New York, May 3, 2012—The International Engagement Program (IEP) launched a call to action last month, asking Americans to support OneVoice activists in Israel and Palestine by engaging their own politicians to revive the Arab Peace Initiative. ACT NOW.
Exactly 10 years ago, the 22 Arab League member states came together in Beirut to propose a peace plan to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Arab Peace Initiative offered a comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the normalization of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors. It represented an abrupt about-face, from the League's refusal to engage with Israel to the potential for a new era of regional stability and cooperation. While not an end-point for negotiations, the document sets a positive new starting point.
Unfortunately, Israel never accepted the Arab Peace Initiative as a basis for peace discussions.
The timing of the call to action coincides with parallel campaigns taking place in Palestine and Israel, both of which have the Arab Peace Initiative as their focal point.
Using social media, community programming and appeals to political leadership, OVI and OVP are mobilizing their communities around the regional peace plan. While OVI is raising awareness and demanding a response to this historic opportunity, OVP is using the revitalized discussion about the document to transform popular frustration into a unified call for the two-state solution.
The call to action, unveiled during IEP's recent Southern California tour, is designed to complement these campaigns, using social media to reinsert the Arab Peace Initiative into the American political parlance concerning the conflict. ACT NOW.
Americans are being asked to bombard the social media feeds on Twitter and Facebook of Members of Congress who exert influence on foreign affairs and hold a tremendous responsibility toward resolving the conflict.
Leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Subcommittees that focus on the Middle East are being targeted, using the hashtag #EndtheConflict.
Learn more about the Arab Peace Initiative and what you can do to support this historic document and break the deadlock here. UK supporters can also highlight the initiative to their Members of Parliament by visiting ACT NOW UK.
Twitter user @YonahLieberman fulfills the call to action, messaging Senator John Kerry to ask him to support the Arab Peace Initiative.
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