Speakers at the UK-Israel Conference in London, hosted by the ‘Jewish News’, highlighted the need for a revival of the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians.
Israel’s Interior Minister Silvan Shalom said his government was in favor of going back to negotiations and was serious about the peace process, but at present there was nobody it could speak with. Shalom blamed the Palestinians for unilaterally violating the Oslo Peace Agreements by going to international bodies such as the International Criminal Court or the world soccer body FIFA. He stressed that Israel was ready to go back to the negotiating table "without preconditions."
Shalom urged the Europeans to take more balanced position, in particular to drop their insistence on the 1967 borders as being the only acceptable borders, in order to take leading role in the peace process.
In his opening address to the conference, British Undersecretary of State in the Foreign Office Tobias Elwood strongly repudiated the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, but said the Israeli government’s actions on settlements in the West Bank undercut its credibility as being serious about peace process.
Shalom said that Israel had destroyed settlements in Sinai and Gaza, and four in the West Bank, and that Israel would abide with the provisions of any agreement it enters into.
Former Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told the gathering at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster that the two-state solution was the only solution. An unprecedented opportunity existed for creation of an "alliance of moderates" in the Middle East, and now was the time to call an international conference including the Arab League, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
Mofaz, who was born in Tehran, also said there could be no question that Iran wanted to be nuclear power. That was the reason why the Iranians always delayed and dragged out talks. He said there should not be any lessening or lifting of sanctions until Iran fully complied with any agreement that is reached.
Mofaz also said that “it is clear that Iran is involved in terrorism in Middle East in all its aspects."
Other prominent speakers at the conference will include Israeli opposition leaders Isaac Herzog and Yair Lapid. The World Jewish Congress will host a panel on anti-Semitism which includes the participation of Board of Deputies of British Jews CEO Gillian Merron and her counterpart at the French Jewish umbrella group CRIF, Robert Ejnes.
Photo: Marc Morris
