SOLIDARITY RESOLUTION

(The following resolution was adopted by the 100 delegates of the BFP Solidarity Mission held in Jerusalem, December 3-7 2000. These delegates represent 50 million Christians and Jews in 73 nations.)

We the participants in the Bridges for Peace Solidarity Mission 2000 hereby declare our unwavering support for the nation and people of Israel. As the violence continues and the wheels of the peace process have ground to a halt, we recognize that the very existence of the nation of Israel is being threatened. We therefore affirm and call upon our political leaders and the international community to act upon the following resolutions immediately:

We condemn the recent attacks against Jewish holy places and the desecration and destruction of Holy sites revered by both Jews and Christians. Even as Hebron, Rachel's Tomb and the Tomb of Joseph were victim to recent Palestinian violence, the Palestinian Authority continues to demand sovereignty over more and more such holy sites in Jerusalem, Samaria, and Judea, including the Temple Mount. The historical record and recent events indicate undeniably that the protection of such sites throughout Israel and freedom of access to them are only guaranteed when Israel exercises complete sovereignty.

We call upon the United States government to lift the State Department's unfair and unnecessary advisory against travel to Israel. We condemn the Palestinian intentional use of children as rock-throwing instigators and human shields for armed Palestinian militiamen who shoot from behind them in battles with Israeli military forces. In any other nation or conflict, such child abuse would be met with the loudest of outcries from the global community. In addition to the violation of international law and the rights of these children, this reprehensible practice has been used to generate film footage provided to sympathetic journalists who then use it to manipulate international public opinion. The death of innocent children cannot be overlooked.

We condemn the recent and ongoing Palestinian attacks on Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (sometimes known as settlements). We affirm the right of Israelis to build and dwell in communities in the Biblical Heartland of Israel in keeping with the rights of citizens of free nations everywhere to live in areas of their own choosing and we call upon our governments to recognize their right to do so. We condemn the Western news media's use of misinformation which continually and falsely paints Israel as the aggressor and accuses the Israeli military of undue force in protecting itself and Israeli citizens while failing to report the constant aggression and atrocities frequently committed by Palestinian forces. We condemn the violence, terror tactics and persecution perpetrated against Arab Christians in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. We extend our sympathy and support to these Christian brothers and sisters who are in extreme danger, and we petition our governments for immediate and full disclosure regarding these well-documented situations. We condemn the use of harsh rhetoric, misinformation and historical revisionism by the Palestinian Authority as tools of incitement to violence against Jews, Christian Arabs and other voices of moderation or tolerance. We call upon the PA leadership to re-enter the path to peace by educating the Palestinian people truthfully and fairly.

We affirm complete Israeli sovereignty over a united Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state and call upon our governments to indicate its support by an immediate relocation of our embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.As concerned Jews and Christians, we resolve to use the information and resources we have gleaned through the Bridges for Peace Solidarity Mission 2000 to educate our communities and elected officials regarding the complexities of the current situation and the urgent need to support Israel, the Jewish people and persecuted Christians under attack by the enemies of peace; we further resolve to continually and fervently pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

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