Brit Tzedek v'Shalom

Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 7, 2006

AMERICAN JEWISH PEACE ORGANIZATION LAUDS BAKER-HAMILTON RECOMMENDATIONS

Marcia Freedman, president of Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace, praised the recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton report regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as "a victory" for the American Jewish peace movement. The report's findings validate Brit Tzedek's longstanding position that direct negotiations based on the principle of "land for peace" and the establishment of a just and viable Palestinian state are the only means for meeting Israel's security needs in the region.

In response to the report's release this morning, Freedman stated:

"The Baker-Hamilton report's incisive and timely call for 'sustained' US political leadership in facilitating a comprehensive resolution to both the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the larger Israeli-Arab conflict is a victory for the American Jewish peace movement. We call on President Bush to immediately reverse his longstanding and dangerous policy of inaction and to enact the Commission's recommendations by promoting bilateral and multi-lateral regional negotiations, for which the willingness to participate is the sole precondition."

The Baker-Hamiliton Commission is to be lauded for recognizing that there is no military solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict. Most importantly, the report restores the starting point of negotiations as U.N. resolutions 242 and 338, setting forth the basis of negotiations as 'and for peace and the end point as the establishment of a just Palestinian state alongside Israel.' Finally, the Baker-Hamilton report creates a framework for the start of direct negotiations with Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians that are goal-driven and not unencumbered by unrealistic prerequisites for diplomatic engagement.

The conflagration last summer between Israel and Hezbollah provides important evidence not only of the report's findings that 'when the political process breaks down there will be violence on the ground,' but also of the capacity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to spark further violence that could engulf the entire region.

We stand behind the Commission members' commitment to the idea that no Administration will ever abandon Israel and its understanding that 'The United States does its ally Israel no favors in avoiding direct involvement to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict.' We believe that the Baker-Hamilton report offers a concrete proposal for critically rethinking what is necessary to do in order to truly stand behind Israel in her quest for peace and security and to achieve stability in the broader Middle East."

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Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace, is a national grassroots movement more than 35,000 strong, that educates and mobilizes American Jews in support of a negotiated two-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.