Principles of Cooperation

Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders who participate in the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East agree to the following Principles of Cooperation. In in generating local interreligious cooperation modeled on the national initiative local religious leaders are asked to adopt these Principles.

1) We are American Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders who believe working together for Arab- Israeli peace reflects fundamental teachings in our religious traditions.

2) Recognizing and appreciating the bonds many of us have with people on each side of the conflict and how these sometimes cause us to have different and conflicting viewpoints, we believe our areas of agreement are more important than our disagreements, and we commit ourselves to work conscientiously and sensitively to emphasize our common agenda for peace.

3) As American religious leaders, echoing the Alexandria Declaration by Middle Eastern Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders, we unequivocally condemn killing of innocents and call for an end to all acts of violence. What each side needs most - real security for Israelis and an end of occupation for Palestinians - cannot be achieved by violence but only by negotiations.

4) We support a viable, independent Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel, with enduring peace and security for both peoples.

5) We are encouraged by many Israelis and Palestinians who are working together for peace, and we believe that model peace agreements such as the Geneva Accord and People's Voice initiative, as well as earlier official Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Syrian negotiations, provide benchmarks, principles and ideas for peace agreements which could be acceptable to majorities on both sides.

6) We support U.S. leadership for peace, coordinated with the European Union, the Russian Federation and the United Nations, and consistent with U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242, 338 and 1397. We believe active, determined U.S. leadership and vigorous public monitoring are essential to achieving full implementation of a two state solution.

7) We join together to learn from each other and to work in support of active, fair and firm U.S. efforts to help Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab states achieve peace. We seek by our prayers and active work together to build bridges in our communities and broad interreligious cooperation and action for peace.