An urgent statement to the Israeli public IN November, 121 Palestinian political and academic personalities issued an appeal to the Israeli public in which they outlined their grievances and aspirations. The appeal was published in major Israeli newspapers and on the web (www.arabrights.org/palestine/statement/index.htm) and has since attracted wide international attention.
*N February of this year, we, a group of Palestinian academics and activists, Palestinian academics and addressed an urgent call to the Israeli public. We expressed in it our fear that the Oslo peace process, as it had evolved over the past seven years, was inevitably leading to further conflict -perhaps even war-rather than to our hoped-for goal: a final historic reconciliation that would enable our two peoples to live in peace, human dignity and neighborly relations.
We expressed our concern that the Oslo accords have been used by Israel, despite claims to the contrary, to create unprecedented expansion of settlements, almost double the settler population, and continue the expropriation of Palestinian land. Freedom of movement for Palestinians has been severely curtailed while settler violence against our communities continues without restraint.
Against this background, the Palestinian population has had no physical, legal or political means of protection. While military occupation is a palpable reality that affects us every day, it has been disguised under Oslo in ways that negate international law and the protection it might afford. We now live in a series of small disconnected areas which are being posited as the emerging Palestinian state. The only way to expand these Bantustans according to the distorted logic which has dominated negotiations, is for the Palestinian leadership to make concessions which would legitimize a number of Israeli demands in contravention to international law: to concede our national rights to East Jerusalem, allow settlements to remain in occupied territory and renounce the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
The Israeli leadership (be it Likud or Labor) has continued to imagine that, given the massive military balance of force in its favor, it would be able to impose on the Palestinian Authority its unjust vision of a final settlement, and pretend that the conflict is resolved in the eyes of the world. This delusion that a deeply
unjust agreement can be made by Israel with President Yasser Arafat alone, who is then expected to force his people into accepting it, is profoundly shortsighted and has inevitably led to the critical situation that confronts us now. Many of us were in the streets over these recent weeks, holding neither guns nor stones. We were holding candles to commemorate the deaths of our students, neighbors and relatives who tried to make the world hear with their lives what we were unable to with our words. The naive and dangerous notion that Palesunians took to the streets tollowing Yasser Palestinians took to the streets following Yasser Arafat's orders is not only an insult to our intelligence but also a clear sign of the lack of understanding of the reality in which we live.
We are deeply concerned that the conflict has, at times, dangerously spiraled, into an ethnic/religious one, as the pogroms against Arab citizens of Nazareth, the lynching of the two Israeli soldiers in Ramallah and the numerous mob attacks on synagogues and mosques have shown. The profoundly irresponsible and selfserving act of the Barak government in allowing Ariel Sharon onto the Haram al Sharif shows not just an alarming lack of judgement, but also a total disregard for Palestinian, Arab and Muslim sensibilities.
The use of live ammunition against unarmed Palestinian civilians at demonstrations there the next day and at protests ever since, shows total contempt for Palestinian life. The stubborn and escalating use of Israel's overwhelming military power in order to crush the current uprising and terrify the Palestinian population into submission shows a dangerous, wilful refusal to address its underlying causes. Military might may be able to subdue the current wave of protest — at the immediate cost of many lives. But in the long run, it cannot stem the will of a people seeking their just and rightful place in the world. It will also condemn us to re-visit the current crisis again and again.
All of us are firm believers in an equitable and just negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians that recognizes the right to self-determination. However we, like our communities, have lost hope in the possibility of resolving the current inequities in the framework of the Oslo agreements and the exclusive American "brokerage' of the process.
We believe that we must find an equitable basis for peace which must necessarily take the following broad principles as a point of departure:
1. Negotiations must be based on the principles that all the lands occupied by Israel in 1967 are, in fact, occupied territories and that peace will be only be achieved by ending the occupation of these territories and thus enabling Palestinians to exercise their right to self-determination and sovereignty.
2. East Jerusalem is part of these Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967. Consequently, a final settlement must include Palestinian sovereignty over East
Jerusalem and the commitment to Jerusalem as the recognized capital of two states.
3. Israel's recognition of its responsibility in the creation of the Palestinian refugees in 1948 is a pre-requisite to finding a just and lasting resolution of the refugee problem in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions.
4. Both sides must recognize the spiritual and historical affinities of each other to sites and locations within their own borders and they must affirm and guarantee the access and protection of the other people to these places within their own borders. But in neither case should the existence of such sites be used to advance extra-territorial claims to locations within each other's borders.
We believe that the implementation of these principles will provide for a just and therefore, genuine and lasting peace. The hoped-for coexistence between our two peoples can only become possible if a reconstructed peace settlement is equitable. This requires moral recognition of the historic injustice visited upon Palestinians. Peace and co-existence will not be accomplished by imposing an unjust settlement that goes against the will of the people.
This land is destined to be the home of our two peoples. The need for a solution based on mutual respect and accommodation is dictated not only by the search for security and stability, but also by the quest for freedom and prosperity of future generations. It is our hope that, out of the tragedies of recent weeks, a new and fair vision of peace can emerge between the two peoples. * I. Dr. Haidar Abdel-Shafi Head of Red Crescent Society, Gaza 2. Dr. Hanan Ashrawi PLC Member 3. Dr. Saleh Abdel Jawad Birzeit University 4. Dr. Kamal Abdul Fattah Birzeit University 5. Dr. Abdul Rahman Abdul Ghani Birzeit University 6. Ezzat Abdul Hadi Bisan Development Center 7 Dr. Rabab Abdul Hadi American University, Cairo 8. Ghassan Abdullah Birzeit University 9. Prof. Ibrahim Abu Lughod Birzeit University 10. Dr. Lamis Abu Nahleh Birzeit University 11. Dr. Ragheb Abu Sarris Birzeit University 12. Nadia Abu Zahra Researcher 13. Dr. Mohammad Abu Zaid MD and writer 14. Dr. Ilham Abu-Ghazaleh Birzeit University 15. Dr. Latif Abuhijleh Birzeit University 16. Prof. Eisa Abu-Shamsieh Birzeit University 17. Khader Abusway Journalist 18. Dr. Mamdouh Aker Surgeon 19 Mohammad Alagha Journalist, London 20. Dr. Suad AlAamiry Riwaq 21. Dr. Nazmi Al-Ju beh Riwaq and Birzeit University 22. Ghassan Al-Khatib Jerusalem Media and Communication Center 23. Rana Al-Khatib Birzeit University 24. Mustafa Al-Kurd Composer and musician 25. Dr. Helga Al-Kurd/ Baumgarten Birzeit University 26. Dr. Majdi Al-Malki Birzeit University 27. Dr. Sherif Al-Mousa American University, Cairo 28. Hussein Al-Rimmawi Birzeit University 29. Dr. Simon Araj Birzeit University 30. Tayseer
Palestine * Arouri Birzeit University 31. Naim Ashhab Journalist 32. Prof. Naseer Aruri Emeritus, University of Massachusetts 33. Naela Ayesh Women's Affairs Center, Gaza 34. Suheir Azzouni Women's Affairs Technical Committee 35. Dr. Raja Bahlul Birzeit University 36. Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MD and Head of Palestinian Union of Medical Relief Committees 37. Siham Barghouty Palestinian Federation of Women's Action 38. Kamal Boullata Visual artist, France 39. Ibrahim Dakkak Institute of Palestine Studies 40. Rabeiha Diab Ministry of Youth and Sports 41. Dr. Beshara Doumani Berkley, USA 42. Ali El-Taher Birzeit University 43. Dr. Tamer Essawi Birzeit University 44. Prof. Ghassan Faramand Birzeit University 45. Anita G.-Abdullah Birzeit University 46. Dr. Rita Giacaman Birzeit University 47. Dr. Rema Hammami Birzeit University 48. Rudaina Hammouri UK 49. Dr. Sari Hanafi CEDEJ, Cairo 50. Dr. Ahmad Harb Birzeit University 51. Dr. Roger Heacock Birzeit University 52. Dr. Jamil Hilal Writer, Palestine National Council member 53. Prof. Khalil Hindi Brunel University, UK 54. Dr. Suha Hindiyeh-Mani Birzeit University 55. Dr. Samia Huleileh Birzeit University 56. Islah Jad Birzeit University 57. Penny Johnson Researcher, Birzeit University 58. Aysha Joma Terre des Hommes 59. Hassan Joubeh Publisher 60. Zahira Kamal Ministry of Planning & International Cooperation 61. Prof. Sharif Kanaana Birzeit University 62. Mustafa Karkuti Journalist, London 63. Samira Kawar Journalist, London 64. Hassan Khader Writer 65. Jalal Khader Advocate 66. Salima Khalil Journalist 67. Dr. Samir Khalil Neuro-Pediatrician 68 Rashid Khatib Orlando, USA 69. Amal Khreishe Palestinian Working Women Society 70. Eileen Kuttab Birzeit University 71. Flora Lahham Journalist, London 72. Khalil Malouf Terre des Hommes 73. Prof. Nur Masalha SOAS, University of London 74. Dr. Nadim Mseis Birzeit University 75. Zakaria Muhammed Poet and journalist 76. Prof. Ibrahim Muhawi Edinburgh University 77. Prof. Foad Mughrabi University of Tennessee 78. Reem Musleh Birzeit University 79. Dr. Walid Mustafa Bethlehem University 80. Dr. Issam Nassar Institute of Jerusalem Studies 81. Prof. Jamal Nassar Illinois State University 82. Maha Nassar Palestinian Women's Union 83. Mamdouh Nofal Writer and PCC member 84. Dr. Muna Odeh University of Sao Paulo, Brazil 85. Ziad Othman Journalist and researcher 86. Imad Qamhiyeh Birzeit University 87. Dr. Mudar Qassis Birzeit University 88. Nahla Qourah Ramallah Municipality 89. Suleiman Rabadi Birzeit University 90. Ramzi Rihan Birzeit University 91. Adnan Sabah Lawyer, UK 92. Nahed Sabri- Mikki Pediatrician 93. Abdul Jawad Saleh PLC Member 94. Hilmi Samara Petroleum Consultant, UK 95. Dr. Rosemary Sayigh Researcher and author 96. Prof. May Seikaly Historian and author 97. Dr. Othman Sharkas Birzeit University 98. Raja Shehadeh Lawyer and writer 99. Samih Shibib Lecturer and journalist 100. Dr. Azmi Shu'aibi PLC Member 101. Mahmoud Shukeir Novelist 102. Prof. Salim Tamari Institute of Jerusalem Studies 103. Vera Tamari Artist, Birzeit University 104. Dr. Spiro Tamas Surgeon 105. Muna Tamimi Birzeit University 106. Dr. Liza Taraki Birzeit University 107. Laura Wick Birzeit University 108. Prof. Muhsin Yusuf Birzeit University 109. Jamal Zaqout Palestinian National Council member 110. Prof. Elia Zureik Queens University, Canada 111. Dr. Wassfi Kafri Birzeit University 112. Dr. GamaL Siyam Birzeit University 113. Dr. Muhammed Abd al-Haq Birzeit University 114. Dr. Samih Geda' Birzeit University 115. Dr. Ilias Sagan Birzeit University 116. Dr. Mundir Barakat Birzeit University 117. Dr. Khalid Abaza Birzeit University 118. Dr. Allan Tlaibi Birzeit University 119. Dr. Fuad Husni Birzeit University 120. Dr. Mervat Bulbul Birzeit University 121. Prof. Mashhour Abudaka Birzeit University
International Viewpoint #326 December 2000 9
* Serbia