as a center for the promotion of peace, reconciliation and dialogue with the support of the Donor Community, World Bank, World Economic Forum, UNDP, UNESCO and the European Commission.

Important public sector support and private sector investments and contributions are creating an environment conducive to sustainable development and long term growth, consistent with the primary objectives that have guided the Bethlehem 2000 initiative, which are:

1. In the short term, to attract widespread participation and to successfully stage the celebrations.

2. In the long term, to leave a legacy which will promote the sustainable development of the tourism industry in Bethlehem in particular, and to improve the economics of peace in the region in general.

At such a significant and crucial time in the region's ancient and current history, an opportunity exists for the U.S. to play a pivotal role in promoting peace and sustainable development for the greater good of the entire region.

Unfortunately, since the Natanyahu government, Israel started setting up barriers to the flow of people and tourists in and out of Bethlehem by erecting a permanent military checkpoint at the only entrance to Bethlehem. The construction has recently intensified under the Barak government. When the people of Bethlehem marched in a peaceful demonstration to protest the erection of the checkpoint, they were shot at by Israeli troops using live amunition, rubber bullets and tear gas. Two people have been killed and sixteen seriously injured. It is clear that the Barak Government is intent on sabotaging the Bethlehem 2000 celebrations despite their outward expression of peace and reconciliation.

We respectfully ask your support to ensure this project's success, first by curbing Israel's provocations and brutal actions, and second, by extending the full support of the United States for the project, both financial and political.

Sincerely,
Dr. Edward A. Hazboun,
National President.

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