Sabbah Report » The Elders

The Elders: We need peace in the Middle East, not just process

Haitham Sabbah — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:58:54 +0000

Israeli-Palestinian negotiations must be grounded in international law and human rights – define borders and address security issues first.

13 December 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For nearly two decades, there have been peace processes in the Middle East but no peace. In our recent visits to four countries across the region and the occupied Palestinian territory, we heard a consistent message: people want peace, but are sceptical about the process and have little faith in the international community to deliver.

There is now an opportunity to reassess the entire approach to the negotiations. The flawed U.S. effort to secure from Israel another partial freeze on settlement-building, in exchange for generous inducements, as a way of resuming direct talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders has failed.

We now urge a renewed effort, firmly based on international law and respect for human rights, aimed at defining boundaries between Israel and a new Palestinian state and addressing security issues, without neglecting the other issues at the core of the conflict. Without such focus, we may see the possibility of a two-state solution slipping even further away.

Our primary purpose is to help bring peace and security to Israel and its neighbours.

We therefore call on governments and citizens around the world to insist that future negotiations are based on the following:

Universal human rights and respect for international humanitarian law must apply equally to all.
The occupation must end, and the aim of negotiations should be to define the boundaries of a future Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, including its capital in East Jerusalem. Such an accord could entail, if agreed, a one-to-one land swap to allow for minor adjustments. Initial negotiations should also aim at security arrangements in which both Israelis and Palestinians have confidence.
The remaining final status issues can be addressed more effectively once there is an agreement on borders and security.
Israeli settlements are illegal and all settlement activity must halt throughout the occupied Palestinian territory including in East Jerusalem.
Israel must lift its illegal and inhumane blockade of Gaza and stop the demolition and seizure of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza must end all human rights violations against political critics and rivals.
Israel's right to exist must not be denied. Incitement and calls for the destruction of Israel must not be tolerated.
The Arab Peace Initiative must serve as the basis for normalisation of relations between Israel and the Arab world.

Towards a two-state solution and regional peace

Israelis and Palestinians must ultimately agree to a solution, but they cannot do it alone.

The international community must help them reach that agreement through fair and robust mediation and by reconfirming prior agreements, UN Security Council resolutions, international law and human rights principles.

Citizens must step up pressure on their leaders.

As Elders, we will do all we can to persuade governments around the world to apply a rights-based approach to this terrible conflict and to turn the focus of initial negotiations to border and security issues.

We have already given our support to non-violent protest and creative civil action for peace. We will continue to do so – in person when we can and in spirit when we cannot.

Without a strategy that can deliver a peace agreement based on a two-state solution, Palestinians will continue to live under Israeli occupation, millions of Palestinian refugees will continue to live without hope and Israel’s survival and security remain under threat. If there is no real progress, more violence is the likely outcome.

Our greatest wish is that the Middle East will achieve lasting peace, stability and prosperity for all its people.

More information:
Read the report from the Elders's 2010 visit to the Middle East.
Read posts from the Elders, as well as those affected by the conflict, on the Elders' Middle East blog.
Following their trip to the Middle East, the Elders asked supporters to send in questions about the conflict. Their video responses were published on the Elders' YouTube Channel.

About The Elders

The Elders are an independent group of global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007, who offer their collective influence and experience to support peace- building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity.

The Elders are Martti Ahtisaari, Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Lakhdar Brahimi, Gro Brundtland, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Jimmy Carter, Graça Machel, Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu (Chair). Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi are honorary Elders.

Website: www.theElders.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/theElders
Twitter: www.twitter.com/theElders

Contact:

media@theElders.org

Desmond Tutu Letter to Bil’in

Haitham Sabbah — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 13:17:32 +0000

Message by Desmond Tutu on behalf of The Elders On the Occasion of the Fifth Annual Bil'in Conference on Popular Resistance.

Dear Friends,

On behalf of the Elders, I send warm greetings to all of you attending the Bil'in Fifth Annual Conference on Popular Resistance. We are sorry that we could not be with you in person but we want you to know that we are very much with you in spirit.

During our visit to Bil'in last August, many of the Elders saw first-hand the incredible actions the residents of Bil'in - together with committed Israeli and international activists- are taking to resist the Wall and settlements. For five years now, you have continued your struggle against the de-facto annexation of more than 50 per cent of Bil'in's farmlands and the construction of the Wall that separates the village from the burgeoning Modi'in Illit settlement. The weekly non-violent demonstrations in Bil'in have become an international symbol of the Palestinian popular struggle against occupation and separation. And rightly so. Together with the progressive political actions employed in other villages in the West Bank, you are showing the world that ordinary people can help bring about positive change through non-violent resistance.

The Elders join you in celebrating the victory achieved at the Israeli High Court of Justice which has now resulted in the beginning stages of the Wall moving to its new location – a move that will return over 600,000 square metres to the village. While we welcome this important success, we recognize that the new wall will, however, continue to cut the village off from approximately 25 per cent of its land, on which the illegal Israeli settlement Modi'in Illit stands. Bil'in's popular struggle must continue until ALL of the village's land and its olive trees are returned to its people.

Efforts to stifle the demonstrations will not serve the cause of peace. The recent Israeli military order declaring a large area around the Wall in Bil'in a closed military zone every Friday for the coming six months is clearly a blatant attempt to prevent Israelis and internationals from standing in solidarity with their Palestinian partners for peace. It is also a direct attack on freedom of speech, the right to demonstrate, and every person's right to resist policies that violate international law and common notions of morality. We urge the Israeli authorities to cancel this order and to allow the protests to continue peacefully.

When we were in Bil'in we were able to visit the memorial site of Bassem Abu Rahma who was killed while peacefully demonstrating at the Wall. Despite the demands of his family, his supporters and his lawyers, the Israeli Military Advocate General has decided not to open a military investigation into the possibility that his death was caused by the illegal use of a high velocity tear gas canister. We are deeply troubled by this recent decision and call on the Israeli military authorities to reconsider this verdict and investigate the circumstances of Bassem's death.

We continue to also be deeply concerned about the ongoing detention of Adib Abu Rahma and Abdullah Abu Rahma. These two Bil'in residents, who regularly attended the demonstrations and consistently practiced non-violence, remain in custody awaiting trial, after nearly 10 and 4 months, respectively. We call on the Israeli authorities to release them until such time as a fair trial is held, considering all the evidence.

We want to tell you that we are with you. Don't give up. The spirit of those that fight for freedom and justice cannot be broken. Peace is possible. We look forward to the day when we will celebrate freedom and security for Palestinians and Israelis and there are no longer any walls.

God bless you.

Sam Bahour – The Elders’ next move

Sam Bahour — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:58:44 +0000

Desmond Tutu, center, placed a stone on a grave in Bilin, site of weekly protests against the Israeli barrier. With him, from left: Gro Brundtland, Jimmy Carter, Ela Bhatt and Abdallah Abu Rahmah. Photo: Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times

By Sam Bahour*

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- At long last, a spotlight is shining on Palestinian nonviolent efforts to throw off the Israeli occupation. A visit by a group of high profile "Elders" last month to the Palestinian village of Bil'in in the West Bank, and the barrier running through it, bathed our landscape in a moral clarity that is too rarely seen by the outside world. Each of the Elders is a powerful moral authority and includes figures like former President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former President Mary Robinson of Ireland.

One after another, they reiterated that our destiny as Palestinians and Israelis is to live together in mutual respect, as equals. The Elders' online forum, via satellite, with Palestinians and Israelis from Jerusalem, Gaza, Tel Aviv and Ramallah, was a sign of their determination to build bridges between people - despite the walls, checkpoints and laws that Israel has deployed to separate Palestinians and Israelis. Perhaps the time has come for the Elders to take the next step and endorse a measure that might just bring an end to the 42 years of Israeli occupation. It is one of the most powerful measures in the arsenal of nonviolent weapons: the boycott.

The boycotts, divestment and sanctions campaign is a global movement calling on international civil society organizations and individuals all over the world to impose boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel as long as it refuses to remove the boot of military occupation from the necks of Palestinians.

It is clear that Palestinians cannot come to the negotiating table as fully empowered equals to discuss their future while their present is being stripped out from under them by settlement building. I am encouraged by President Obama's insistence that Israel freeze settlement activity, but nevertheless remain concerned that he will cave in to pressure to relax his position. Without support from the Obama administration, Palestinians will need a massive international movement on their behalf.

An international boycott could provide just that. It has been used effectively by nonviolent movements across the world. Similar campaigns have worked, from the beaches of India to the buses of Montgomery to the vineyards of California.

Palestinians, in fact, have a history of nonviolent resistance to Israeli occupation. Mubarak Awad led the way with his Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence until Israel deported him. In the last few years, villagers in Bil'in and Ni'ilin have been holding weekly protests of Israel's separation wall. In fact, the latter campaign has been a source of encouragement not only because of the villagers' perseverance, but because they have been joined by Israeli Jews who take a central role in the protest activities.

These nonviolent activists are not alone. The dual system of law imposed by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza is generating the same sort of moral outrage that led millions to support a boycott against the apartheid government in South Africa. Crucially, courageous Israeli journalists are speaking out along with Professor Neve Gordon of Ben Gurion University, who recently wrote in the Los Angeles Times that "(p)utting massive international pressure on Israel is the only way to guarantee that the next generation of Israelis and Palestinians - my two boys included - does not grow up in an apartheid regime."

I know many Palestinian parents who would like nothing more than for their children to be able to play with the Gordon children as equals.

The Elders could do enormous good by speaking with the governments that supply Israel with armaments used to batter Palestinians in violation of international law. They have the moral integrity to remind politicians in Israel, and across the globe, of their obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention. An endorsement by the Elders could also give impetus to the Palestinian leadership to embrace a full-fledged commitment to a sustained nonviolent strategy.

There is nothing inactive about nonviolence. It takes physical, mental and spiritual courage. An endorsement by the Elders might just jolt the world and highlight already existing nonviolent actions against the occupation.

* Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American businessman from Youngstown, Ohio, who lives in the West Bank and met the Elders during their August trip to the Middle East. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service. Readers may send him e-mail at cgnews@sfcg.org.