Letter to Barack Obama, President of the United States of America - Israel

Letter

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to you today in response to your welcomed recent remarks at Congregation Adas Israel reaffirming your unshakeable commitment to Israel's security. We urge you to continue to reinforce these words with United States' actions in support of Israel in the international community. As you know, Israel and the United States have a long and storied relationship dating back to President Truman's recognition of the State of Israel on its day of independence. Since that day in 1948, the U.S. and Israel have been vital allies. At a time of increasing instability in the Middle East, with Israel's right to exist as a nation under continual threat and denial by its neighbors, our support is as critical as at any point in history. We ask you to continue to support Israel's efforts to find peace and security and to deny any Palestinian efforts to circumvent direct negotiations with Israel through counter-productive unilateral actions at the United Nations.

United States support for Israel at the United Nations is and has always been critical. From support for the UN partition agreement in 1947 to U.S. leadership against the 1975 General Assembly Resolution 3379, which equated Zionism with racism, and its eventual repeal in 1991, to more recent attempts by your Administration to block one-sided Palestinian efforts to circumvent the peace process, the United States has always stood strong in support of Israel at the UN, including through the critical use of its veto.

We are, therefore, deeply concerned by previously reported and unattributed comments by U.S. officials that the U.S. might change its approach to the peace process at the United Nations Security Council. We strongly believe that the only viable path to resolution of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is through direct negotiations that lead to two states living side by side in peace and security.

We respectfully urge your Administration to continue to maintain this long-held U.S. policy by focusing on getting the two parties back to negotiations and continue to oppose Palestinian efforts to bypass a negotiated solution and challenge Israel's legitimacy through membership in the UN and other international bodies. A unilateral move of U.S. peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians exclusively to the United Nations Security Council is an unacceptable change in U.S. policy. Ultimately, the only path to lasting peace and security is direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. As such, the United States has a critical role to play in facilitating these direct negotiations.

Thank you for your serious consideration.