A massive campaign that garnered the signatures of hundreds of rabbis under the Rabbinical Congress for Peace-Pikuach Nefesh (RCP) umbrella group has turned to US President Joe Biden, who is currently visiting Israel, with a warning: “The last 30 years have proven that the “land for peace” formula is an exercise in futility,” a formula for increased terrorism and a means of pushing peace further away.”
On Wednesday, Biden announced his intention to discuss his continued backing of a two-state proposal after landing in Israel for his first trip to the Middle East as president. However, the Commander in Chief acknowledged that he knows such a solution is not in the near term.
“Greater peace, greater stability, greater connection, it’s critical, it’s critical if I might add, for all the people of the region. Which is why we’ll discuss my continued support — even though I know it’s not in the near term — a two-state solution that remains in my view the best way to ensure the future of equal measure of freedom, prosperity and democracy for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” Biden said at an arrival ceremony in the Jewish State.
The rabbis who signed the petition blessed Biden’s intentions to bring peace to the region and wished him well. Still, at the same time, they warned: “The only way the U.S. can serve as an effective mediator is by declaring outright that there will never be Israeli territorial concessions nor will a Palestinian state ever be established alongside Israel.”
The signatories added that every time Israel relinquished land for peace, the immediate response was an increase in terrorism and the killing of innocent civilians. They said that even“any negotiations based on Israeli territorial concessions, especially for the creation of a Palestinian state, will only embolden our enemies to strike at us with further determination through terror attacks, boycotts, and international anti-Israel campaigns.”
The letter features sources in the code of Jewish law written by sages who warned of the dangers of territorial concessions of the Land of Israel.
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