June 8, 1999
To: Rabbis, Key Contacts, Synagogue Leaders, InfoNet
From: Betty Ehrenberg,
Director, International Affairs and Communal Relations
Re: United Nations Resolution 181
S.Con.Res.36
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED
An extremely dangerous resolution was recently passed in Geneva by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights calling for Palestinian self-determination on the basis of the 1947 United Nations Partition Resolution 181. This resolution has been greeted with alarm by Israel and Jewish community leadership. This invidious resolution would no longer limit the sphere of the territorial dispute between Israel and the Palestinians to the territories Israel acquired after the Six Day War of 1967, as outlined in the Oslo Accords, but would also include areas such as Jerusalem, the Negev and Be’er Sheva, Acco, and Lod. It rejects the notion of a negotiated solution in favor of a unilateral imposed action by the UN.
This is a significant turning point in the Palestinian rhetoric and should be treated with outrage and a public outcry. What is most shocking is that this resolution has been supported by many of the European nations, particularly by the member nations of the European Union who play an influential role in the peace process due to their good relationship with the Palestinians. The fact that there is no mention of the current peace process or subsequent United Nations Security Council resolutions dealing with Israel-Palestinian negotiations, namely resolutions 242 and 338, is double cause for concern as the genuine quest for peace is seriously undermined. While one may say that this is just another in a series of anti-Israel resolutions that have been passed throughout the years by a deeply biased United Nations, it is nevertheless astounding that such a damaging resolution could be passed by, of all things, the UN Human Rights Commission, which both Israel and the United States long fought to bring into being.
The leadership of the Orthodox Union and its member synagogues are urged to write letters strongly objecting to the passage of this resolution, calling attention to its anti-Israel bias, and pointing out that, since 181 was superseded by the cease-fire lines of 1949 and subsequent UN resolutions and intervention agreements, it is null and void. Contrary to the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians are trying to use 181 which extends Palestinian claims into Jerusalem and much of modern Israel, as the basis for a proposed Palestinian state.
Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Connie Mack (R-FL), and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) have introduced S.Con.Res.36, a resolution that condemns the efforts to revive the original Palestinian partition plan of November 29, 1947 and condemns the United Nations Commission on Human Rights for its April 27, 1999 resolution endorsing Palestinian self-determination on the basis of the original Palestinian partition plan. Letters should go out immediately to your Senators urging them to support S.Con.Res.36.
Please contact your Senator at the address below:
Honorable (Senator)
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Letters should also go out to other national and local elected officials in order to educate them about this disturbing development as well as to the Administration and representatives of foreign countries.
List of other useful contact names and addresses
The Institute for Public Affairs of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America is the non-partisan public policy research and advocacy center created to represent and mobilize the world's largest Orthodox Jewish community.
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