The question for the candidates is what will you do to ensure that both parties adhere to their obligations, which includes a freeze on settlements by Israel as well as an end to Palestinian violence?
In 1947, approximately 20% of the total population of the Holy Land was Christian, 20% Jewish and the rest Palestinian Muslim. Today, the Christian Exodus has rendered the numbers of the most educated of the population to less than 1.3% of the total. A viable Palestinian state that would foster religious diversity and a pluralistic tolerant Palestinian society is in grave danger due to the indigenous Christians emigrating because of the political and economic conditions that have resulted due to the ongoing 41 years of military occupation.
The question for the candidates is will you visit your sisters and brothers in Christ in their communities and in their institutions when you next visit Israel?
Jerusalem is a city that is sacred to the three faiths of the Holy Land. Jerusalem is politically and culturally significant to Jew, Christian and Muslim and a just and durable peace will require a negotiated solution.
The question for the candidates is do you support longstanding American policy that the issue of Jerusalem be determined through mutual negotiations between two parties and are you willing to be an honest broker for peace and not be influenced by religious ideology?
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group asserted that "all key issues in the Middle East-the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iraq, Iran, the need for political and economic reforms, and extremism and terrorism-are inextricably linked" and that the United States "cannot achieve its goals in the Middle East unless it deals directly with the Arab-Israeli conflict and regional instability."[4]
We the people need to know if this quartet of candidates will support diplomacy and be an honest broker for peace who will deal with all sides as equals which will demonstrate moral leadership and bolster U.S. national security interests. The question to the candidates is will they support the indirect Israel-Syria talks mediated by Turkey or insist that only America can offer plans and road- maps?
We the people need leaders who will support direct and sustained negotiations with Iran and work with the international community to address Iran's nuclear ambitions as well as demand Israel open up the underground Dimona nuclear weapons facility in the Negev that has never allowed International Atomic Energy Inspectors into.
Another question for the Christian quartet running for the White House is if they will stand up for freedom of speech and movement for their brother in Christ, Mordechai Vanunu, who returns to court in Jerusalem on September 23, 2008. He will then learn if he will serve six more months in jail for speaking to foreign media in 2004 after his release from 18 years in jail for telling the world the truth that in 1985, Israel was building as many as 200 nuclear warheads.
No doubt the Christian quartet for the White House have all heard Genesis 12:3:
"I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse: and in you all the families of the world are blessed."
The question for the candidates is do you think God meant blessings to be political power and military might or justice and peace?
The first mention of Israel in Genesis is when Jacob was renamed Israel for having wrestled and struggled with God.
The question for the candidates is, do you understand that Israel is more than a 20th century geographical location and that anyone who struggles and wrestles with God is also Israel?
We the people need to know if these candidates adhere to the Christian fundamentalist interpretation that the modern state of Israel is the fulfillment of prophetic scriptures, and that God's covenant with Israel is eternal and exclusive, or will our next Christian professing president follow what Jesus actually commanded which is that to be forgiven one must forgive and one must love their enemies, bless their enemies, pray for their enemies and always be nonviolent.
Another question to the candidates is do you have eyes to see that supporting 41 years of military occupation and the building of settlements on stolen Palestinian land combined with a theology that believes every act of the secular state of Israel is being orchestrated by God and should therefore be condoned, supported, and even praised, is what is at the root of anti-American and anti-Christian feelings in the Middle East?
In 1947, approximately 20% of the total population of the Holy Land was Christian, 20% Jewish and the rest Palestinian Muslim. Today, the Christian Exodus has rendered the numbers of the most educated of the population to less than 1.3% of the total. A viable Palestinian state that would foster religious diversity and a pluralistic tolerant Palestinian society is in grave danger due to the indigenous Christians emigrating because of the political and economic conditions that have resulted due to the ongoing 41 years of military occupation.
The question for the candidates is will you visit your sisters and brothers in Christ in their communities and in their institutions when you next visit Israel?
Jerusalem is a city that is sacred to the three faiths of the Holy Land. Jerusalem is politically and culturally significant to Jew, Christian and Muslim and a just and durable peace will require a negotiated solution.
The question for the candidates is do you support longstanding American policy that the issue of Jerusalem be determined through mutual negotiations between two parties and are you willing to be an honest broker for peace and not be influenced by religious ideology?
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group asserted that "all key issues in the Middle East-the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iraq, Iran, the need for political and economic reforms, and extremism and terrorism-are inextricably linked" and that the United States "cannot achieve its goals in the Middle East unless it deals directly with the Arab-Israeli conflict and regional instability."[4]
We the people need to know if this quartet of candidates will support diplomacy and be an honest broker for peace who will deal with all sides as equals which will demonstrate moral leadership and bolster U.S. national security interests. The question to the candidates is will they support the indirect Israel-Syria talks mediated by Turkey or insist that only America can offer plans and road- maps?
We the people need leaders who will support direct and sustained negotiations with Iran and work with the international community to address Iran's nuclear ambitions as well as demand Israel open up the underground Dimona nuclear weapons facility in the Negev that has never allowed International Atomic Energy Inspectors into.
Another question for the Christian quartet running for the White House is if they will stand up for freedom of speech and movement for their brother in Christ, Mordechai Vanunu, who returns to court in Jerusalem on September 23, 2008. He will then learn if he will serve six more months in jail for speaking to foreign media in 2004 after his release from 18 years in jail for telling the world the truth that in 1985, Israel was building as many as 200 nuclear warheads.
No doubt the Christian quartet for the White House have all heard Genesis 12:3:
"I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse: and in you all the families of the world are blessed."
The question for the candidates is do you think God meant blessings to be political power and military might or justice and peace?
The first mention of Israel in Genesis is when Jacob was renamed Israel for having wrestled and struggled with God.
The question for the candidates is, do you understand that Israel is more than a 20th century geographical location and that anyone who struggles and wrestles with God is also Israel?
We the people need to know if these candidates adhere to the Christian fundamentalist interpretation that the modern state of Israel is the fulfillment of prophetic scriptures, and that God's covenant with Israel is eternal and exclusive, or will our next Christian professing president follow what Jesus actually commanded which is that to be forgiven one must forgive and one must love their enemies, bless their enemies, pray for their enemies and always be nonviolent.
Another question to the candidates is do you have eyes to see that supporting 41 years of military occupation and the building of settlements on stolen Palestinian land combined with a theology that believes every act of the secular state of Israel is being orchestrated by God and should therefore be condoned, supported, and even praised, is what is at the root of anti-American and anti-Christian feelings in the Middle East?
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