Great success for ICJP mission in the USA on Palestinian unilateralism
venerdì 9 settembre 2011 English 0 commenti
Washington DC, September 9, 2011 - The International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians (ICJP) just ended its U.S. mission in view of the imminent submission to the General Assembly of a resolution for the unilateral recognition of the Palestinian State. The ICJP is an organization gathering more than 300 Jewish parliamentarians from all over the world, chaired by Fiamma Nirenstein (Pdl), vice president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Italian Chamber of Deputies.The delegation was led by Nirenstein and formed by members of parliament from different political parties coming from Canada, the USA, Brasil, Australia, Italy, Israel, Costa Rica, Belgium, Hungary and Great Britain.
"We have come with the aim to save the peace process for the two state/two people solution, that, with a unilateral declaration, may never be implemented” stated Nirenstein. "Instead unilateralism is an initiative that does not help peace and which is a violation of all the previous agreements signed by the Israelis and the Palestinians and of all the U.N. resolutions calling for a negotiated solution accepted by both parties” clarified Nirenstein, adding that “the approval of this resolution would create great instability in the Arab world that is already best by great tensions. The timing could not be worse”.
The ICJP asked both parties to go back to the negotiating table as soon as possible and the U.N. to undertake a commitment to this end, during a meeting hosted by the president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder, with the diplomatic representatives to the U.N. from the European Union, Italy, Germany, Russia, France and Poland, and during a crowded press conference held by the ICJP steering committee at the U.N. in New York.
The day after the delegation was received by the Jewish MPs at the U.S. Congress in Washington and they met the Ambassador of Israel in the United States, Michael Oren.
"It was a very high-profile mission held with an unprecedented approach” stressed Mrs Nirenstein. "The ambassadors to the U.N. we met, discussed with us their point of view on this matter in a very direct and sincere way. We had the impression that there is still a lot to do in order to avoid this destabilizing and dangerous conclusion. Our interlocutors seem to be aware that if this is not prevented, we may face a very serious situation. There are other options, always bilateral, for the peace process. Now we will go on with our work and with our numerous projects” concluded Mrs Nirenstein “we continue collecting the signatures of parlamentarians from all over the world on an open letter “Against any unilateralism to resume the negotiations” which was signed in Italy by over 150 MPs from all the parties”.
The International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians leadership delegation was comprised of the following (in alphabetical order):
Rep. Gary Ackerman, House of Representatives, USA
Mark Adler MP, House of Commons, Canada
Irwin Cotler MP, House of Commons, Canada
Michael Danby MP, House of Representatives, Australia
Luis Fishman Zonzinski, Legislative Assembly, Costa Rica
János Fónagy MP, National Assembly, Hungary
MK Shai Hermesh, The Knesset, Israel
Lord Greville Janner, House of Lords, United Kingdom
Rep. Nita Lowey, House of Representatives, USA
Fiamma Nirenstein MP, Chamber of Deputies, Italy
Floriano Pesaro, Sao Paulo Municipal Council, Brazil
Viviane Teitelbaum, Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium
About ICJP: The International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians brings together Jewish legislators, parliamentarians and government ministers from around the world, with the aim of promoting dialogue, upholding the principles of democracy, furthering the cause of human rights, promoting the rule of law, combating racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, terrorism and Holocaust denial, supporting Israel and contributing toward the creating of enduring peace in the Middle East.