BACKGROUND

The desire to establish the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians (ICJP) arose from a series of successful bi-annual meetings, held in Israel since 1988, of Jewish government ministers and members of parliaments from around the world. These conferences established a global network of relationships among Jewish officials and parliamentarians and enabled greater knowledge and understanding of the challenges facing Jewish parliamentarians and communities in Israel and the Diaspora.

These earlier sessions were organized and supported by the Knesset, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the World Jewish Congress.

The growth from an initial 20 participants in 1988 to over 80 in 2002 reflects the interest in engaging in a global dialogue on the future of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

At its January 2005 meeting in Jerusalem, the ICJP Steering Committee adopted a number of resolutions that follow this Background. They appointed Ruth Kaplan - former Chief of Staff to four Speakers of the Knesset and an ICJP veteran - as ICJP Coordinator.

In early February, meetings were held in Washington, DC, with U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer, Norm Coleman, Dianne Feinstein, Frank Lautenberg, Joseph Lieberman and Carl Levin, and with Members of Congress Gary Ackerman, Howard Berman, Susan Davis, Eliot Engel, Barney Frank, Tom Lantos, Nita Lowey, Jerrold Nadler, Jan Schakowsky, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Allyson Schwartz, and Henry Waxman.