Group Discusses Israel and the Palestinians

The Orange County Cousins Club was formed recently by Orange County residents, Jews and Palestinians, who are concerned about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

We meet monthly to educate ourselves about the issues, sponsor public educational meetings, and voice our support for peaceful solutions to the Middle East crisis.

After much discussion, we adopted three principles of unity which form a basis for our activities. (These principles have also been adopted by other organizations including the New Jewish Agenda, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the American Friends Service Committee, the Palestine Aid Society and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.) They are:

The United States should recognize that the Palestinian people have a right to a state of their own in the West Bank and the Gaza strip alongside Israel, with peace and security for both states.

The United States should recognize the Palestinian Liberation Organization as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

The United States should support and participate in a United Nations-sponsored peace conference, with the participation of a Palestinian Liberation Organization delegation, an Israeli delegation, a U.S.S.R. delegation, and a delegation from each of the Arab countries involved in the conflict.

We hope that other Orange County residents who agree with these principles will join us in working for peace and justice in the Middle East.

ANGELA ODEH

AND ROSALIE ABRAMS

Orange

This letter was signed by 16 other people.