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J Street launches campaign in support of tough U.S. stand on Israel

17 March 2010 22:51 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. J Street has launched a campaign in support of Washington’s firm stance on Israel’s latest approved building plan in East Jerusalem, the dovish U.S. pro-Israel lobby announced on Tuesday, APA reports quoting haaretz.com web-page.

Israel’s announcement of plans to build 1,600 housing units in East Jerusalem strained ties with the U.S., which has said it regarded last week’s decision - made public while U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was in Israel - as an insult.

Recent U.S.-Israel tensions were used by "hawkish pro-Israel activists," according to the announcement posted on J Street’s website, "to attack the Obama Administration over Israel, urging the Administration to slow down and back off."
In response to this, the left-leaning lobby said, "the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement is stepping up strong."

"Earlier this week, J Street leadership delivered over 18,000 signatures to White House officials demonstrating that large numbers of pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans agree with the Vice President when he says ’sometimes only a friend can deliver the hardest truth,’ and urging the Administration to turn this crisis into an opportunity for progress on two states," the group’s announcement said.

The statement added that "the Obama Administration can turn this crisis into an opportunity to tackle a core issue at the heart of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians - the need to establish a border between Israel and the future Palestinian state."

"Too much time has already been lost in getting the two sides into negotiations," J Street said, adding: "We cannot let any single provocative Israeli announcement of construction in East Jerusalem, no matter how infuriating, delay progress towards a two-state solution. Bold American leadership is needed now to turn this crisis into a real opportunity to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

On Monday, the leftist pro-Israel group released a statement Monday supporting the Obama administration’s statements in the wake of Israel’s approval of 1,600 new East Jerusalem housing units.

"Bold American leadership is needed now to turn this crisis into a real opportunity to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is a fundamental American national security interest," he said.

Abraham Foxman, who heads the Anti-Defamation League, told Haaretz, however, that he believed U.S. President Barack Obama was a friend of Israel.

"But I think it’s a mistaken and counterproductive strategy and flawed analysis of what is in the best interest of the U.S.," Foxman said. "Support of Israel has served the U.S. interests more than supporting anyone else in the world.