President Bill Clinton

Dear Mr. President:

Before you sit down to talk with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, I urge you to consider the following:

You have maintained your interest in being a "neutral" broker of the Middle East peace process. But your actions and your words do not convey a genuinely "neutral" stance on the conflict between the State of Israel and the Palestinians.

On the one hand, I heard you announce publically yesterday that you will be seeking to "put a lid" on the violence and that you therefore support a policy of "zero tolerance" for violence between the two sides. This is a worthy position, and one that must surely prevail if there is ever to be peace in the Middle East.

On the other hand, however, I do not hear you announcing a policy of "zero tolerance" for the illegal Jewish settlements (and in specific at this moment, the most contentious settlement of them all, Abu Ghneim/Har Homa) which are fueling the fires of that violence on which you seek to "put a lid." This leaves the Palestinians to draw the inevitable conclusion that you care only about the cessation of violence and not about the injustices and illegalities which have given rise to that violence.

Mr. President, as long as you seek to "put a lid" on the violence of the Palestinians without addressing the causes which have given rise to that violence, you will not succeed in achieving peace in the Middle East! You will only succeed in driving the Palestinians into greater cynicism about the peace process and into greater despair and, without any question, into greater acts of violence and "terrorism"!

Mr. President, "putting a lid on the violence" is not the answer to achieving Middle East peace! Achieving Middle East peace calls for action far more radical than clamping down on violence while failing to condemn an unjust "status quo"!

I urge you to announce your firm and unwavering support for "ZERO TOLERANCE FOR JEWISH SETTLEMENTS" along with your support for "ZERO TOLERANCE FOR VIOLENCE." Only when you do this will you achieve your stated goal of serving as a genuinely "neutral" broker in the Middle East peace process. And only when you do this will your words acquire credibility to the Palestinians. And, what is most important, only when you do this will there be any realistic hope for a genuine peace between the State of Israel and the Palestinian people, a goal which reaches well beyond the limited vision of "putting a lid on the violence."

Mr. President, if there is ever to be peace in the Middle East, there must also be justice in the Middle East! Peace will come through no other means! I implore you to listen to your heart and to "do the right thing"!

Thank you for your prompt and serious attention to this urgent matter!

Sincerely,