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A REAL PEACE PROCESS - Gush Shalom addresses J Street


Almost everybody agrees that peace between the State of Israel and the State of Palestine is the only solution.

All the relevant governments say so, including the government of Israel. Why, then, does it not happen? Why does it often look hopeless?

For the simple reason that the government of Israel does not really want it. Binyamin Netanyahu has no intention whatsoever to implement any such solution, because it would mean dismantling all - or almost all – of the settlements. All his statements on the subject are but thinly-disguised lip service.

To make the lip-service into reality, an enormous effort is needed – by Israelis, Palestinians and people of good will everywhere, government officials and grassroots activists alike. In particular, the involvement of Americans in general and American Jews in particular is most vital.

There are several yardsticks which distinguish a true commitment to peace from hollow lip service:

  • The Gaza War – We must – also for the sake of our own moral fabric – establish an independent judicial commission to thoroughly, impartially and openly investigate all allegations and accusations of war crimes committed by our forces in the Gaza Strip in December 2008 and January 2009.
  • Settlements: There can be no Palestinian state without dismantling of settlements, and there can be no meaningful negotiations while settlement construction and land-grab is going on. Settlement construction must stop completely and without exception, as a declared first step towards their dismantling.
  • Representation: It is up to the Palestinians, and to them only, to decide who would represent them. In the past, this meant that the PLO had to be recognized as representing the Palestinians. Nowadays, it means that Hamas represents a part of the Palestinian people, a part so significant that an agreement which does not include Hamas would be worthless. Israel, the US and the entire International Community must actively promote and facilitate unity among Palestinians, so as to produce a real negotiating partner – rather than foment discord and civil war among Palestinians, as has been done until now.
  • Borders - the borders of June 5, 1967 are Israel's internationally recognized borders. Israel must either withdraw to these border or - If it wishes to annex some small parts of the West Bank – cede to the Palestinians, in exchange, parts of its pre-67 territory equivalent in both extent and quality. (In the "generous offers" which Ehud Barak offered at Camp David, he proposed that for every nine square kilometers of fertile West Bank land given up by the Palestinians they would get one square kilometer of, they would receive one square kilometer of completely waterless desert land in the Negev.)
  • Jerusalem – Israel and Palestine must share Jerusalem – Israel's capital in West Jerusalem, Palestine's capital in East Jerusalem, and a special regime for the holy places of the three Monotheistic religions. A freeze of settlement construction must apply also – and especially – to the penetration of sraeli nationalist-religious fanatics into the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
  • Refugees: The problem of the Palestinian refugees, the most painful and difficult of all, must be resolved by a just and agreed solution including repatriation to the State of Palestine, return of an agreed number to Israeli territory, payment of compensations and settling in other countries.
  • The Golan: Peace between Israel and Syria is an indispensable complement to peace between Israel and Palestine. Both are needed to make Israel a true, legitimate part of its geographic region. This needs a complete withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights.

Every statement by any leader, any summit and "peace process", must be held up to these yardsticks – and if found wanting, this should be said as loudly and clearly as possible.

From the ad in the special Haaretz-English edition distributed among participants in the Washington D.C. conference 25-28 October , 2009