At a meeting in Zurich, Switzerland last month of its Governing Council, the World Jewish Congress unanimously adopted a resolution in which it called for the preservation of the unity of Jerusalem, praised Israel for its provision of effective guarantees of free access to and the reverent safeguarding of the holy places of other faiths, and expressed confidence that, in all circumstances, the freedom of worship for members of other faiths and their right to access to their holy places would continue to be respected and implemented.
In the same resolution, the WJC warmly welcomed the opening of direct negotiations between Israel and Egypt, and reiterated “its consistent view” that only face-to-face contact and negotiation between the parties could lead to mutual understanding and to the atmosphere of reconciliation in which alone “a complete normalization of relations between the two countries in all spheres, diplomatic, economic and cultural” could be achieved.
The WJC pledged that it would continue to give its utmost support to Israel in its quest for a peace based on the security of all states in the region, within secure and recognized boundaries to be determined at the negotiating table, and expressed the “confident hope” that the achievement of a just and unequivocal permanent settlement with Egypt would pave the way for similar accords with other states in the region and the opening of a new era of cooperation and prosperity in the Middle East.
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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.
