NEW YORK - The World Jewish Congress, United States (WJC, US), on Wednesday praised the US House of Representatives for passing H. Con. Res. 165, a bipartisan resolution that reaffirms support for direct Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations to ensure a genuine and lasting Middle East peace.
Introduced by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY), the resolution reaffirms long-standing US government opposition to United Nations Security Council (UNSC) attempts to impose a solution which would circumvent United Nations-mandated face to face peace talks.
The bill states that “it is the long-standing policy of the United States Government that a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will only come through direct, bilateral negotiations between the two parties,” and that “efforts to impose a solution or parameters for a solution can make negotiations more difficult and can set back the cause of peace.”
Rabbi Joel Meyers, Chair, WJC, US, said, “ We applaud the unanimous passage of H. Con. Res. 165 by the House that reaffirms US policy of support for direct negotiations between the parties in order to reach a peace agreement and reiterates US opposition to attempts by the UN or other international or outside bodies to impose a solution.”
“We believe that these attempts are counterproductive to the formation of a true peace which must be achieved with good faith and investment in the process and outcome by both parties,” Meyers added. “This measure also calls on the United States to ‘oppose and veto United Nations Security Council resolutions that seek to impose solutions to final status issues, or are one-sided and anti-Israel,’ a position also voiced by the US Senate in a letter to President Obama this past September. We welcome the resolution’s support for resumption of the peace negotiations between the parties without preconditions.”