Press release

(July 9, 2004)

A Statement by Diaspora Jews in support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace will be published as a full-page ad in Ma’ariv and Ha’aretz on July 9, and in the Haaretz internet edition in the following days. The Statement, promoted by the Group Martin Buber-Jews for Peace based in Roma, Italy has been endorsed by more than 600 Jewish groups and individuals in the Diaspora, from Argentina, Austria, Australia, Canada, Croatia, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain , Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S.A.

Among the signatories are Friends of Peace Now in France, the UK, Belgium, and Brazil, the Cercle Bernard Lazare in Paris, Meretz in the UK and USA and other groups of the Zionist and Jewish left engaged in peace activities and promoting dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.

Signatories include two Nobel prize-winning scientists, several rabbis, prominent academics from universities around the world, members of Boards of Jewish communities and other Jewish institutions, activists of peace groups and many ordinary Jews. They are united by a deep concern about Israel, its lack of peace and security, its growing international isolation, the failure of its present Government to entertain genuine peace negotiations with the Palestinians and the serious danger that current policies constitute for the future of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

By taking the unusual step of publishing a Statement in the Israeli media, these Diaspora Jews want to reach out to a wide audience in the Israeli public to make their voices and concerns heard, renew to Israelis their bond of solidarity, but also clearly express their strong dissent from the present Government’s policies.

Security and peace for both Israelis and Palestinians can be reached and reconciled only on the basis of the return to negotiations with the Palestinians, the evacuation of the settlements, and the principle of ”two peoples-two states”.

Read the statement