Daniel Lubetzky

I’ve been so inspired by the resilience of our staff and activists.

In Ramallah earlier today, Ibrahim, our Director of Leadership Outreach, mentioned a lot of the activists (we have a network of 1,800 youth leaders across Palestine) were complaining why we were not being more assertive with the campaign by fringe groups trying to slander OneVoice Palestine, and why we allowed threats from the fringes to derail the will of the majority.

I was inspired.

OneVoice Palestine is planning a very important response on Thursday.  Stay tuned.

OneVoice Israel similarly wants to re-group asap and indeed is also planning a strong response for this very Friday.  Again, please stay tuned.

OneVoice Canada is also proceeding with a solidarity event on Thursday, not music, but a strong show of forces of political supporters across all party lines, including the Prime Minister.

On Thursday, at 7pm Jerusalem time (1pm EST, 10am PST) we will broadcast a special message in partnership with Yahoo! – a videocast at http://video.yahoo.com/onevoice.

We are also renewing our signature drive campaign across Israel and Palestine to reach one million members urging Immediate Negotiations, Uninterrupted Till the Conclusion of A Two-State-Agreement.  600k here.  400k to go (actually less b/c we haven’t tallied all the new signatories over the last 3-4 weeks, which from a rough count are over 40k).

A lot of activists seem upset that we are not being more aggressive against those extremists who attack us, and my initial instincts have always been never to let anyone punch and to punch twice as hard.  I have always been quite aggressive against those who seek to undermine us, and I particularly get very angry if people mischaracterize who we are in order to try to win an argument.

My sense after these last couple weeks is that I’ve realized we definitely need to be firm, strong and assertive, but instead of punching with anger, we will respond with reason – we will further increase the nobility of the movement.

For years we’ve been growing under an "angry" contempt against extremists.  Moderates, after all, are fed up that this group of radicals have kept the people and the region hostage for too long.

Our challenge now that we have such a growing movement is to continue growing and continue affirming the imperative of moderation, with the same attributes that have always defined us – grassroots, non-partisan, mainstream, separate nationalist efforts on each side in parallel, sincerity of purpose, conflict resolution as opposed to conflict management, action-driven – but to now add a new component – to do so with nobility.

As I wrote in my prior post, this last week I grew so much from this challenge, realizing that I could not continue on this journey if I become filled with hate, even if my hate is towards radicals that are denying someone else’s right to existence. 

I will have to fight my internal evils and so will all people that work with OneVoice.  We will be strong, but kind.  We will be steadfast, but noble.  We will be assertive and firm, but empathetic towards those who unfortunately have not gotten there.

We will fight absolutism and extremism, rather than absolutists and extremists.

It was a very tough decision canceling the Israeli side of the event, when tens of thousands had already signed up to come – and I can only wonder if they won’t understand our decision and be disappointed, which pains me.

Primarily the people that I don’t have daily contact with and don’t know.

Primarily all those who were planning to be with us on October 18th and flew from different parts of the world to be with us.

And all the people who worked so hard and sacrificed so much for the sake of the Israeli and Palestinian people and for the sake of peace.

But this was the right and principled decision, and those who stood firm to remind us that we need to carry out our mission rather than be carried away by our momentum with the event, were correct.

For the sake of all in this region and in this globe, we cannot stop.

To the 600,000 Israeli, Palestinian and international citizens who affirmed our principles,

To the tens of thousands who committed to join us on October 18th,

To the grassroots volunteers and recruiters that invested themselves for months in the heat of the summer signing up people on the streets to sign the OneVoice Mandate and join us for the One Million Voices Summit,

To the hundreds of OV youth leaders across both Israel and Palestine that have shown such courage and been such steadfast ambassadors,

To the international artists, musicians and celebrities that selflessly and with no compensation agreed to fly thousands of miles away to help our cause,

To the many strategic partners and organizations that dared to believe this is a fight worth fighting,

To the 60+ Dignitaries, Honorary Co-Chairs and Board Members who inspire us, who believe in us, and who take so much time to guide us,

To the scores of contributors and donors who have invested in our mission and been such incredible mentors and solid partners,

To the outstanding team of producers and partners in this undertaking who every step of the way showed integrity, resoluteness, conviction and exemplary professionalism and loyalty,

To the thousands of friends who care and who worry, and who have been there every step of the way, during our many victories as well as during our setbacks,

To my company’s partners and amazing staff, who endured and tolerated and understood all of my unavailability over the last year and months and encouraged and enabled me to take this journey through their success and hard work,

To my fiancé and to my Mom and family, who have shown such love and understanding and concern,

To those who care and who believe and who spread our word,

And above all, to my team, across Gaza, Ramallah, Tel Aviv, London, New York City and Ottawa, who have exceeded beyond belief all of my already high expectations and demands, who have risked so much, who have worked so hard, and who have shown that we have assembled an outstanding army of conviction and purity of purpose,

To all of you, I thank.  We all thank you for your partnership and hard work.

To all of you, I acknowledge the pain of this setback in Jericho, and of the serious challenges threats and intimidation that a dozen+ Palestinian dignitaries on our Board are working to overcome there.

To all of you, I trust you will understand our decision to postpone the Tel Aviv event out of principle.

To all of you, let’s remember that we are doing what we are doing not to score goals, not to have fun or entertainment, but to help the moderates on BOTH sides seize back the agenda and show their support towards their Heads of State.

To those we disappointed with this delay, please remember that the movement has never been stronger, while forces of violent absolutism are being exposed and will be marginalized.

To all of you, remember we have surpassed six hundred thousand signatories (actually far more than that because we have about 25,000 new signatories from the last couple weeks we have not tallied up yet!). 

To all of you, bear in mind that already now this is the biggest movement in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the first time that such broad numbers are all speaking as OneVoice on the core demand for immediate uninterrupted negotiations till the conclusion of an agreement no later than Oct 18 2008.

To all of you, remember we have to reach ONE MILLION CITIZENS and not stop till we attain the critical mass necessary to turn the tide for conflict resolution.

To all of you, remember this is not a sprint but a marathon and the www.OneMillionVoices.org campaign itself has one more year to go!

To all of you, I request you visit http://video.yahoo.com/onevoice on October 18th 2007 at 7pm Jerusalem time – and ask others to join you.

To all of you, for the sake of future generations, we must prevail and end this conflict once and for all.

When the "Boycott" campaign against OVP started in earnest a few weeks ago, one of my staff members suggested we just explain to them the OV platform, and provide detailed answers to the many false accusations and mischaracterizations they were making.

I explained I had had discussions with several people from these groups in the past, and that their attacks on our specific positions were just excuses to create misinformation and you could not ultimately reason with them because they are absolutists who support only an all-or-nothing approach – the very philosophy that has lead to so much bloodshed given that there are TWO people destined to live in the Holy Land – Palestinians and Israelis.

These people hide in sheep’s clothes (is that the right expression?) because they know that most Palestinians do NOT agree with their absolutist views. 

They are against negotiations – and were even against Arafat’s efforts.

Here is one example a Palestinian friend just forwarded me from an email chain link on the extremist "Electronic Intifada" criticizing ATFP – ATFP is a great Palestinian group that brings a lot of legitimacy to the Palestinian people and is perhaps the most important Palestinian-American organization responsible for the rehabilitation of Palestinian rights – here is what they say about it (and all other moderate efforts):

[and incidentally, I just found out the guy writing, not surprisingly, does this out of the comfort of his home in San Diego, CA, while the Palestinians in refugee camps suffer because of delusional absolutism; it really is far more frequent that the "revolutionaries" tend to afford to be thousands of miles away from where the people are actually living with the consequences of absolutism]

"Dear Fadi

You  really do show your kindness when you call this an "expose" . It’s important to understand ,and it’s also important for our people and supporters to understand ,that what Asali has been doing since he tapped in the ADC ,and now continues as a head of ATFP ,is a systematic effort by people who are clearly not on the side of our people and cause. It’s not only what they did against Michel Shehadeh,but also what they have done ,and continue to do to bring organizations and individuals to their side .

I will not be telling a secret that the time our cause is going through is probably the worst period it ever faced .We have a duty to our cause and to our people here and everywhere to make sure they see it clearly ,who is with us and who work against us .The coming "Peace conference" and the million voice and other (Harakat Ar3aa) are not the only things we should caution against . We as Arab Palestinians at this critical junction of our struggle ,should not accept anything less than a complete liberation of Palestine ,and a full implementation of our legitimate  right of return to Palestine . This requires taking a stand against the so called PLO factions that are calling themselves realistic and are willing to settle for whatever Abbas and company will bring them back from Washington this fall or after that .And this also require us to take a stand against their supporter here and everywhere-if they have any- and the "independents’ -if there’s such a thing- that are working with Abbass and company on sham "popular conferences" .

You may say that this will split our community.My answer to that is ,our community is clear on the anchors on our struggles ,and is not fooled with slogans that are really good until it sees who is using these slogans ,and it becomes clear that all of this noise is nothing but a maneuver that will attract Abbass’ ( and company off course)attention so he may offer some "fettat " to  them in a way of representation in this or that council or that body. Our people and community are eager to see people stand solid in support of our anchors and against these "adulteresses who are gambling with our cause for a shameful personal gains , and expect of us nothing less than that ,especially when all the (dogs)  are showing their teeth and are ganging up against us.

Yousef
Fadi Saba <fasaba@yahoo.com> wrote:

This is an expose’ of the American Task Force for Palestine is headed by Ziad Asali.  Under his leadership (or lack of it), the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) fired Mr. Michel Shehadeh as its Western Regional Director.  At the very same time, Shehadeh was fighting deportation by the US because of his political views, and not that he has ever done anything harmful.  He is still fighting this case, which began in 1987.

Grass-roots peace concert in Israel called off in solidarity with Palestinians: organizer
The Associated Press
Sunday, October 14, 2007

JERUSALEM: A grass-roots peace concert calling for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict was called off on Sunday after threats were made to Palestinians supporting the event.

The New York-based One Voice organization had planned to hold simultaneous concerts in Tel Aviv, Israel, and the West Bank town of Jericho, with Canadian rock star Bryan Adams in lead billing.

The Jericho concert was called off last week due to security concerns, including threats to blow up the West Bank office of One Voice, said group founder Daniel Lubetzky. On Sunday, the Tel Aviv concert was canceled in solidarity.

"Our mission is not to entertain … It is to mobilize moderate voices," said Lubetzky, a New York businessman. "If we have to postpone, we have to postpone."

Organizers of One Voice aim to collect a million signatures of Israelis and Palestinians calling for their leaders to negotiate a final peace settlement within a year. The concert was meant to support the signature campaign, with those attending the event — free of charge — required to sign the petition.

Some Palestinians have harshly criticized the organization, which they said was weak on upholding Palestinian demands, including the right of return for refugees to the lands they fled, or were forced to flee, following the Israeli-Arab war in 1948. Leading Palestinians who initially supported the event have also distanced themselves from it.

However, One Voice does not set out a specific mandate.

Around 600,000 Palestinians and Israelis signed on to support the organization’s call for negotiations to begin between both sides. It also has received support from Hollywood stars such as Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Rhea Perlman, Danny de Vito and Jason Alexander.

Adams, who had a series of multi-platinum albums during the 1980s and mid-1990s, was to have performed at both concerts, along with Israeli artists in Tel Aviv and Palestinian performers in Jericho.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3459785,00.html
One Voice events postponed
Series of performances for peace, scheduled to take place in Jericho and Tel Aviv, canceled due to security problems
Or Barnea
The Once Voice events scheduled to take place in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park and the Jericho stadium on Thursday have been postponed until further notice due to security problems in Jericho.
The performances in Tel Aviv and other places in the world – including Washington, London and Canada – have also been cancelled. Canadian signer Bryan Adams, one of the performers scheduled to take part in the event, has called off his visit to the region.
The Israeli artists who were scheduled to perform in Tel Aviv included Ehud Banai, Boaz Sharabi, Hadag Nahash, Mashina, Miriam Tukahn, Mosh Ben-Ari, Ninet Tayeb, Rami Fortis and Keren Peles.
Adams was scheduled to perform both in Tel Aviv and in Jericho alongside Arab artists, including the DAM rap and hip hop group.
The One Voice organization, which was been active since 2002 in Israel and The Palestinian Authority through branches in Tel Aviv, Ramallah, and Gaza, seeks to “express the voice of the silent majority of moderates”, explained Daniel Lubetzky, founder of the organization.
“Our goal is to collect a million signatures of people who will work towards creating two states for two nations. It is important to send the message that business as usual is no longer acceptable to us. Every minute delayed in ending the conflict is a minute lost to the radical military forces”, he declared.
Lubetzky said on Sunday, "Over the weekend the movement was informed that it would be impossible to hold the Jericho event due to the security conditions at this time."
The event’s producers said in response, "The other events were also cancelled in solidarity with the cancellation of the Jericho event. The initiative’s main component is reciprocity and the international aspect which constitutes a milestone in the movement’s principles.
"Under the circumstances created, it was impossible to hold an event in Tel Aviv alone, and therefore we would rather postpone the events at this stage and continue to work for the achievement of our goal – recruiting 1,000,000 supporters for the alliance of the moderates, and strengthen the voice of the moderate majority against the violent extremists and for an end to the conflict." 

It’s official.

It really works.

Try to put together parallel OneVoice Summits in Jericho and Tel Aviv and within 10 days you will lose 10 pounds!

For the last year+ I’ve actually gained about that much, because I wasn’t getting a chance to work out, and no matter what I did, it was just going up.

The the long hours and intense marathon-like days…

Everything has a good side to it…

The problem now is that now that we made a big breakthrough that you will be hearing about in 3-4 days, I will probably start gaining weight again…

I just came upon a posting from "Another Voice" again slandering the good work of the OneVoice Movement.

Among their allegations is that we invented the threats and intimidation that all Palestinian artists and staff were facing from these absolutists without any real plan other than to complain, attack and attack.

Several Palestinian dignitaries on our Board had to call each of the artists to not be intimidated.  In the end we had all back on board except DAM.  We even had a list of a dozen additional Palestinian groups willing to perform.  But in face of continued threats and lack of a guaranteed plan to provide security to our local and international guests, OneVoice Palestine was pained to reach the decision to postpone the Jericho event, and OneVoice International of course empathized with their decision.

Do not be fooled by false bravado.  Ask "Another Voice" if they support a concrete plan for ending the conflict that can really survive.  Ask them if they support a two-state solution.  Ask their founder, who wrote articles attacking even Yasser Arafat’s peace efforts, and who has been consistently against EVERY effort at achieving a historic compromise to enable the Palestinian and Israeli people to both live with peace and dignity, what is his plan.

And talk to the artists, behind the scenes when not being intimidated, and ask them if they were not being called incessantly by people intimidating them not to perform.

Ilham Madfai has courageously gone on record on BBC against the boycotters for their abusive intimidation.

The Palestinian staff of OneVoice staff are among the most decent dedicated courageous leaders I have ever come across – the highest caliber human beings anyone can every find.  And they are all fiery nationalists but who also have a brain and understand that if we want to end this conflict we need to recognize the right of two peoples.  This is the same case with the Israeli staff of OneVoice and what their motivations are.

To make peace and end the occupation and the violence you need a partner on the other side.  Who would be "Another Voice’s" partner?  Or do they pretend to think their false bravado will just obliterate the other side?

"Another Voice" HURT THE PALESTINIAN CAUSE by preventing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to show their case to the world, by preventing the people across the world to see a partner for peace, by preventing international celebrities who were eager to come to be able to get there!

It is so disgusting that this group now tries to wash its hands off their monstrous aggressive intimidation and threats.

They are dumb enough to even discuss some of their threats out openly on the web.  Here is just one posting out openly on one of their discussion group threads, courtesy of one of their former supporters who just wrote to me alarmed at the realization that these people are not advancing the cause of peace or justice for anyone:

Posted on the “Anti-OneVoice” page on Facebook.com, by "Another Voice.":

Ahmad Jaradat (Palestine) wrote
at 11:34am on October 9th, 2007

its good to have such a group but we need for more actions… like for example using RBJ to destroy their offices…

Message – Report

Diana Alzeer (Palestine) wrote
at 4:50am yesterday

people also join the group another voice

Message – Report

An excellent article on efforts to attack and delegitimize the voices of reconciliation is posted at

Drowning out One Million Voices: The enemies of peace

12 days ago a slanderous press release was launched by a fringe group that sparked rumours that OneVoice Palestine exists to negotiate away the rights of refugees and international law. OneVoice’s teams here come together to categorically deny this and expose the fact that some Palestinians have been misled by a sinister campaign of hate, coupled with vicious threats of violence from extremists that have spiraled out of control.

OneVoice is a civil society movement to empower the conflict resolution process from the grassroots. We have no power to affect the content of negotiations, but we do have the power to tell the leaders and international community that we will no longer accept a failure to deliver real progress.

The OneVoice Mandate calls on our heads of State to commence immediate negotiations, uninterrupted until the conclusion of a viable Two State agreement in order to amplify moderate forces in the November negotiations. That is the power of the grassroots and without a mobilized grassroots constituency we leave our leaders open to attack and without the strength to deliver real answers.

Of course the people have demands, whether they be to end the occupation or to deliver security, OneVoice, however, does not have a political platform other than to endorse negotiations for a Two State solution and stands only to support the leaders and demand that the will of the people serve to energise the process. Its Palestinian offices in Gaza City and Ramallah, run by nationalist Palestinians for nationalist Palestinians, exist to do exactly this.

And so, an organization of around 600,000 Palestinian and Israeli signatories, board members from Palestinian Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat, Jibril Rajoub, and Islamic Chief Justice Sheikh Taysir al-Tamimi to Arab-American Institute President Dr Jim Zogby and Founder George Salem, is being targeted by absolutists with no intention of ending the conflict, who are defrauding the people out of their right to peace, and into being a part of their battle. They must not be tolerated and we implore all of you who are confused by the lies and seek further clarification to look at the OneVoice track record and materials yourselves.

The opportunity is not lost: 600,000 people have already spoken and will not lose the hope and momentum we are building in the wake of the Arab Peace Initiative and the upcoming November Summit.

We will stand by President Abbas and tell him that he can and must deliver something for the people and that we will support him every step of the way when he does because these enemies of peace will attack him too as they did attack Chairman Arafat’s ‘peace of the braves’ and all other efforts toward a just solution that will bring about Palestinian independence, an end to the occupation and peace with its neighbours including Israel based on the terms that he as the Palestinian head of state agrees upon.

These enemies who use intimidation, fear and manipulation to protract the conflict through absolutist ideologies do not have any actionable proposals that will fulfill the wish of the Palestinian people. They have enchained the people for far too long.