Mission Statement

The Interfaith Council for Peace in the Middle East

is a faith based organization located in Northeast Ohio. We utilize education, peaceful activism and dialogue as the means for raising awareness about the situation in Palestine, Israel and the Middle East. We are an organization of Christians, Muslims and Jews dedicated to working for a peaceful resolution to the various conflicts in the Middle East. We aim to put a human face on the suffering and hardships of its people and to help bring to life their aspirations for peace, justice, dignity and freedom.

Statement of Values

The Council believes that all three Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) affirm the sanctity and equal value of all human life. We believe in the universality of human rights which are endowed by God regardless of color, race, religion or nationality. Through these principles, which are common to our respective faiths as well as many others, we are working within our diversity toward the common goal of peace in the Middle East. We affirm that any true, lasting and just peace must be based on these common principles.

Our Vision

Borders between cultures are opening allowing for the free flow of goods, trade and ideas. Chief among these ideas are those of freedom and the rights and dignity of the human person. These are essential traits of any civil society. Occupation, oppression and human rights violations are not tolerated by the world community. At this moment in history, the people of the Holy Land, both Palestinians and Israelis of all faiths, are suffering from a non-ending cycle of violence. The inhumane culture of oppression, promoted by the illegal occupation of Palestinian land, has nurtured a dangerous culture of death and despair that is now consuming Middle Eastern countries and affecting world peace. Therefore, we believe that one of the keys to peace in the region is a just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

We promote a just solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on UN resolutions and other provisions of international law.

We support a solution that guarantees the security of all people while respecting their full political, religious, economic, social and cultural rights. Therefore, any real and lasting solution must deal justly with the critical and outstanding issues of refugees, their return, reparations, resources, Jerusalem, settlements and equality before the law and in political and social terms.

Our Beliefs

While promoting these principles, we recognize the immediate need to alleviate the serious humanitarian and economic crisis in the Palestinian areas, and to allow the Palestinians to build a coherent and vibrant civil society.

We believe that real security for the State of Israel can only come through the establishment of a just peace. This will promote the prosperity of both states and the welfare of their citizens.

We believe that the international community has an obligation to promote and help the efforts of the people in the Middle East for the establishment of democratically elected institutions to protect civil liberties and promote social justice and economic equality.

We believe that the spread of democracy and the principles of liberty and civil rights among countries in the Middle East should be through peaceful means. This will help ensure long lasting security and prosperity for all the people in the region, and can be pivotal for world peace and security.

We recognize the noble efforts of the many humanitarian, religious, political and non-sectarian organizations throughout the world helping to alleviate the suffering and better the lives of the people in the Middle East. We believe that cooperation and advocacy among such groups brings hope and promotes peaceful co-existence for the people of the Middle East.