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Contact: Benjamin Suarato, Communications Associate bsuarato@thejcpa.org; 202-212-6031; 518-810-7225(c)
Symbolic UN Vote is the Wrong Way to Palestinian Statehood
Today’s vote in the UN General Assembly giving the Palestinians status as a non-member observer state was a regrettable distraction from efforts to bring about negotiations with Israel, the only path to legitimate statehood and peace, said the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
“We would like to be congratulating and warmly welcoming UN recognition of a Palestinian state; not just as a non-member observer state, but as a full member of the world body. But as Israel, the United States, and the Quartet have asserted time and again, a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only come about through direct negotiations between the parties, not unilateral and symbolic steps at the UN,” said JCPA President Rabbi Steve Gutow. “We hope that President Abbas - who disregarded pleas from President Obama and others to avoid this counterproductive path - will not seek to take advantage of this new status to continue or expand the diplomatic offensive against Israel. Of particular concern is possible use by the Palestinians of the International Criminal Court or the International Court of Justice as weapons against Israel. Instead Mr. Abbas should accept Israel's longstanding invitation to negotiate without any preconditions.”
“Palestinian statehood must be achieved in a way that ensures the security of Israel if there is to be lasting peace and shared prosperity,” said JCPA Chair Larry Gold. “This will be reached at a negotiating table, not in the halls of the UN in New York. In the meantime, as a stable Palestinian partner remains a prerequisite for progress toward peace, we hope Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's promising efforts to create a security apparatus and successful economy in the West Bank, which can sustain a future state negotiated with Israel, will continue to receive support.”
JCPA, the public affairs arm of the organized Jewish community, serves as the national coordinating and advisory body for the 14 national and 125 local agencies comprising the field of Jewish community relations.The JCRC of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines is a member of JCPA.
Distributed by the JCRC of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines jcrc@dmjfed.org
JCRC and the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines unequivocally condemn today’s horrific public bus bombing in Tel Aviv. We stand in solidarity with Israel and her people and reiterate Israel’s right and moral obligation to defend its citizens even as she pursues peace with her Palestinian neighbors.
Picture: Emergency workers assist victims of today’s bus bombing in Tel Aviv. <The Israel Project>
Statement from the Jewish Community Relations Commission of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines 11/14/2012
In support of Israel’s self defense
After repeated warnings to Hamas and its allied terrorist organizations in Gaza that additional rocket attacks on Israeli citizens would no longer be met by half measures, Israel today began a military operation to stop the rocket attacks and to destroy the stock of Iranian-supplied weapons within Gaza. This defensive action comes after 200 rockets were launched over the past few days endangering the one million residents of southern Israel. Since the beginning of 2012, 800 rockets have been fired at Israel. The situation had been intolerable. No government would nor should permit its citizens to be terrorized by such attacks.
The U.S. State Department today expressed its condemnation of Hamas’s ‘cowardly” rocket attacks on the people of Israel and supported Israel’s right to defend itself.
“We strongly condemn the barrage of rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel, and we regret the death and injury of innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians caused by the ensuing violence. There is no justification for the violence that Hamas and other terrorist organizations are employing against the people of Israel. We call on those responsible to stop these cowardly acts immediately. We support Israel’s right to defend itself, and we encourage Israel to continue to take every effort to avoid civilian casualties.
Hamas claims to have the best interests of the Palestinian people at heart, yet it continues to engage in violence that is counterproductive to the Palestinian cause. Attacking Israel on a near daily basis does nothing to help Palestinians in Gaza or to move the Palestinian people any closer to achieving self determination.”
“The public [Palestinian] outcry over [Abbas’s] remarks is further proof that no Palestinian leader has a mandate from his people to make any concessions to Israel. – Khaled Abu Toameh
Even Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas did not seem to be aware he was opening a Pandora’s box when he said last Thursday that he does not want to return to his home town of Safed and that a Palestinian state would be established only in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
What surprised Abbas was the fact that the strong condemnations were not only from Hamas and radical Palestinian groups, but also from ordinary Palestinians, including some of his political allies in the PLO.
If anything, the widespread denunciations show that the Palestinians remain strongly opposed to any form of concessions to Israel, especially with regards to the “right of return” for refugees to their former homes inside Israel.
But Abbas himself is partially responsible for the fact that Palestinians have been radicalized to a point where they see any talk of compromise with Israel as an act of “high treason.”
Over the years, Abbas has repeatedly declared that the “right of return” is a sacred issue and a “red line” that no Palestinian should ever dare to cross.
On several occasions, he and senior PA officials have reassured the refugees that the Palestinian leadership would never relinquish their “sacred” right.
Despite the reassurances, Abbas’s opponents continued to cast doubt about his true position regarding the “right of return." The PA president has already been criticized for opposing a third intifada and turning his organization into a “subcontractor” for the Israeli security establishment in the West Bank.
His remarks concerning the refugees have now provided his Palestinian and Arab enemies with additional ammunition that will be used against him.
A defiant Abbas has since moved into damage-control mode in face of the growing protests against him and his policies.
In a series of statements over the past three days, Abbas has vehemently denied allegations that he has given up the refugees’ “right of return.”
Judging from his response, one is left with the impression that Abbas regrets having ever given an interview to an Israeli media outlet.
His spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, tried to explain that the interview with Channel 2 was mainly intended to “affect Israeli public opinion.”
In other words, the spokesman is telling Palestinians and Arabs that Abbas is telling Israelis what they like to hear – namely that Palestinian refugees would not return to their former homes inside Israel.
Abbas is now accusing Hamas of inciting against him over the refugee issue.
He sees himself as a victim of a “conspiracy” concocted jointly by Hamas and the Israeli government to thwart his effort to upgrade the status of a Palestinian state at the UN later this month.
Yet Abbas’s explanations and attempts to clarify his position regarding the refugees so far seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
Israeli leaders and politicians who rushed to welcome Abbas’s remarks are probably unaware that they have caused him even more damage among Palestinians and Arabs.
Many Palestinians are now openly saying that Abbas does not have a mandate from his people to make concessions to Israel, particularly on the explosive refugee case.
As one Palestinian editor explained, “Abbas does not speak on behalf of 6,000,000 refugees” when he says he does not want to return to Safed.
The controversy over Abbas’s remarks means that many Palestinians are opposed to Abbas’s statehood bid at the UN at the end of this month. He is seeking UN recognition of a Palestinian state “only” within the pre-1967 lines – an idea that many Palestinians and Arabs are opposed to because they want to “liberate all of Palestine.”
Abbas’s statehood bid could therefore come back as a boomerang and deepen divisions among the Palestinians.
The public outcry over his remarks is further proof that no Palestinian leader has a mandate from his people to make any concessions to Israel.
