What is Peace Now? |
|
What activities does Peace Now pursue in Israel? |
|
What is Peace Now - UK? |
| Why
does Peace Now - UK have contacts with Palestinians? |
| What
Proposals has Peace Now put forward to resolve the conflict? |
| "
Where is the Palestinians For Peace Now organisation?"
|
|
| What
is Peace Now? |
Peace
Now, the first and only mass peace movement in Israel, was founded
in 1978 by 350 reserve officers and soldiers of the Israel Defence
Forces.
It is a non-partisan, volunteer movement with branches throughout
Israel.
Peace Now came to prominence when it mobilised hundreds of thousands
of Israelis to protest against the Lebanon War in 1982.
Over the years, it has struggled against the Israeli occupation
of the West Bank and Gaza with a view to removing the injustice
and repression suffered by the Palestinian people. Having pioneered
meetings with Palestinian representatives in the 1980s, Peace
Now has consistently supported the implementation of the Oslo
Accords and, over the past 20 years, has succeeded in bringing
about a turnaround in Israeli public opinion.
Despite all the setbacks that the peace process has encountered
in recent years, Peace Now continues to lead the campaign to
end the conflict and achieve a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. |
| back
to top |
| What
activities does Peace Now pursue in Israel? |
Peace
Now engages in a broad range of activities throughout all sectors
of Israeli society. These comprise:
… Nation-wide campaigns to promote
peace and justice in the Middle East which includes reaching
out to Israelis in the development towns and immigrant communities
… Settlement Watch project which monitors and documents
the expropriation of Palestinian land and the expansion of settlements
in the occupied territories
… Maintains a dialogue with Palestinian representatives
in the territories as well as abroad to develop a mutual understanding
of each other¹s needs and interests
… Seeks to prevent changes in the status quo within Jerusalem
and protect the rights of Palestinians in East Jerusalem
… Engages young Israelis through its youth wing in the
struggle for peace including meetings with young Palestinians
… Conducts exchanges with Egyptian and Jordanian intellectuals
as part of its wider campaign to achieve a regional peace in
the Middle East
… Maintains close contacts with fraternal organisations,
such as Peace Now - UK, to enlist the support
of concerned Jews in the Diaspora and other sympathisers abroad. |
| back
to top |
| What
is Peace Now - UK? |
Peace Now - UK supports the aims and activities
of Peace Now in Israel.
In pursuit of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East,
promotes a wide range of initiatives in the UK which include:
… sponsors public meetings and debates
… participates in demonstrations and vigils
… promotes educational events within the Jewish community
in addition to other interested groups throughout Britain
… publicises the struggle for peace through public manifestos
and advertisements
… engages in dialogue with Palestinian support groups
|
| back
to top |
| Why
does Peace Now - UK have contacts with Palestinians? |
The unresolved
conflict between Israeli and Palestinian nationalist aspirations
lies at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Engaging in a dialogue with Palestinians and their supporters
provides an opportunity for both sides to gain an understanding
of each other's hopes and fears.
Through this process of dialogue, a clearer vision of the way
towards peace can lead to practical solutions to the conflict
based on mutual respect and compromise. |
| back
to top |
| What
Proposals has Peace Now put forward to resolve the conflict? |
In the
quest for a permanent negotiated settlement of the conflict,
Peace Now has put forward the following principles for a settlement
to be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians:
… The Palestinian people have the
right to self-determination, including the right to establish
their own state in the West Bank and Gaza.
… The 1967 border constitutes the guiding line for the
determination of the permanent borders between the State of
Israel and the future Palestinian state.
… The evacuation of Israeli settlements in the occupied
territories
… The city of Jerusalem will remain united and will serve
as the capital of both the new Palestinian state and Israel
with unimpeded access to all religious sites.
… A comprehensive solution to the refugee problem will
be based primarily on their absorption into the Palestinian
state helped by compensation from the international donor community.
… Security arrangements will be negotiated which will prevent
foreign armies from entering the Palestinian state and will
include demilitarisation of the state in regard to certain types
of weapons.
… As part of a comprehensive peace settlement for the region,
Israel will withdraw from the Golan Heights following a peace
agreement with Syria and Lebanon. |
| back
to top |
| "
Where is the Palestinians For Peace Now organisation?" |
In late
November, amid stories about Israeli troops reoccupying Palestinian
towns in response to terror attacks, the Jerusalem-based Palestinian
daily Al Quds carried a curious series of advertisements on
its front page.
The ads, paid for by a Palestinian group calling itself the
Popular Campaign for Peace and Democracy, contained messages
about peace, "two states for two people" and "Jerusalem
serving as capital of two states."
The significance of the ads was overshadowed among Palestinians
and others in the Arab world by the Israeli reprisal raids;
in Israel by the ominous attacks by al-Qaida against Israelis
in Kenya and the failed
missile attack against an Israeli passenger plane; and in the
West by the ongoing confrontation with Iraq.
But the appearance of those ads, and
the forces they represent, signal important developments within
the Palestinian community and once again offer a vision of what
peace between Israelis and Palestinians might look like.
The Al Quds ads are the latest installment of an internationally
funded public relations effort in support of the Nusseibeh-Ayalon
Agreement.
Sari Nusseibeh is a leading Palestinian intellectual, a Harvard-educated
philosophy professor, president of Al-Quds University and the
Palestinian Authority's representative in Jerusalem. Ami Ayalon
is the
former head of the Israeli internal security service, known
as the Shin Bet. Together, and unofficially,
they have crafted a document calling for a
two-state solution, territorial exchange to achieve secure borders,
shared sovereignty in Jerusalem, resolution of the refugee issue,
demilitarization of the Palestinian state and an end to the
conflict.
The intent of the two negotiators is to create a grass-roots
effort for peace, one that emanates from the people rather than
one determined by political leaders behind closed doors. To
this end, they hope to obtain 1 million signatures for the agreement
from both the Palestinian and Israeli people and present it
to their respective leaderships as a fait accompli.
That such an effort would take place in Israel is nothing new.
The Peace Now movement is well-established, and the current
Labor Party candidate
for prime minister, Amram Mitzna, supports the Nusseibeh-Ayalon
plan.
But critics of the Israeli peace movement have correctly pointed
out that there has, up until now, been no corollary movement
within the Palestinian community.
The creation of the Popular Campaign for Peace and Democracy
is one of an increasing number of signs that some Palestinian
people and a handful of their leaders are willing not only to
oppose extremist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but even
to challenge their own secular leadership within the PLO.
One of Yasser Arafat's top deputies, Abu Mazen, has privately
opposed violence against Israelis. Last month he publicly declared
that armed attacks had destroyed all progress made with Israel
toward the formation of a viable Palestinian state.
Jibril Rajoub, formerly Arafat's security chief
on the West Bank,
recently disclosed that two years ago he warned Arafat that
allowing militants to operate with impunity would lead to disaster
for the Palestinian people. Abdel Razak Yehiyeh was fired from
his position as
security minister in October after threatening tough action
against Palestinian militants, including those within Arafat's
own Fatah movement. Last summer, one of Yehiyeh's aides complained
that efforts to
end violence against Israeli civilians had been "undercut
at every turn" by Arafat. Most
recently, economic affairs adviser Muhammad Rashid, who has
called for an end to the intifada, proposed that the Palestinian
people should be allowed to vote on a referendum covering issues
related to Jerusalem,
refugees and borders, an obvious nod to the efforts of Nusseibeh.
Nusseibeh, Rashid, Yehiyeh and others like them have earned
condemnation from the Palestinian Authority. "No one
has the right to ask the Palestinians to hold a referendum on
their national legitimate rights," said Hussein al-Sheikh,
a Fatah leader in the West Bank. Nusseibeh especially has been
the target of criticism and threats for offering a compromise
on the subject of Palestinian refugees. And
the opinions these leaders express are far more moderate than
those
prevailing among the Palestinian masses.
But in a region where change is sometimes measured in centuries
or even millennia, the efforts of Nusseibeh and the Popular
Campaign for Peace and Democracy are important developments.
Even the PCPSR poll has a silver lining that shows incremental
change: 56 percent of Palestinians now support a crackdown on
militants who carry out attacks inside
Israel's pre-1967 borders; last May, 86 percent opposed any
effort to rein in the militants.
In the United States, a poll last month by Zogby International
showed remarkably similar views of American Jews and Arabs toward
the peace process and a two-state solution, as well as common
misperceptions of each other's commitment to a lasting, peaceful
settlement. This commonality of opinion
and the critical role of the United States
are not lost on Nusseibeh. Palestinians for Peace and Democracy,
a partner organization to the Popular Campaign for Peace and
Democracy, is being organized in the United States by Palestinian-American
peace activist Mohammed Alatar. The group is committed to the
Nusseibeh-Ayalon Agreement and has as its central principle
"to denounce violence,
promote peace and justice, security and respect for the human
dignity of all Palestinians and Israelis."
"We must put a human face on the Palestinian tragedy,"
Alatar said.
"At the same time, when I see bloodshed in Jerusalem,
it doesn't matter to
me whose blood it is."
Later this month, a group of Muslims, Christians and Jews from
the United States will travel to Jerusalem to meet with Peace
Now, kibbutz leaders and members of the Israeli teachers union,
as well as the
Popular Campaign for Peace and Democracy, Palestinian relief
organizations and a women's rights group.
Pessimists will dismiss the Nusseibeh-Ayalon Agreement as yet
another fruitless effort to achieve peace. The difference, this
time, is that a new group of Palestinian leaders is emerging
whose conception of peace and coexistence with Israel marks
a sharp break with the past. Those leaders, working with partners
in Israel and the United States, may be
able to make progress where failure have been the norm.
That their efforts should prove fruitful seems an appropriate
prayer for a time of year when the words "peace on Earth"
are often heard.
via Mary Schweitzer, Peace Now Israel (dec 2002) |
| back
to top |
| ©
Peace Now - UK |
|
 |
