November 29, 1999

The Orthodox Union’s Institute for Public Affairs today remembered the United Nations vote that was taken on November 29^th, 1947, declaring statehood for Israel. While it has always been expected that the United Nations would play a constructive role in the Middle East by supporting the achievements and the integrity of the efforts to make peace, the United Nations has had an unfortunate history of a pronounced anti-Israel bias. A persistent barrage of one-sided resolutions against Israel continue to be recycled year after year at United Nations General Assemblies, using outdated and anachronistic language which are not only detrimental to Israel, but undermine the credibility and relevance of the UN itself.

We deplore the fact that two anti-Israel films will be screened today at the United Nations which ironically designates this date as Palestine Day. This unfortunate demonstration compounded with the continued adoption of the anti-Israel resolutions undermine any trust and goodwill between the parties seeking peace, and constitute a failure of the UN to fulfill its mission.

A recent example of these attempts to prejudice the world body was the effort to revive the Palestine Partition Plan of November 29^th, 1947 as the basis for endorsing Palestinian self-determination. This was an invidious bid to no longer limit the sphere of 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 have also included such areas as Jerusalem, the Negev, and Be’er Sheva, Acco, and Lod. A similar effort was the attempt to convene the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention in order to adopt measures to prevent Israel from building in the "occupied Palestinian territory including Jerusalem."

Betty Ehrenberg, Director of International and Communal Affairs, said, "It is high time that the United Nations eliminate its bias and accept Israel as an equal and fully participating member. To that end, we are actively supporting the Equality for Israel at the United Nations Act of 1999, a bill intended to promote full equality at the UN for Israel by promoting its acceptance into a regional group. Israel is the only longstanding member of the UN that is denied acceptance into a United Nations regional bloc, which bars her from participating in key UN activities.

All necessary steps must be taken to ensure Israel’s acceptance into the Western European and Others Group in order to allow for her participation in policy-making UN committees. Israel seeks not only be an active but also a vital contributing member of the UN whose expertise in many areas can benefit all nations. Today especially, all our members are urged to write to their Representatives in support of H.R. 3405, the Equality for Israel at the UN Act of 1999."

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