President George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Bush,

We are increasingly alarmed by national and international policies which contribute to the cycle of violence in the Middle East, and we urge you to withdraw support for military aggression against private citizens.

We grieve the tragic loss of precious Palestinian and Israeli lives, and especially the great harm which has been done to civilians, in the name of liberation or fighting terrorism. We grieve the many years of oppression, the denial of basic human rights, and the despair which have led to acts of terror and violence and the cycle of destruction and warfare which have resulted. We believe that both Palestinians and Israelis are guilty of gross inhumanity towards their neighbors, and we condemn it. We grieve the strife and warfare between those who call themselves children of Abraham, people who worship the One God. We believe that God is weeping with us over this deplorable situation.

The cycle of violence must stop, but there can be no lasting peace unless the people on both sides have reason for realistic hope and trust in one another. Military action alone cannot bring about a lasting peace. In the ongoing cycle of distrust, both sides believe they are fighting an us-or-them war to survive. Both sides need a vision of what a lasting, just peace could look like before they will make necessary concessions and commit themselves to working out a plan for peace, which must certainly include independent Palestinian and Israeli states with borders which promote a lasting peace, a shared Jerusalem, a just solution to the refugee problem, and international supervision of border security.

The United States, as the world's only true superpower, has a moral responsibility to exercise our nation's considerable economic, political, and military power to oppose all types of terrorism and also the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. It is time for our nation's leaders to set aside partisan political interests and to make a just resolution to the tragic conflict in the Middle East a top U.S. priority.

We urge you to exercise genuine statesmanship in the pursuit of peace. We need our leaders to act with great wisdom and to stand with courage and integrity against terrorism and oppression in negotiating a peace that can last. We need this leadership for the sake of the Palestinian and Israeli people, and for the sake of our great nation and for all humankind.

We will pray for you and for all of our nation's leaders, as well as for Yasir Arafat, Ariel Sharon, and leaders of other nations, that you will work together for a lasting peace. We pray for the day when the action of peacemakers may bear fruit so that hope will take the place of despair, justice will prevail over oppression, and peace will turn strife into cooperation and trust, and we will all live together in God's way of justice and peace.

May God bless you as you work for peace.

The Session, Littlefield Presbyterian Church
Dearborn, Michigan

The Rev. Frances J. Hayes, Pastor
Pamela Moore, Clerk of Session