American Recognition of Jerusalem (1999)

RCA Urges United States to Recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital

Jun 1, 1999 — American Recognition of Jerusalem

Jerusalem’s status as the individual, eternal capital of the State of Israel has always united all segments of American Jewry with Israelis of every political and religious conviction. Israel’s enemies and, far more importantly, her friends must not misinterpret differences over the overall peace process as suggesting that any Israeli government will every agree to the political or the physical division of Jerusalem, as was the case from 1948 to 1967.

It must be stressed that tile only time during the past two thousand years that the religious prerogatives of every faith community with interests in Jerusalem have been respected in that city has been since Israel liberated the Old City in 1967. It is only under Israeli rule that members of all other religions have enjoyed the full access to their shrines that Israelis of all faiths were brutally denied between 1948 and 1967. And this has even been true of the Temple Mount where Islamic Mosques are located on Judaism’s most sacred site.
In light of the above, there can be no reasonable defense for the American government’s continued refusal to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel or to relocate tile United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel’s eternal capital cit)’. Five United States Congressional resolutions, supported by overwhelming majorities, have stressed Jerusalem’s role as capital of Israel, and legislation was fully passed last fall mandating the transfer of the United States Embassy to Jerusalem no later than May of 1999. The continued American refusal to recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel sends a dangerous message to Israel’s neighbors: tile utterly inaccurate suggestion that this crucial issue is somehow unresolved and remains open to future compromise.

Be it therefore resolved:

The Executive of the RCA is mandated to give the highest priority to working towards the United States’ formal recognition of united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. and tile legislatively mandated transfer of the United States embassy to that city.