Sep 01
JCRC is Hopeful about Resumption of Israeli-Palestinian Peace Negotiations
2010 at 14:26 pm posted by admin
Minneapolis, MN – Steve Hunegs, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas (JCRC) issued the following statement today regarding the resumption of direct peace negotiations, in Washington D.C., between Israel and the Palestinian Authority:
“Direct negotiations are vital to any peace agreement and the United States has a critical role to play in facilitating negotiations that will, hopefully, result in a successful outcome.
“We must all hope, pray, and work toward the eventual goal of a lasting peace agreement. Such an agreement must allow for a viable and independent Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace with a secure Israel – within internationally recognized borders and with normal relations across the Middle East. Such an agreement is not only in the best interest of Israelis and Palestinians, but it is also an important interest of the entire Middle East and the United States.
“Negotiations by Israel in which the tangible is to be exchanged for the intangible—land for peace—is fraught with risk. Not the least of which are terrorist acts such as yesterday’s Hamas murder of four Israelis, including a pregnant woman, outside of the West Bank city of Hebron, which was designed to halt peace negotiations.
“The JCRC applauds the Obama Administration on its efforts to encourage the resumption of direct talks between Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, and Jordan. It is imperative that both Israeli and Palestinian representatives take full advantage of this unique opportunity to do what is best for both peoples – a negotiated end of the conflict, a durable peace agreement, and rejecting the rhetoric of extremism as exhibited recently by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef or represented in Palestinian text books which include maps without Israel.”
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The JCRC… the public affairs voice of the Jewish community fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice, promoting tolerance and social justice, and representing Jews, individually and collectively, here and abroad.