The Faiths Must Unite to Press a Vision of Peace : Jews, Christians and Muslims must call for conciliation and compromise along the path of an emerging consensus.

At a time when there is a strong temptation for the United States to back away from involvement in pursuit of peace in the Middle East, it is essential for us as American Jews, Christians and Muslims to reassert the urgency for an active and sustained U.S. initiative

Recent events in the Middle East--the massacre of seven Palestinian workers near Tel Aviv, the killing of at least 20 Palestinians and the wounding of hundreds of others by Israeli soldiers responding to a resurgence of the intifada and the attempted Palestinian speedboat attack--reveal the imminent danger of much greater violence in the Arab-Israeli-Palestinian conflict, despite signs that negotiated peace is more possible now than ever before.

Reactions among Americans with close ties to people on both sides of the conflict reveal how easy it is to revert to the politics of frustration and confrontation despite a shared sense that a new approach is needed. For many Arab-Americans, the attacks on Palestinians reinforced the most negative images of Israelis as totally unwilling to recognize the Palestinian people, end the occupation and accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. For many Jewish-Americans, the failed beachfront raid by a faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization reinforced the idea that Palestinians can never be trusted and will never accept Israel’s existence.

Increasingly, one hears calls for the United States to cut aid to Israel or to break off the dialogue with the PLO. While understandable in the context of the fears and frustrations felt by partisans of each side, these demands are not likely to contribute to a more constructive U.S. policy or to peace in the Middle East. We fear that such demands will only exacerbate ethnic and religious tensions in our society.

What is needed now is not more politics of frustration and confrontation, but a new politics of conciliation and compromise. It is absolutely essential and urgent that American Jews, Christians and Muslims meet together in dialogue, not merely to make us feel better but to build a common vision of Middle East peace on which we can unite and urge the Bush Administration and Congress to support.

A common vision of peace is possible today. Indeed, the main elements already are agreed upon by many important Israelis and Palestinians. According to public opinion polls, a substantial majority of Americans supports this vision. Key principles of this emerging consensus include:

--Israel’s right to secure borders and peace, based on the Jewish people’s right of self-determination.

--The Palestinian people’s right of self-determination, including their right to an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza, with adequate security arrangements for Israel and all states in the area.

--Negotiations based on U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, involving all parties to the conflict.

--U.S.-Soviet cooperation to develop an international framework, process and guarantees for a negotiated peace.

It is time for U.S. leaders not only to emphasize the urgent need for negotiations, as Secretary of State James A. Baker III effectively did last week, but also to publicly support these principles as the only realistic basis for peace. For the United States to do less at this point is to leave the field to those who foolishly choose the risks of trying to maintain the status quo over the risks of pursuing peace and, in doing so, prepare the ground for escalating acts of violence and the next, even more dangerous and devastating Arab-Israeli war.

Fundamentally, there will be peace in the Middle East when the parties themselves agree to make peace. At the same time, Arab and Israeli leaders who seek peace agree that outside help, especially from the United States, is essential.

Our role as American Jews, Christians and Muslims who believe peace is a moral imperative of our common Abrahamic faith is to work together to create the climate of urgency and the political space in this country for the United States to develop a much more active and sustained policy for peace in the Middle East.