Daniel Lubetzky

The article below by Ron Pundak contains at least two deep lessons.  The clearest one is of course what he shares: that “anti-normalization” efforts that seek to boycott any cooperative efforts and engagement among Palestinian and Israeli civil society organizations and people can only bring harm to the people of the region who want to resolve the conflict, to end the occupation, and to achieve a two state solution.

But there is a deeper lesson I must confess to.  Until reading this article, my attitude has been to defend efforts like those of OneVoice, which clearly works to end the occupation, to change the status quo, and to achieve Israeli-Palestinian agreement.  I have quietly acquiesced to, and empathized with, Palestinian concerns about “dialogue” groups whose effort is just to humanize the other, understanding that Palestinians may not want to “dialogue” with the enemy – they want to end the occupation and do not want to endorse the status quo in any way. I still of course understand this.  But I now also recognize that is a cowardly position, convenient to me because that is the approach I feel is worthy of support as that is what OneVoice does. But it fails to stand up to defend and recognize that those “dialogue” efforts are also vital to fostering understanding and respect of the “other”, and that often Israelis and Palestinians are first exposed to the other side through these socio-cultural groups and in a very direct way may then be inspired to get more involved in changing the status quo because of the human bonds that they have established. 

The same thing happened to me, if I go back to 1989, when I was a student at Hebrew University and I met Palestinian students whose humanity I began to appreciate more.

This reminds me of the old statement by pastor Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

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A new poll reaffirms the uphill battle to get Israelis and Palestinians to overcome their skepticism about each other, and to be able to visualize that a two state solution can come about. According to the Peace Index, we have our work cut out for ourselves. Here is a summary:

Poll: Israelis Want Peace Negotiations But Don’t Believe They Will Succeed (Peace Index)
    While 71% of the Israeli public favors holding peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, 67% do not believe that negotiations will lead to peace in the coming years, according to the April 2012 Peace Index survey of the Evens Program for Conflict Resolution at Tel Aviv University and the Israel Democracy Institute.
    58% said they did not believe there is a real chance to resolve the conflict in accordance with the "two states for two peoples" formula in the next ten years.

Clifford May wrote an article worth reading for all those who are determined to truly address the refugee issue and resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.  In addition to the points made in the article, it is important to track the real numbers of refugees, EVEN if I you count their descendants. Some of the estimates regularly shared are inflated beyond belief.  A way to confirm this is simply by tracking how many Palestinians were living in total prior to 1948, then tracking how many of them left and how many of them stayed at the time, and how many are there today, and compare to the estimated number who is considered a refugee today. Even if everyone who left, and everyone of their descendants were to considered a refugee, and even if their birthrate was far higher than the one in the West Bank and Gaza and within Israel, the discrepancies would still be quite apparent.

The attached Arabic website links to an Israeli Channel 10 video revealing back-channel negotiations where Khaled Maashal from Hamas apparently offered Olmert a peace deal in exchange for permitting Hamas to lead and rule in Gaza, and presumably eventually across Palestine.  The offer never got off the ground. But just the plausibility that Hamas/Maashal offered such terms is causing enormous commotion within Palestine.  Beyond weakening Hamas and Maashal and strengthening Abbas and Fatah, it legitimizes the path of negotiations and reconciliation.  But more troubling, it may drive deeper divisions within Hamas and possibly isolate any moderating influences and prevent a reconciliation that would allow centrists in Hamas and Fatah to do a responsible coalition to negotiate a two state solution with Israel.

Orni Petrushka, Gilead Sher and Ami Ayalon wrote a very thoughtful and compelling opinion piece in the New York Times that should be required reading for anyone who cares about Israel and/or Palestine.  The time has come for citizens, communities and governments in the region and globally to start making a two state solution a reality.  With positive facts on the ground.  OneVoice and the PeaceWorks Foundation will hopefully be deepening their work in this direction also.

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This is an important article worth reading and bearing in mind; beyond the geopolitical and sociocultural challenges to get to the finish line, the economic dimension is making the challenge even trickier.

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Gideon Biger, a Professor of Geography at Tel Aviv University, references three examples of how European States handled somewhat similar territorial challenges and ultimately achieved harmony.  While there are plenty of distinctions, these are all worth bearing in mind as Israel and Palestine seek to resolve their differences.

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This video does a great job of depicting the paralyzing problem at hand in the Mideast negotiations.  Watch this video to see how OneVoice silently voiced their opinion that the negotiation talks need to be unfrozen. 

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Adeena Schlussel

I have heard Saeb Erakat say the same thing at the World Economic Forum in Jordan a few years ago, and now  – in this interview – Prime Minister Fayyad reminded the world that the Palestinian cause gets hurt when the Iranian regime tries to hijack it for its own benefits.  Extremists should not be allowed to incite hatred and division for their own divisive purposes.  Moderate Israelis and Palestinians need to wake up to the need for them to work together to build two states that respect one another and fulfill the aspirations of their people.  It is the only way.

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The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah recently completed an interesting poll.  The quest was to understand how Israelis and Palestinians feel about the Clinton/Geneva permanent settlement framework, and the results proved that 50% of Palestinians and 58% of Israelis support the package ( with numbers that were higher than last years).  Another interesting finding from the poll is that only 34% of Israelis believed the majority of their fellow citizens support the framework, while 55% believe their peers are in opposition.  And more unfortunately, the poll indicates that both sides feel it’s almost impossible to reach such a settlement at present.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Adeena Schlussel

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