Jcc of Greater Washington Raps Quaker Group, Breira

The Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington is circulating statements sharply critical of Breira and of the American Friends Service Committee both of which will hold national conferences here this month. The statements are being distributed to the JCC’s 180 constituent synagogues and organizations in the Greater Washington area. The one on Breira, adopted by the JCC’s executive committee, calls on the constituents to “advise and caution their members about Breira’s activities which are injurious to Israel.”

The JCC statement “deplores Breira’s methodology and platform as enunciated by its leading spokesman, which calls for inclusion of the terrorist PLO in negotiations without pre-conditions, for restriction of Israel to the 1967 borders and for a Palestinian state.”

Recalling a JCC decision more than two years ago deploring “the activities and policies of organizations whick seek to divide and politicize American Jewish support of Israel” the statement accused Breira of “seeking to establish and emphasize a public perception of a seriously divided American-Jewish community on issues pertaining to Israel, its security moves toward peace in the Middle East to the U.S. Congress and the general American public.”

The JCC claimed that Breira would be “utilizing its forthcoming conference to spark a major political initiative on behalf of the PLO’s cause with an eye to affecting U.S. policy to the Middle East via Congress, the media and the new Administration.”

OPPOSES JEWISH, PLO CONTACTS

The other document being distributed by the JCC is a summary of a statement by the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (NJCRAC) on the American Friends Service Committee conference at which PLO representatives are expected to speak. Another expected speaker is former Israeli Gen. Matityahu (Matti) Peled.

The NJCRAC opposes direct contacts between American Jews and PLO representatives in the U.S. or indirect contacts, through third party sponsoring groups, with PLO spokesmen or others advocating negotiations with the PLO. According to the NJCRAC statement, “The PLO itself clearly has disavowed interpretations of its posture as moderate or conciliatory.”

The statement says, “We recognize the value of constructive, informed dialogue with any group which is committed to the co-existence of an independent Jewish State of Israel with secure and recognized borders living with Arab states in the Middle East. But in the final analysis, peace in the Middle East will come about only as a result of face-to-face negotiations between Israel and its neighboring Arab states.”