January 25, 2018
The STA reports, 25 January, 2018, that Leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations have expressed concern over the announcement that the Slovenian parliament will discuss recognition of Palestine. In a letter to Prime Minister Miro Cerar, they have urged the government not to recognise Palestine as there are no grounds for that.
In Wednesday's letter, chairman Stephen Greenberg and executive vice-chairman Malcolm Hoenlein said they had been unpleasantly surprised with the reports that the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee would discuss officially recognising the Palestinian state at the end of January.
The leaders of the conference associating a total of 51 Jewish organisations in the United States are concerned with Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec supporting such a move at the moment.
According to the Jewish leaders, Slovenia's recognition of Palestine would be too early and very counterproductive, and would encourage the Palestinian authorities to continue with the policy of avoiding responsibility for peace talks with Israel.
Slovenia's recognition of Palestine would not convince Palestinians to return to talks and would undermine, instead of promote, rational efforts towards resolving the decades-long conflict through negotiations and would prolong the peaceless period, they warned.
The leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations have also announced a meeting with Slovenian Ambassador to UN Darja Bavdaž Kuret to directly and personally convey their concerns to the Slovenian representative.
We hope that Slovenia will continue to play a constructive role in encouraging Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiating table, the letter concludes.
