B’nai B’rith International praises the international parliamentarians who signed the International Parliamentarians for a Negotiated Peace: Statement of Opposition to a Universal Declaration of Palestinian Statehood. In the letter, legislators, “legislators and members of Israel Allies Caucuses from Parliaments around the globe categorically reject the Palestinian efforts toward a Unilateral Declaration of Independence in the United Nations.”

The letter was signed, among many others including the European Parliament and Costa Rica, by the four U.S. congressmen who co-chair the Israel Allies Caucus: Shelley Berkley, Eliot Engel, Trent Franks and Doug Lamborn. The statement lays out the necessary ingredients to creating a lasting peace: “Face to face negotiations must continue without preconditions, threats or walkouts; this is the only real path to peace.”

B’nai B’rith maintains that elevating the Palestinians to a “nonvoting observer state” would bypass legitimate peace talks and only continue to denigrate and isolate Israel.

“This letter is extremely promising and demonstrates how many friends Israel has in the diplomatic community,” said B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs. “The United Nations is simply not the venue for promoting the recognition of a Palestinian state. Peace between the Israelis and Palestinians can only be created through direct, bilateral negotiations between both parties.”