As Christians, Muslims, and Jews worldwide enter or anticipate their respective holy seasons of Christmas, Ramadan, and Hanukkah, groups of Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East have dared to be in dialogue and to voice their desire for justice and reconciliation. Meanwhile, all Christians are being called to join a prayer vigil for peace in the Middle East.

On November 10, a group of 120 Palestinian academic leaders and public figures placed an advertisement in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, stating, in part: "Many of us were in the streets over these recent weeks, holding neither guns nor stones. We were holding candles to commemorate the deaths of our students, neighbors, and relatives who tried to make the world hear with their lives what we were unable to [communicate] with our words...."

The 120 Palestinians professed to be firm believers in a just and equitable negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians and in the right to self-determination for Palestinians in the occupied territories. They proposed four principles for negotiations: (1) ending Israeli occupation of territories taken in 1967, thus enabling the Palestinians to exercise their right to self- determination and sovereignty; (2) recognizing Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem and recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of two states in the final settlement; (3) Israel's recognition of its responsibility in creating Palestinian refugees as a prerequisite to finding a just and lasting solution to the refugee problem, in accordance with relevant UN resolutions; and (4) the recognition by both sides of their spiritual and historical affinities to sites and locations within each other's borders, with mutual guarantees of protected access to these sites.

David Rabinowitz, a Jewish commentator, praised the fact that these Palestinian civic leaders were openly addressing the Israeli public at this time and offering Israelis an opportunity to interact with "a secular, civic, sane Palestinian peace movement." Such a "central player" has hitherto been absent from the picture presented by Israel's political leadership and electronic media, Rabinowitz said.

On November 18, in an advertisement in the same newspaper, several leading Israeli intellectuals supported ending Israel's rule over the Palestinian people, arguing that a stable and prosperous Palestinian state is also in Israel's best interest.

"Only the end of the occupation will enable the two peoples to live a normal life..." the statement read. "Unless we withdraw from the occupied lands there will be no peace and security here. The concept of sacredness of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories prevents the possibility of creating a viable Palestinian state."

The Israeli intellectuals criticized the Barak government's increased investment in expanding the Jewish settlements, questioning its wisdom and honesty. "We call upon the Israeli government to announce a freeze in its settlement policy and to recognize the border of June 4, 1967, as the basis for the border between Israel and Palestine," they said. "We call upon the Palestinian leadership to announce its readiness to settle the conflict not by violence but by negotiations aimed at full coexistence. For all our sakes," they urged, "return to the negotiating table."

The concept of a shared Jerusalem has been the focus of a campaign sponsored by the Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), an ecumenical working group of Christian organizations, including two United Methodist general boards: the General Board of Global Ministries and the General Board of Church and Society.

On November 28, CMEP sent out an appeal for all Christians to participate in a Prayer Vigil for Middle East Peace. According to CMEP, the prayer vigil was to begin on December 3, the first Sunday of Advent, and was to continue "until the fighting ends and we can celebrate a just and lasting negotiated resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."

December 5, 2000