Peace demanded in return for stolen painting

A New York museum has received a letter from someone claiming responsibility for the recent theft of a Marc Chagall painting who says the work will not be returned until peace has been achieved between Israel and the Palestinians.

Jewish Museum officials discovered the painting missing on June 8, the morning after a party at the museum. Police found no signs of forced entry.

The letter to the museum was postmarked in the Bronx section of New York City on June 12 and signed by the International Committee for Art and Peace, an organisation not known to FBI and police officials.

The oil painting, Study for Over Vitebsk, has an estimated value of £700,000. The 1914 work shows an old man carrying a walking stick and beggar’s sack, floating in the sky above a village.

Authorities said they were confident the letter itself was not a hoax. The writers of the letter had information about the painting that could only come from someone who had it in their possession.

‘‘We are extremely distressed about the missing painting, and this communication gives us hope for the possibility of recovering the work,’’ said Anne Scher, a museum spokeswoman.