Joint Discussion with Foremost Dignitaries at the World Economic Forum
OneVoice Debuts Imagine 2018 Campaign: Finalists Chosen to Participate in Ground-Breaking Session on Critical Taboo Issues in Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations Process
Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt / May 19, 2008 / This afternoon, in an interactive 'WorkSpace' Session with some of the world's foremost dignitaries and business leaders - including Tony Blair, Amre Moussa, Saeb Erekat, MK Yossi Beilin, and Rabbi David Rosen - four young students - two Israeli, two Palestinian - will lead a discussion on their visions for the future of the region, and on the taboo issues that often impede the negotiations process from moving forward. The Palestinian students are finalists in the OneVoice Movement's Imagine: 2018 (www.imagine2018.org) campaign – an unprecedented national essay contest run by OneVoice in separate partnerships with the Israeli and Palestinian Ministries of Education. The contest calls on students to envision what the year 2018 would look like if Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas were to sign a peace agreement this year. The contest in Palestine has already concluded, receiving over 2,000 final submissions. The Israeli contest will close in June.
“Two of the greatest stumbling blocks toward building support for the negotiations process at the grassroots level and for making progress at the negotiations table at the top-level are taboos – the issues that cannot be openly discussed within the two societies – and an inability to visualize the ways that a peace agreement would benefit peoples’ everyday lives,” said Daniel Lubetzky, the OneVoice Movement’s Founder. “People need to be able to imagine what an end to the conflict would look like, in order to be able to work for it, and they need to be able to talk about hard issues in order to prepare for working solutions.”
Immediately preceding the session, contest winners along with OneVoice staff and dignitaries including Tony Blair will take questions from the press.
About the “Building Peace, Breaking Taboos” Workspace: As Israeli and Palestinian negotiators struggle to move post Annapolis, the core stumbling blocks to progress are becoming increasingly obvious. Many of these blocks are linked to taboos on each side—that which cannot be said or done openly. This session, or “workspace”, examined the consequences of a failure of the Annapolis process, and considered new approaches that break taboos and challenge the established wisdom of how to build a lasting agreement.
“This is a very important opportunity for me, as a Palestinian – to write about my visions of a Palestine that is independent, free, and at peace with all its neighbours, and even more importantly, to talk about that vision with the leaders of the region and of the world,” said Christina Samir Odeh Yousef, age 14, one of the Palestinian essayists who is attending the WEF.
Smadar Cohen, age 24 and a youth leader working with OneVoice Israel, agreed. “As an Israeli it is also important to talk about our dreams for Israel’s future – about a day when Israel is safe to live in, and a day when Israelis can work with Syrians, Jordanians, Iraqis, Palestinians – all the people of the region – in an open and peaceful way to promote common interests.”
Imagine: 2018 (www.imagine2018.org) is an essay contest designed to enable people to envision some of the tangible benefits that would come from a peace agreement. It is being rolled out in two phases: The 2018 Essay Contest and the 2018: Director’s Cut. Thousands of essays were submitted for the Palestinian and Israeli contests. All of the winners will be announced by June 10, 2008. Ten of the most compelling essays will then be turned into short films directed by some of the world’s foremost directors, including Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) and Danny DeVito. The short films will be weaved into a one hour documentary and shown in the region, as well is in regional and international film festivals.
About the OneVoice Movement:
The OneVoice Movement is an international mainstream grassroots movement with over 600,000 signatories in roughly equal numbers both in Israel and in Palestine, and 1,280 highly-trained youth leaders. It aims to amplify the voice of the overwhelming but heretofore silent majority of moderates who wish for peace and prosperity, empowering them to demand accountability from elected representatives and work toward a two-state solution guaranteeing an end to occupation and violence, and a viable, independent Palestinian state at peace with Israel. OneVoice counts on its Board over 60 foremost dignitaries and business leaders across a wide spectrum of politics and beliefs, joining as OneVoice for conflict resolution. Learn more by visiting www.OneMillionVoices.org
