The Daily Beast reports that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stands behind the Palestinian delegation’s U.N. bid for statehood today. Olmert wrote, “I believe that the Palestinian request from the United Nations is congruent with the basic concept of the two-state solution. Therefore, I see no reason to oppose it.” Read the full story after the jump.
“Of all the points of disagreement between Israel and Hamas, maybe the most profound is this one: Israel cares more about sparing innocent lives – including those of Palestinians – than does Hamas. Hamas has instigated yet another war where the chief loser will certainly be its own people,” observes Richard Cohen. His opinion piece in the Washington Post illustrates Hamas’s violent and destructive role in the Middle East conflict that is oft misrepresented on the world stage.
So many in the Israeli and American Jewish community say that Palestinians take no steps to build trust or recognize that they are committed to live in peace with Israel. But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has for over a decade consistently been courageous about the need for reaching a two state solution through non-violent means, to the point that other Palestinians often criticize him for his conciliatory tone and policies that have not been reciprocated by the present Israeli government.
Netanyahu, Lieberman, and, perhaps worst of all Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon, keep marginalizing Abbas and giving him no room to operate.
And yet the Israeli Administration has continued to unwittingly (or some fear, intentionally, so as to discredit the existence of moderate Palestinian partners to negotiate with) strengthen Hamas’s credibility – most recently with the Gaza war that ended with Israeli concessions that Hamas is trumpeting as a victory over the Zionists. Sadly over the last couple months the Israeli government has turned Hamas into an extremely popular party not just in Gaza but even in the West Bank, even among Christian parties. OneVoice Palestine staff in Gaza and the West Bank report to me that people see the Hamas way as the only way Israelis listen, and they credit Hamas with numerous (often imagined) victories, while seeing Abbas as increasingly ineffective and irrelevant because the Israeli government ignores his overtures.
It wasn’t like this just a few weeks ago!
The present Israeli Administration continues to try to weaken Palestinian moderates and destroy any legitimacy or credibility they may have left. Last week, Ya’alon said, “What stands out from this event is the irrelevance of Abbas. He’s only relevant for declarations and for unilateral steps to seek recognition at the UN.” So what does Ya’alon want? For Abbas to use force so that he will listen?! Didn’t we ask for Palestinians to use diplomatic means? Which is it? Do we want the Palestinian leadership to use reason as Abbas does, or force as Hamas does?
Listen to the words of Abbas himself most recently. It takes enormous courage for him to be as direct about all these issues:
And yet, Netanyahu’s response that same day was to announce more settlement building.
It is fascinatingly depressing to see how extremists help one another become more popular. It is almost as if there is an unholy alliance between the Israeli and Palestinian absolutists, reinforcing each others’ visions and destroying the moderate camps on both sides. How long will the voices of moderation stay silent and watch their lives be hijacked?
As the Palestinian Delegation gears up to make their case for Palestinian statehood at the United Nations, Yonatan Touval makes an interesting proposal in his New York Times piece to work towards a Security Counsel Resolution rather than General Assembly recognition.
Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch [Read more →]
Ambassador Dennis Ross examines the conflict in Gaza from all sides, pinpointing the pivotal position that Egypt plays in fueling or ending the current violence in the region. See Ambassador Ross’s full Daily News opinion piece after the jump.
Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch [Read more →]
Daniel and the One Voice team met with President Abbas in Ramallah on Daniel’s recent trip to the Middle East. During their visit, Daniel and the One Voice team briefed President Abbas on their efforts to couple the One Voice grassroots movement with economic development in the region to create positive facts on the ground in Israel and Palestine. The president’s blog reports that President Abbas thanked Daniel for his tireless efforts to achieve peace between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, stressing the importance of these projects to the achievement of peace in the region.
John Lyndon from One Voice Europe spotted and shared the article below. While the conflict does deeply impact the broader region and it is vital to end the occupation for the sake of Palestinians AND Israelis and the entire region, this is a refreshing perspective about the benefits that moving to end the conflict will bring to the Arab people as well.
Zahava Gal-On, chief of Israeli political party Meretz, presented her peace plan to replace the Oslo Accords. In her plan, outlined in the Haaretz piece below, Gal-On recognizes the benefit to Israel of recognizing a Palestinian state and aims to help the Palestinian state gain acceptance in the UN.
Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch [Read more →]
OneVoice Movement Israel spokesperson Tal Harris speaks to Israeli media in front of man-made ice wall, symbolising the freeze in peace negotiations.
OneVoice Movement Israel teamed up with J14 protesters in Tel Aviv to link calls for social justice and demands for ending the conflict for the first time. Together, they erected an ice wall to symbolize the “freeze” in peace talks that is becoming ever more costly for Israelis. See OneVoice Movement’s press release for the event after the jump.
Fred Schaufeld recently shared a trio of articles by Noam Sheizaf and I just got done reading them. For the most part, they present a very valid if painful perspective analyzing the Israeli thought process.
The gist of the article below reminds me of Gil Shamy’s axiom that pursuing a comprehensive solution with the Palestinians is like going to the dentist for the Israelis: unless they are in pain, they rather hold off.
Some arguments are simplified and some supporting positions are incorrect in fact. For example, the second intifadah was not the impetus for Sharon’s evacuation from Gaza, but for Sharon’s election- it preceded Sharon’s reign, and the impetus for the evacuation was the drive by a significant segment of civil society in 2002-2004 for strategic progress.
And the reason the Arab Peace Initiative gained no traction is at least partly explained by its announcement in early 2002, at a time when our global conscience was still reeling from the 9/11 attacks and the Saudi overture was greeted with skepticism, as a PR stunt to deflect attention from Saudi support for Islamic fundamentalists.
But those are footnotes on a valid and sad thesis, that so long as Israelis are more comfortable with the status quo than with the uncertainties and risks of political change – even if that change holds the potential for far greater happiness for both Palestinians and Israelis – political representatives are unlikely to make bold moves. [Read more →]
