Nothing in the horizon seems to hold the key to a lasting peace, despite unusually loud rhetoric surrounding the latest two peace initiatives, the Geneva Accord and the Nusseibeh-Ayalon Statement. Sam Bahour and Michael Dahan say that if their two peoples and official representatives cannot sign on to this 98-word declaration (only 31 words more than the Balfour Declaration of 1917), then it is irrelevant to hide behind volumes of peace initiatives and accords that no one will read but the majority will oppose. Read more about The Jerusalem Declaration
Recently, Palestinian farmers living in proximity to Israel’s Separation Wall received an order signed by Major General Moshe Kaplinski, commander of Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, declaring that their lands lying between the barrier and the border with Israel had been classified as “a closed military zone”. Henceforth, the order stated, only Israeli citizens and Jews from other countries would have unrestricted access to these lands. Palestinians who wished to enter or continue living in these areas would have to apply for special permits. Michael Shaik comments. Read more about Time is on whose side?
The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, initiated through aggressive military campaigns in 1948 and 1967, has been consolidated and standardised through a continuous and ongoing assault on the very environment of Palestine. The Israeli grip on the Palestinian Territories has been ensured through a paradoxical “violence of construction.” Read more about The Violence of Construction: Israel's Wall and International Law
Representing no official body, Palestinians close to the PA and members of the Israeli left have signed a detailed plan for a peace agreement. Switzerland financed the exercise, whose result is known as the Geneva Accord. The chief figure on the Israeli side is Yossi Beilin, formerly a central leader in the Labor Party and an architect of the Oslo Accords. His Palestinian counterpart is Yasser Abed Rabo, the PA’s former Minister of Information. The new accord places before the two peoples, for the first time, an idea of the approximate price that each would have to pay in order to gain a peace agreement that the other might perhaps someday be persuaded to live with. As to the Accord itself, we shall focus on two questions. How far exactly are the signers willing to go? How relevant is the document? The following editorial is reprinted from the current edition of Challenge magazine. Read more about The Geneva Accord: Beyond Time and Space
The Road Map is in tatters, and not by accident. It is business as usual for the most right wing government in Israel’s history. Business is building, and building is booming.For many months now, before and after the launch of the Road Map, land has been confiscated and homes and agricultural land levelled for the construction of the “separation” wall along the north of the West Bank. People are being separated from their land and each other, greenhouses and crops have been destroyed and towns and villages are being encircled by the wall as it snakes through the West Bank annexing land to Israel. Anwar Darkazally contributed this piece to EI. Read more about Building to destroy: The 'separation' wall and the future of Palestine
It is astonishing how little the Palestinian leadership learns from its past mistakes? asks regular EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah. The so-called “Geneva Accord” — an unofficial document agreed upon by former Israeli officials and Palestinians linked with the Palestinian Authority — is a new blunder that will do enormous harm to the Palestinian position, while doing nothing to extricate the Palestinian leadership from its sinking state. Abu Nimah looks at some the agreement in detail and looks at its provisions on key issues like land and refugees. Read more about Geneva Accord: Why can't the PA learn from its mistakes?
Because of the Oslo process, the basis for a viable and minimally fair two-state solution has been completely destroyed. The Israeli “peace camp” and the Palestinian leadership ought to have learned from the calamities they helped bring about and changed their ways. The so-called “Geneva Accord,” an informal agreement prepared by Israelis, led by former Labor Justice Minister Yossi Beilin and other Oslo-era luminaries, and Palestinians close to Yasser Arafat, demonstrates a determination to repeat the tragic errors of the past. EI’s Ali Abunimah explains. Read more about A disastrous dead end: the Geneva Accord
“What is desperately needed in the US, as a new presidential race heats up, is an intifada against impunity at home and abroad. Such a campaign could benefit progressives in the U.S. as they gear up for the elections. Progressives must seriously, critically, and courageously begin to engage with others in discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its roots in a brutal and dehumanizing occupation that no democracy should be dirtying its hands supporting.” Electronic Intifada co-founder Laurie King-Irani looks at the mobilizing role of justice in global and local campaigns for political change. Read more about Wanted: A US intifada against impunity at home and abroad
In a recent visit to Luxembourg, Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher voiced his grave concern over the fading promise of a Palestinian-Israeli settlement, based on two-state solution. What he said sounds more like a recognition of a harsh reality than what may otherwise be viewed as a warning to avoid the worst. Warnings of this kind were heard before, from prominent Arabs, Israelis and others. They were hardly heeded, or even taken seriously. Most of us assumed that such warnings were no more than good efforts to expose the dangers of Israeli procrastination, with the positive intent of urging parties to work harder for peace. Read more about One State: threat or promise of peace?
Peace in Palestine through territorial partition is a doomed fantasy and the time has come to discard it, writes EI co-founder Ali Abunimah. It is the moment, therefore, for us to declare the era of partition over and commit to a moral, just and realisable vision in which Israelis and Palestinians build a future as partners in a single state which guarantees freedom, equality and cultural self-determination to all its citizens. Read more about Palestine/Israel: One state for all its citizens
