The irrepressible Galit just called me from Jerusalem saying she's found a good billboard spot. So if we get 100,000 signatures by next week, we'll run billboards in Jerusalem calling on Israeli, Palestinian and Arab leaders to do just that: set the date for real negotiations.
If you haven't already done so, please add your name, then tell your friends!
Momentum is building at last for real Mideast talks - it's time for leaders to set the date, to sit down together and address the real issues (1967 lines, end of occupation, peace and security...)
We started our Real Middle East Talks Now campaign earlier this year with ads in Ha'aretz, al-Quds and the FT worldwide, then launched our Stop the Clash YouTube video with the same demand.
Today the Arab League is offering Israel peace across the region, international brokers are shuttling between the sides, UN resolutions sketch the shape of a deal, and Israeli and Palestinian majorities have said they support it.
So what's left? Just the political will to sit down and thrash out a few details. It's time for Israel to agree to talk on the basis of 1967 lines - and for Arabs and Palestinians to sit down with them for creative negotiations. We'll support whatever the sides can agree on, and opinion polls suggest that's a lot. But the leaders need to listen to their people, and negotiate in earnest.
Some of you emailed asking us to explain why, as we approach the 40th anniversary of occupation this summer, this is such a vital moment in this decades-old conflict. It's complicated, and each side has their own version. For a start you could read Bitterlemons.org, the big Palestinian-Israeli crossfire newsletter (where this week, contributors from both sides agree the Arab initiative is crucial, and Israel must engage). You might also take a look at the big Israeli newspaper editorial this week that calls on its government to respond and open talks, saying:
The stance of the Israeli government, as a skeptical observer, is unbecoming; an impasse in the region will result in bloodshed. Israel must initiate and also respond to initiatives, and participate in any format that is seeking to further a settlement and, above all, it is not entitled to remain passive and wait for the perfect peace initiative.
Recent articles by top Israeli columnist Akiva Eldar are also worth a read. For instance, the Arab initiative doesn't demand that every Palestinian refugee returns to the state of Israel or destroys it as a safe home for the Jewish people - it calls for "a just solution to the Palestinian Refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194", agreed between the sides.
I've been lucky enough to talk with Ziad Abu Amr whenever I've been to Gaza. Today he's the independent foreign minister of the new Palestinian unity government, and you know what? He wants to make peace, on the basis of UN resolutions and two states. We've talked with many senior Israelis who think the same. President Abbas has been given a full mandate to negotiate by his government - only Olmert remains to step up.
In 1967, after the Six Day War, Israel's founding father David Ben-Gurion called for complete withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories. As the 40th anniversary of occupation approaches, the end may be in sight. But that needs to mean borders based on 1967 lines - and we'll only get there through real talks. As informed reporters are saying, the chance has never been better.
So our next step is to put 100,000 voices on a billboard in Jerusalem urging leaders to set a date for full negotiations. It won't be easy - but together, we could do it!
Peace and justice,
Abbas,
Arab initiative,
Arab League,
billboards,
Israel,
Mecca,
middle east peace,
Olmert,
Palestine,
peace,
Riyadh,
Tzipi Livni,
Ziad Abu Amr,
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