Surrendering Crucial Territory
As American Jewish leaders who are strong, active, and longtime
supporters of Israel, we share the concerns that a minister in your cabinet,
Minister of the Interior Natan Sharansky, has expressed regarding
ions reports
to
even more one-sided conceinister Sharansky
ring
that your government is offe
Yasir Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. If the reports M
has received are accurate, they are certainly a cause for serious concem.
Ignoring Arafat's Violations
Surrender 92-95% of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, including
form
the core
the biblical
• strategically-crucial areas and regions
sibd that
would
include
"the of Jordan
Valley
Land
Israel. Areas
be surrendere
and Northern
Dead to
Sea,"
and posly even some territory within Israel's
of
pre-1967 borders.
Relinquish part of the Israel-Jordan border and give up control of the
border
passages there; and permit the PA to establish its own border with
•
Mr. Sharansky has noted that "while Israel was transferring real land and
releasing real prisoners, the Palestinians were strenuously avoiding their
obligations, from extraditing terrorists to disarming militants." He
points to the "bloated Palestinian police force and the stockpiling of
illegal weapons," and says that you have "abandoned the principle of
reciprocity" and "all Palestinian commitments have been forgotten."
Egypt.
One-Sided Concessions
He further notes that you have offered to give Arafat the Abu Dis
neighborhood directly adjacent to eastern Jerusalem "without demanding a
ky asks: "If the Palestinian Authority
Uprooting Jews
ews from their homes in Judea,
Uproot between 40,000 and 50,000 ]
•
iamaria , and Gaza.
Permit an unspecified number of Arabs from abroad to settle within
• Israel, and allow the PA to "bring into its borders and give citizenship to
any pers-on. wishing to [thus] opening the door for the entrance of millions
of people."
concession
in return."
Mr. eastern
Sharans
can get a toehold
into the
part of
Jerusalem
hould
it ever without
agree to extraditing
the painful a
s
terrorist or changing a textbook, why
compromises that are the only way to bring real reconciliation?"
Redividing Jerusalem
According to Mr. Sharansky, you are now offering to:
Give Arafat control of some parts of Jerusalem, in effect redividing the
• city that has been the capital of the Jewish people for over 3,000 years.
There would be no physical separation between. Jerusalem and Palestinian
Authority-controlled areas, and there would
"free and Mr.
unsupervised
] into be
Jerusalem."
Sharansky
.
r ground in the
entrance of people [from the PA areas pare
alive, I
warns: "If the Jewish people are not pred to hold thei
city that for 2,000 years kept the dream of Jewish sovereignty
shudder to think of where we are willing to draw the line."
Julius Berman
at Chairman ,
Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations
Neal Sher
Past Executive-Director,
AIPAC
Jonathan Mitchell
Member,
AIPAC Executive Committee
Sig Feiger
Officer of major national
Jewish organizations
Shlomo Mostofsky
President ,
National Council of Young Israel
Gary Erlbaum
,
Immediate Past Vice President
Jewish Federation of Philadelphia
Vicki Erlbaum
Immediate Past National Chair,
Women's Division - Israel Bonds
Leon Levy
Past Chairman,
Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations
Rabbi Seymour Essrog
Immediate Past President,
Rabbinical Assembly
Gerald Chamoff
Officer of major national
Jewish organizations
Rabbi Dr. Joseph P. Stemstein
Past President,
Jewish National Fund
Dr. Sylvia Schonfeld
President,
Erriunah of America
Daniel Katz
Member, National Board
Israel Bonds
Rabbi Simcha Krauss
President ,
Religious Zionists of America
frcnn Their Homes
We Share Sharansky's Concerns
We agree with Mr. Sharansky's May 30, 2000 letter to you, in which he
stated: "A dangerous reality is being created according to erous
which process
Israel
relinquis This is a dang
hes, in advanc, all of its assets ...
and I believe that the overwhelming majority of the Jewish people living in
utside of it cannot agree to it."
Zion and o
e
Mr. Sharansky, as a heroic Prisoner of Zion in the thn-Soviet
Union,
ist dream of
living
endured so much suffering in order to fulfill the Zion
in a strong, independent, Jewish State of Israel. He exemplifies Jewish
courage, morality, and strength.We, the undersigned, share his concerns.
Irwin Hochberg
National Campaign Chair,
Israel Bonds
Lewis M. Eisenberg
Member, AIPAC National Board
Herb Swarzman
Member,
AIPAC Executive Committee
-Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld
Past President ,
Rabbinical Council of America
Dr. Ben Chouake
Member,
AIPAC Executive Committee
Morton A. Klein
President,
Zionist Organization of America
Dr. Michael Franzblau
Member, National Commission,
Anti-Defamation League
Nathan Lewin
American Section,
Honorary President,
International Association
of Jewish Lawyers 67.. Jurists
Robert Neiman
Chairman ,
Jewish War Veterans of the USA
Jerry Gontownik
Member,
AIPAC Executive Committee
Dr. Munr Kazmir
Member, Regional Advisory Board
Anti-Defamation League
Bart Blatstein
Member, Executive Committee
Jewish Federation of Philadelphia
Ivan Novick
Past President, American
Friends of Tel Aviv University
James Rapp
Founding Secretary,
American Gathering
of Holocaust Survivors
Taffy Gould
Vice President,
Zionist Organization of America