What conclusions can be drawn from the points of views expressed by the Israeli Prime Minister and American leaders in their respective speeches?
On May19th, President Obama has endorsed a solution “based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed exchanges of territories in order to establish secure and recognized borders for the two states”. A few days later, in a speech warmly applauded by the members of Congress, Netanyahu discarded the idea of a withdrawal on the 1967 lines, while explicitly accepting the principle of a Palestinian state coexisting next to Israel. So an inflexible antagonism remains but the Palestinian people as well as the international community have waited long enough for the two parties to sort things out and resume negotiations.
It is now necessary for the Israeli society to be mobilized
Since a possible unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by this autumn has been announced and the beginning of the Arab spring, the Israeli government has chosen to stay put rather than anticipate by contributing to the definition of the Middle East’s future. On the Palestinian side, uncertain attempts to bring together the powers in place in Gaza and in the West Bank as well as the tributes Hamas paid to Osama Ben Laden after his death did not encourage Israel to resume dialogue. In a way, this is understandable. Well aware that the American influence is not sufficient to help Israeli and Palestinian leaders out of the inextricable situation they find themselves in, it is now up to the Israeli society to change the situation. This is why JCall supports the Appeal for the “Recognition of a Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders in Israel’s best interest” published in Haaretz on May 19th by several eminent personalities among which 18 retired army generals and 27 “Israel Price” winners. Thanks to JCall, the Call for Reason of European Jews, this Appeal was published in several European newspapers.
First European Conference of JCall on June 19th
The first European Conference of JCall will take place in Paris on June 19th. It is a testimony of our mobilization in Europe. Through several workshops, we will try to answer these questions together: how will the Arab spring influence the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? How does the Israeli civil society react to the occupation? How should we react to the delegitimation of Israel, which is still vivid in Europe? What role can Europe play in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? France has just offered to organize a peace conference in order to give Palestinians and Israelis a last opportunity to negotiate an agreement. The stakes are now important. The urgency is considerable. Our mobilization in favor of peace and security for Israel must develop now, to match the stakes.
We’ll see you on June 19th in Paris. Make sure to register on line :
http://fr.amiando.com/jcall.html
Ivan Terel,
JCall Newsletter editor, Lawyer