Conference of Presidents urges EU to defeat Sweden’s Jerusalem proposal

NEW YORK (Press Release)—The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations strongly criticized the proposed EU resolution, which would negatively impact Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The measure was presented last week by Sweden, which currently holds the EU presidency.

“We consider this action by the Europeans as singularly unhelpful and counterproductive and are very concerned by its potential to lead to negative repercussions in the negotiations in the Middle East. The call for a resumption of negotiations that would lead to a Palestinian state with “East Jerusalem” as its capital prejudges the outcome of the negotiations and ignores Israel’s legitimate claims regarding Jerusalem. The proposal does not consider Israel’s security needs nor the Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and all but ignores the unprecedented moratorium made by Prime Minister Netanyahu on settlement construction in the West Bank,” said Conference of Presidents Chairman Alan Solow and Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein.                 

“Whereas Israel has already expressed its willingness to come to the negotiation table without pre-conditions, this proposal promotes the Palestinian position almost entirely. It prejudges final status issues and will only complicate the prospect of renewed negotiations. This will foster the belief of the Palestinian leaders that by holding out there will be more international pressure on Israel and they will gain more concessions without reciprocity. We urge the EU member countries to vote against this proposal at the meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday,” the leaders said. 

The Conference has urged its member organizations to contact European embassies and consulates, and UN missions to communicate their concern.

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Preceding provided by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations