The following statement has been run as a full page ad in many newspapers, including the New York Time and the Washington Post:
[back to home]No, Mr. Sharon! No, Mr. Arafat!
Stop the KillingsYour policies are creating a disaster for both your peoples.
Acts of terrorism against innocent civilians, whether by suicide bombers or by the Israeli Army, will not bring peace. Destroying cafes and shooting at ambulances are crimes and not legitimate acts of resistance or self-defense. Both of you must respect the sanctity of all human life: Jewish, Muslim and Christian. It is time to end antisemitic teachings in the Islamic world and anti-Arab teachings in the Jewish.
It is time to create peace and security for both peoples, each in its own state: the liberation of each requires the liberation of the other.
Yes, Mr. Bush Thank you for taking a first step toward ending the violence.
But it is only a first step. The United States must be as unremitting in pursuit of Israeli-Palestinian peace as it has in pursuit of international terrorism.
Do not flinch or run when extremists on both sides try to derail American efforts. And do not succumb when groups like AIPAC try to force you into taking one side: the real pro-Israel position recognizes that Israel's security depends on justice and dignity for the Palestinians. And a pro-Palestinian position requires security and dignity for Israel.
The Oslo agreements called for Israel and the Palestinians to settle their differences between them. The Clinton Administration made valiant efforts to serve as an honest broker. But Oslo failed. Now the only solution is international intervention: the UN, led by the United States, must impose a settlement on both sides, based, as you have said, President Bush, on the states of Israel and Palestine living next to each other in peace and security. Withdrawing tanks and troops from the cities, while leaving them in the West Bank and Gaza and ready to strike again, will not give the Palestinians the security they need, and without that they will strike against Israel again. The cycle cannot be broken by half-measures, Mr. Bush.
We call on you, Mr. Bush, and the American people, to take the next steps towards peace:
Create an international peace-keeping force, under the UN and led by the US, to separate the two sides and provide protection for each of them.
Create an international peace conference based on the Saudi proposals, and explicitly committed to:
1. End the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and dismantle Israeli settlements in the territories. Israel must return to the pre-67 borders with minor changes, mutually agreed-on
2. Create an international fund to provide reparations to the Palestinian refugees-and to Jews who fled from Arab lands.
3. Create an economically and politically viable Palestinian state and treat it with respect and dignity as it enters the family of nations.
4. Mobilize the Palestinian people, in response to the degree that Israel shows a genuine spirit of reconciliation, to become the prime movers in stopping terrorists.
5. Normalize relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors based on the right of Jews to have their own state in the Middle East
We call on Jews in Israel and around the world to:
Support a two-state settlement based on withdrawal of Israel from the Occupied Territories and dismantlement of settlements Renounce military force as a solution and support the hundreds Israeli Army reservists who refuse to sanction the Occupation and now Refuse to Serve on the West Bank and Gaza. Reach out to Palestinians by helping repair the damage gratuitously caused by the Israeli Army in its invasion of Palestinian cities and towns. Donate generously to organizations working for reconstruction of Palestinian civil society. And to groups working for Jewish-Arab reconciliation. Stop sending money to Jewish organizations which do not publicly endorse these principles Recognize that the only victory possible for Israel in the current circumstance is the victory of reclaiming and reasserting the greatest asset the Jewish people have developed throughout our history: the moral legitimacy of a people who are committed to valuing love and justice and compassion above coercive power, violence and domination. Adopt a stance of open-hearted repentance for the unnecessary pain Israel has inflicted on the Palestinian people-and support an ethos of generosity and compassion toward them, treating them with respect and helping them create a state in which they can live with dignity and economic well-being.
We call on Palestinians in Palestine and around the world to:
Embrace a two-state settlement in which most Palestinian refugees will be resettled in the Palestinian state Renounce terrorism as a legitimate weapon for national liberation Denounce antisemitic attacks on Jews Work towards Jewish-Arab reconciliation Adopt a stance of open-hearted repentance for the unnecessary pain acts of terror have generated in Israeli society-and support an ethos of generosity and compassion toward Israelis, treating them with respect and helping them recognize that you do not intend to wipe them out. As a first step in this direction, renounce all violence and commit your movement to an ethos of non-violence.
Page last updated May 7th, 2002