July 21, 2006
By Barbara Bayer

Write President Bush

Allan Abrams, a national board member and local chapter leader of Brit Tzedek V’Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace, said his organization is urging Jews to contact both President Bush and members of Congress.

“Brit Tzedek wants people to urge immediate and substantive U.S. diplomatic intervention to achieve a cease-fire and the release of Israeli soldiers in the ongoing Mideast crisis,” Abrams said.

Abrams said Brit Tzedek believes U.S. inaction is bad for both Israel and America.

“Without U.S. engagement, such as sending a high-level envoy, working closely with U.N. or other international mediators, or supporting an international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, this crisis is in anger of expanding into a war that could engulf the entire region,” Abrams said.

Abrams said Brit Tzedek members “stress the fact that the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be achieved exclusively through unilateralism or use of force; seldom are bi-lateral conflicts solved this way. Rather, it will likely occur only through a negotiated settlement with the full engagement of the United States government’s highest levels.”

“Yes, that’s a tall order, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. We have no choice but to continue to pursue this result.”

The full text of the Brit Tzedek letter to President Bush, can be found on its Web site, www.btvshalom.org.