A resolution has been introduced in both houses of Congress urging President Bush and Secretary of State James Baker to issue an “unequivocal statement” that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city.
The resolution, which marks the 25th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War, was introduced in the House Thursday by Reps. Stephen Solarz (D-N.Y.) and Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.), and in the Senate by Sens. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) and Bob Packwood (R-Ore.).
The reunification will be celebrated on Yom Yerushalayim, which this year falls on May 31.
The resolution “asserts the principle that Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, should remain for all time an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected,” Solarz said.
But, he added, there is concern about support by the Bush administration over the past year for U.N. Security Council resolutions that called Jerusalem “occupied Palestinian territory.”
This has “raised understandable concern in Israel that Jerusalem might one day be redivided,” Solarz said.
Moynihan warned that while Israel will be required to make sacrifices for peace, “no Israeli government will continue to participate in a process which it believes might end with the dismemberment of Jerusalem.”
The administration has frequently said that it does not want to see Jerusalem divided again. But it also considers East Jerusalem occupied territory and maintains that the final status of East Jerusalem, as well as of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, should be decided by negotiations.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
