Palestinians must start approaching the whole concept of communications in a broader more comprehensive way, instead of always focusing on writing Op-Eds, letters in anger or argument "against" something.

Many voices of peace from Israeli are not often disseminated to Palestinian audiences, or that are circulated only among the small informal "dialogue groups" -- which sometimes achieve only limited results. Dialogue groups must have long range visions that lead to activism and community awareness.

Creating a new organization called SALAM AL-ANN! (Palestinians for Peace Now) is essential to achieving a viable Palestinian State.

Our agenda is very simple and clear. We do not negotiate peace, but we do advocate for peace and compromise and the following issues (generally expressed below): 

• Call for an independent Palestinian state with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and most of East Jerusalem (or in a shared Jerusalem). This means a Palestinian State that is viable and includes most of the land -- with only minor modifications made through land-for-land swaps. We need a movement to define exactly what we are expecting because clearly, Israelis are not hearing us.
  
  
• Recognize Israel's sovereignty and security generally within the 1967 borders (some minor changes based on negotiations). This means accepting Israel as a Jewish State and saying it the way they need to hear it. We support a two-state solution, one Jewish and one Palestinian, both secure, sovereign and in borders defined pre-1967.
   
• Support of the PRINCIPLE of the Palestinian Right of Return, but recognize that clarity for both sides must be realized.  Israelis and Palestinians should accept that some refugees are expected to be allowed to return to former homes or lands in Israel. 
  
  It is not possible, not realistic to expect all Palestinians will return.  Some have established lives in other countries. But, we ask that Israel recognize its responsibilities to compensate the refugees and consider all family reunification seriously.  
  
  We insist that Israel recognize its responsibility for causing the refugee problem and make every effort to work to compensate the refugees for the homes and lands that they lost.  We would support similar demands made by Jews who fled Arab countries in the same manner.
   
• Jerusalem -- a negotiated agreement that either results in sharing or Palestinian sovereignty in those areas of East Jerusalem that are not Jewish (the Wailing Wall plaza and Jewish sectors of East Jerusalem should rightly belong to the Israelis). Decided through negotiations.
   
• A complete removal and dismantling of all settlements in the West Bank, Gaza Strip.
   
• The negotiated status of certain settlements in or around Jerusalem that have been annexed into Israel (such as Ariel and Gilo, a settlement originally created as a security post that has since become a "Jerusalem neighborhood). The status of these settlements should be determined by negotiations and discussions and their futures based on equal land trades.
   
• A firm stand against all forms of violence, but specifically by being responsible for those forms of violence that come from our community, specifically and clear, separate denunciation of violence by Palestinians against Israel. Why make this demand? Because we are responsible for ourselves. We cannot demand that Israel's government stop the violence against Palestinians if we do not first demand that we stop the violence against Israelis. This is a moral position we must accept and does not undermine our right to demand forcefully that Israel's government end its violence against Palestinians.
   
• A call for Palestinians and Israelis to return to the formal negotiation process. To build a strong voice by both sides demanding that the representatives of both sides go back to the table and negotiate.
   
• A call for both sides to bring the volume of anger and hatred down to a level that replaces emotion with reasoned and positive-intended passion. We can argue and we can disagree, but we don't need to hate.

These are very simple concepts (expressed in general terms to convey the intent only) that must form the basis of a Palestinian effort in support of peace. We can fine-tune them through discussion.

If you believe - really believe in compromise with Israel based on land-for-peace and the goal of a two-state solution, they you will support us. Agreeing to recognize Israel does not mean that we have to give up our souls, or our individual views of history. But it does mean that we look ahead, not backwards, and find a way to end the conflict based on compromise not violence, hatred or rejection of what is right and moral.

Please circulate these principles and help us build

 

---

Salam al-Ann was formerly called Yalla Salam!

Buy Palestinians for Peace Now products ... Go There?

SOME LINKS

The Movement for a Tolerant World