The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations called on the Palestinian Authority "to display serious leadership and engage in negotiations rather than help organize potentially violent activities that yield nothing," in a reference to the planned “Global March on Jerusalem” which it said "fizzled."
Richard Stone, Chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman, of the Conference of Presidents said: "'The Global March,' organized by anti-Israel activists in several countries as a 'siege' on Israel’s borders, yielded a small fraction of the goal to attract two million participants. Only a few thousand marchers gathered in Israel’s neighboring countries, and they were successfully kept by their respective security forces from approaching Israel’s borders. One rioter was killed in the northern Gaza Strip as he tried to infiltrate Israel. The concurrent protests held in the West Bank and Israel resulted in clashes in several cities, including Jerusalem.”
“Iran has played a key role in inciting, financing, and promoting the 'Global March on Jerusalem' as part of its overall strategy to deflect attention from the Iranian nuclear program,” they said.
For the Conference of Presidents, the 'Global March' was largely planned by ex-terrorist groups from several countries in an effort to provoke and incite against Israel.
“We see that once again an attempt to bypass direct negotiations in favor of publicity stunts and agitation has failed,” they added.
“With respect to the Palestinians, the international community must insist that violent gimmicks are replaced by direct negotiations for peace. The Palestinian leadership must fulfill its obligations and stop resorting to international fora and other means to avoid negotiations. The low turnout for the recent protests suggests that even the Palestinian public is tired of the usual stunts, which agitate but accomplish nothing,” said Stone and Hoenlein.

EJP