We,
the undersigned Jewish men and women in Switzerland have believed
privately and, to some extent, publicly that the best hope for
Israel’s survival, security and social wellbeing would be to live side
by side within recognized borders (according to the UN
Resolutions 242* and 338**) with what we hope will become a democratically
structured and internationally recognized Palestinian state. The
negotiations, which time and again in the past seemed so promising,
have come to a standstill. With no serious bilateral negotiations
offering a „roadmap“ in this direction, it appears that the Palestinian
side is planning to apply for membership to the
United Nations in September.
Although we would have preferred a bilateral agreement, we believe that
this is the moment for us to express our solidarity for the rights of
the Palestinian residents of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza
and for the safety and survival of Israel to give the two-state
solution our full support, both as Swiss citizens and as Jews. Not to
do so would be disingenuous and not credible.
For this reason, we call upon the organizations representing Swiss Jews
as well as the Swiss foreign ministry and government to put their
support behind the Palestinian initiative in the United Nations as
well as to encourage the Israeli government to do the same. We would
like to see Israel and the Palestinians negotiating mutual recognition
of each other’s sovereignty and mutual security and safety from violent
attack - before it’s too late.
We propose to conduct a process of inner-Jewish dialogue in the coming
months in order to do our part here in the Jewish community in
Switzerland to contribute toward making the peaceful realization of the
two-state solution a reality. We are writing in English so that all
language regions of Switzerland may be represented without having to
translate into each language, risking that something might get “lost in
translation.”
Initiators: Miriam Victory Spiegel and Jochi Weil, Zürich, July 2011
*
UN Security Councel Res. 242 (Nov. 22, 1967)
**
UN Security Councel Res. 338 (Oct.22, 9737)
