Brussels, 27/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - Jewish organisations in Europe, grouped in the Jcall “Call for Reason”, which was launched in Brussels a year ago, met in Paris on 19 June and agreed an action plan for peace in the Middle East. The call was relaunched at a time when “the complete stalemate in the Middle East Peace Process and the wave of revolutionary movements sweeping through the Arab World confirm the accuracy of the appeal launched in Brussels on 3 May 2010 and make the issues referred to, even more pressing”. Thus, Jcall urges both parties to return as quickly as possible to the negotiating table and to resume talks based on internationally recognised criteria, including the Oslo Agreement, the Clinton parameters, the 2003 “road map” and underlined in President Obama's May 2011 speech. It calls, too, on “the International Community, particularly the United States and the European Union, to put together all the necessary conditions towards a final conclusion of a peace agreement whose main criteria are widely known for a long time”.
Jcall makes clear its commitment: both sides, Israeli and Palestinian, face serious internal opposition which prevents them from taking difficult decisions. Neither side is short of extremists keen to sabotage and hope and restart the cycle of violence. The two peoples have become the victims of a hundred year conflict.
To be able to punch with greater weight, the decision was taken “to expand Jcall from an appeal to a pan-European movement”. Jcall is “an independent initiative of European Jews who wish to make their voices heard. It has no connection with any Israeli movement or party”. Its founders and members, who include several MEPs and leading Jewish figures in Europe, want “to open a debate on Israel's future with the Jewish communities of Europe, and to create a movement of opinion to ensure that reason eventually prevails over passion”. They believe that “increasingly, Jewish European citizens are reacting against specific campaigns questioning the very essence of the state of Israel, and are unable to differentiate these attacks from legitimate criticism of Israeli policies, similar to criticism directed at any other state. We claim that, faced with this situation, the temptation to withdraw into oneself should be resisted. Through our commitment, we wish to demonstrate that it is possible to fight both the heinous and illegitimate condemnations of Israel, as well as the Israeli government's policies when we consider that it has made mistakes”. (F.B./transl.rt)