MidEast: Bravo Hillary!

[Maxine Nunn]

forwarded by Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta
---------- Forwarded Message ----------

From: Gila Svirsky, [100264,1401]
RE: Bravo Hillary!

Friends,

The Palestinians have only one source of power: moral right. =

That is why it's so important for people everywhere to take a stand
on this issue, and not affect the role of the so-called "honest
broker" -- dodging the issue. Hence we salute Hillary Clinton, who
called openly for the creation of a Palestinian state as the only
fair, just, and practical way to resolve the conflict. A joint
letter was sent to Hillary from The Jerusalem Link. We enclose it
below. Feel free to send your own to express your support.
Yours in peace,
Gila Svirsky

13 May 1998

Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton
White House
Washington, DC

Dear Ms. Clinton:

We applaud your statement about the need for Palestine to be an
independent state. The conflict in the Middle East has continued
far too long, with terrible suffering on both sides, and the only
hope is a just political solution in which the states of Israel
and Palestine exist side by side.

We are The Jerusalem Link, a joint Palestinian-Israeli women's
network for peace. During the past four years, we have worked
together to demand a just and durable peace for our peoples. Our
vision of peace is based on mutual respect, the rights of both
peoples to fulfill their national aspirations, and two
neighboring states, each with territorial contiguity, secure
borders, and full sovereignty.

The Israeli government has derailed the peace process with its
policies to expand settlements, maintain the closure, demolish
homes, hold political detainees without trial, confiscate
identity cards, bar Palestinian access to jerusalem, and refuse
safe passage between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. These
policies violate human and political rights, undermine the
Palestinian economic, social and cultural fabric, and effectively
maintain Israeli sovereignty over another people.

We call upon leaders of the United States to help put the peace
process back on track; and we call upon Israeli and Palestinian
political leaders to shape a peace agreement that will ensure the
security of both nations and provide a framework for the
development of genuinely peaceful relations between them. This
cannot be achieved without two states for two peoples, and the
city of Jerusalem serving as two capitals for these two states.

Thank you for taking the lead, as women often do, in searching
for an equitable solution.

Respectfully,

(x) (x)
Sumaya Farhat-Naser Gila Svirsky
The Jerusalem Center for Women Bat Shalom
=