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Editor's Note: The following statement was issued by participants in the July 2007 Madrid meeting on a one-state solution and the November 2007 London Conference. For decades, efforts to bring about a two-state solution in historic Palestine have failed to provide justice and peace for the Palestinian and Israeli Jewish peoples, or to offer a genuine process leading towards them. The two-state solution ignores the physical and political realities on the ground, and presumes a false parity in power and moral claims between a colonized and occupied people on the one hand and a colonizing state and military occupier on the other. It is predicated on the unjust premise that peace can be achieved by granting limited national rights to Palestinians living in the areas occupied in 1967, while denying the rights of Palestinians inside the 1948 borders and in the Diaspora. Thus, the two-state solution condemns Palestinian citizens of Israel to permanent second-class status within their homeland, in a racist state that denies their rights by enacting laws that privilege Jews constitutionally, legally, politically, socially and culturally. Moreover, the two-state solution denies Palestinian refugees their internationally recognized right of return. The two-state solution entrenches and formalizes a policy of unequal separation on a land that has become ever more integrated territorially and economically. All the international efforts to implement a two-state solution cannot conceal the fact that a Palestinian state is not viable, and that Palestinian and Israeli Jewish independence in separate states cannot resolve fundamental injustices, the acknowledgment and redress of which are at the core of any just solution. In light of these stark realities, we affirm our commitment to a democratic solution that will offer a just, and thus enduring, peace in a single state based on the following principles:
The struggle for justice and liberation must be accompanied by a clear, compelling and moral vision of the destination -- a solution in which all people who share a belief in equality can see a future for themselves and others. We call for the widest possible discussion, research and action to advance a unitary, democratic solution and bring it to fruition. Madrid and London, 2007 Authored By: Ali Abunimah, Chicago Naseer Aruri, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts Omar Barghouti, Jerusalem Oren Ben-Dor, London George Bisharat, San Francisco Haim Bresheeth, London Jonathan Cook, Nazareth Ghazi Falah, Akron, Ohio Leila Farsakh, Boston Islah Jad, Ramallah Joseph Massad, New York Ilan Pappe, Totnes, UK Carlos Prieto del Campo, Madrid Nadim Rouhana, Haifa The London One State Group Endorsed By: Nahla Abdo, Ottawa Rabab Abdul Hadi, San Francisco Suleiman Abu-Sharkh, Southampton, UK Tariq Ali, London Samir Amin, Dakar Gabriel Ash, Geneva, Switzerland Mona Baker, Manchester, UK James Bowen, Cork, Ireland Daniel Boyarin, Berkeley Lenni Brenner, New York City Eitan Bronstein, Tel Aviv Michael Chanan, London Lawrence Davidson, West Chester, Pennsylvania Uri Davis, Sakhnin Raymond Deane, Dublin Angelo D'Orsi, Turin Haidar Eid, Gaza Samera Esmeir, Berkeley Claudine Faehndrich, Neuchatel, Switzerland Arjan El Fassed, Utrecht As'ad Ghanem, Haifa Jess Ghannam, San Francisco Ramon Grosfoguel, Berkeley Laila al-Haddad, Gaza Haifa Hammami, London Alan Hart, Canterbury Jamil Hilal, Ramallah Isabelle Humphries, Cambridge, UK Salma Jayyusi, Boston Claudia Karas, Frankfurt Ghada Karmi, London Hazem Kawasmi, Ramallah Joel Kovel, New York City Ronit Lentin, Dublin, Ireland Malcolm Levitt, Southampton, UK Yosefa Loshitzky, London Saree Makdisi, Los Angeles Nur Masalha, London Ugo Mattei, Turin Sabine Matthes, Munich Walter Mignolo, Raleigh-Durham Yonat Nitzan-Green, Winchester, UK Gian Paolo Calchi Novati, Pavia, Italy Kathleen O'Connell, Belfast Rajaa Zoa'bi O'mari, Haifa One Democratic State Group, Gaza Gabriel Piterberg, Los Angeles Claudia Prestel, Leicester Mazin Qumsiyeh, New Haven Michael Rosen, London Emir Sader, Buenos Aires/Rio de Janeiro Guenter Schenk, Strasbourg Jules Townshend, Manchester, UK Danilo Zolo, Florence Each individual has authored/endorsed this statement in a personal capacity. Download statement in different languages [PDF] Related Links
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