OneVoice Movement

OneVoice Europe’s Outreach and Education tour brings new insights to historic places

OVI youth leader Leeba Gilad, center, explains the importance of women's roles in peacemaking to the Bristol Women's Interfaith Network community event on October 17.

London, October 26, 2012 – Stonehenge. Roman baths. Ancient castles. The Southwest of England is known for historical sites and beautiful vistas, but from October 18-24, this region of England was also known to host discussions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the importance of the two-state solution.

OneVoice Palestine’s Malaka Samara and OneVoice Israel’s Leeba Gilad engaged nearly 400 audience members in OneVoice Europe’s first Outreach and Education Program (O&E) of the academic year.

This was the first foray into the southwest of the country, with a focus on schools, universities, and community groups in Exeter, Taunton, and Bristol. Somerset and London were also stops on the five-day tour.

Both Malaka and Leeba focused their message on encouraging people to be pro-solution and pro-justice, rather than supporting one side over the other.

“I…learned that we must continue our work,” Leeba said of the tour as a whole, “because a lot of people care about this region.”

Four school sessions dotted the week in the southwest, reaching 230 students between the ages of 14 and 18. The students left the programs impressed and mindful of what they knew about the conflict before, and what insights Malaka and Leeba gave them after the sessions ended.

“We felt there has to be two states if the needs of both Israelis and Palestinians are to be met,” said one student at Exeter School after group discussions. "I hadn’t thought about conflict in this way before.”

Reaching young people with conflict resolution tools and equipping them with the awareness of an issue like Israel-Palestine before they go on to university is a central part of O&E, according to Sharon Alsoodani, director of the program.

At Taunton, a town home to a number of old, established religious sites, the youth leaders met with members of Temple Methodist Church. Over 50 people came out on a rainy evening to discuss with Malaka and Leeba about making a breakthrough for peace, leaving the parishioners “full of hope” and with “a way that British people can truly support ordinary Israelis and Palestinians.”

Next on the tour was the City of Bristol, which provided the backdrop to a number of interreligious assemblies during the O&E tour. In particular, a women’s interfaith event proved to be very diverse and fruitful, sparking a partnership with Salaam-Shalom Radio, Bristol Women’s Network, and Bristol Multi-faith Forum.

Malaka emphasised the efforts of OneVoice in small towns like Qalqilia in the West Bank to empower women and get them more involved in political life.

“Women’s role as mothers means that they have a unique perspective to bring to the discussion about the peace process,” she said.

Two student events at Bristol University and a session about peace activism at the Quakers’ ‘Called to be a Peacemaker’ conference in London rounded out the tour, bringing total participation in the tour to nearly 400 people.

Throughout the week, Malaka and Leeba shared the same vision and goal to break the status-quo in both their societies. They called for a settlement freeze and ending all claims after solving all final status issues according to international resolutions, along with a cessation of the occupation and an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.

“The youth leaders demonstrated what can be achieved when those with opposing perspectives on a situation unite behind a future that can fulfil the core needs and aspirations of all those involved through non-violent means,” Sharon concluded.

Malaka Samara, of OVP, emphasizes to students at the Kings College School in Taunton the importance of understanding Palestinians' interests when seeking a solution.

Take a look at this short video of Leeba, Malaka, and O&E Director Sharon Alsoodani at Temple Methodist Church in Taunton.

 

 

In Gaza, putting Palestine back on the map

OVP/Gaza's first volunteer group after completing a seminar on establishing and working within a team.

New York, October 24, 2012—Roughly two dozen twentysomethings, split evenly between men and women, gathered earlier this month at the Adam Center for Dialogue of Civilizations in Gaza City's Al-Rimal neighborhood for OneVoice Palestine's leadership development pilot program in Gaza.

The nondescript conference room in Al-Johara Tower was buzzing with chatter. The participants, handpicked by OneVoice's Gaza Director Ezzeldin Masri, differed in background, education, and politics, but shared a belief in the two-state solution. In coordination with the Adam Center, and other local civil society organizations such as Save Youth Future, OneVoice Palestine planned an intensive 36-hour training program in leadership skills and teamwork.

"Over the next couple of weeks, we're hoping to solidify these participants into the first OneVoice volunteer group in Gaza," said Masri enthusiastically. "Then, we'll support them in designing and implementing initiatives across Gaza." Their focus will be on ending the internal division in order to present a united front in negotiations with Israel.

"We cannot have 20 factions each trying to impose their vision on the people," explained Masri. "We need national consensus on how to end the occupation and the conflict, and the only pragmatic solution is the two-state solution. We must come to terms with Israel to put Palestine back on the map."

Imad al-Falouji, head of the Adam Center, joined Masri for the introductory session to the trainings, spoke about pursuing a non-violent political course to achieve an independent Palestinian state, based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and answered questions about the Fatah-Hamas split and the power of the grassroots to effect positive change. The participants, many of them university graduates without job prospects in Gaza's crippled economy, agreed to start the program on October 11, eager to make an impact in their communities. 

Since reopening the Gaza office in late 2011, Masri led 15 informal sessions about OneVoice's mission and work, reaching a total of 350 young people. "My goal throughout," he said, "was to train young Palestinians to become moderate political leaders supportive of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a negotiated two-state solution."

While the challenges of operating under a government opposed to the two-state solution remained, successfully recruiting a core group of participants meant Masri had overcome a major hurdle. It left him confident that there was indeed space for OneVoice Palestine to operate in Gaza and as he stated, "move forward."

The Threat of the Unchanged Middle East

*By Darya Shaikh

On Monday night, millions of Americans sat down in front of their televisions and watched the two U.S. presidential candidates go head to head for the very last time before Election Day. President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney faced off on foreign policy issues ranging from Iran and Libya to Afghanistan and China.

They spoke at length about 'the changing Middle East' and the threat it poses to the world. Yet despite overtures about strong leadership and upholding principles of peace, both candidates seemed to forget that one of the biggest threats in the Middle East today actually stems from the lack of change, that being the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Aside from a fleeting reference to the conflict, which you may have missed, neither candidate laid out concrete steps that could help get the Israeli and Palestinian peace process back on track. Neither the President nor Governor Romney seem to think that delivering a comprehensive and just two-state solution to the conflict is a U.S. priority.

The current stalemate and toxic status quo endangers not only the futures of the Israeli and Palestinian people but should be a grave concern to all of us, as Americans. Ending the conflict is -- as successive presidents have consistently affirmed -- a vital American national interest. Middle East stability is jeopardized by the ongoing conflict, and this affects a broad swath of U.S. political priorities, placing national security and the recovering economy in danger.

The American leadership, whomever is at the helm, has to be accountable to the thousands of Israelis and Palestinians who are waging peace every day. As the conflict continues to be used as a political football, tossed around by both parties in order to gain votes, it consequently grows increasingly disconnected from the voices and interests of Israelis and Palestinians, who are calling for strong American leadership to push the parties to take the necessary steps that will enable a return to serious negotiations, ending the conflict once and for all and ensuring a better future for millions.

There is so much unknown about the changing landscape of the region. However, what we do know is that every day that goes by without a two-state solution makes it harder and harder to achieve. The American government has been the broker of negotiations for decades. As such, it retains a moral imperative to serve as an honest, unwavering mediator, despite the current diplomatic challenges, which deserve not be minimized.

Ending the occupation and achieving the two-state solution based on the 1967 lines, in accordance with international resolutions and previous bilateral agreements, is the only viable, mutually acceptable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is the only solution that fulfills the national aspirations of both peoples by establishing an independent Palestinian state at peace with the State of Israel. This is a policy of vital interest to Israelis and Palestinians, as well as to Americans. Unfortunately, as negative facts continue to grow on the ground, we are witnessing the rapidly growing distance between the reality of the present, and the ideal of peace.

As American citizens, we have a responsibility too. We have a role to play in making sure that we close this divide. We need to tell whoever is elected that achieving the two-state solution must be a foreign policy priority. An excellent way to do this is by signing the petition that the OneVoice Movement's American network initiated. OneVoice is grassroots undertaking working in parallel in Israel and Palestine to build political and grassroots civic capacity to bring both parties back to the table and ensure a viable, effective negotiations process with clear terms of reference and a limited timeframe that will fulfill the national aspirations of both peoples. This petition crystalizes that work and asks Americans to get behind it.

OneVoice's Israeli activists recognize their role and mobilize in a different city each week, bringing residents and local politicians together to promote the two-state solution and countering the agenda of expanding settlements in the West Bank by calling for a settlement freeze. OneVoice's Palestinian activists embrace their role by leading community initiatives to transform frustration and hopelessness through non-violent activism. OneVoice Palestine pushes for national reconciliation and a two-state solution that ends the occupation, resolves all final status issues based on international resolutions, establishes an independent Palestinian state, and ends all claims.

Through this petition in the U.S., we can amplify the calls of OneVoice Israel for a settlement freeze and of OneVoice Palestine for a final status agreement that ends all claims, demanding that the American leadership -- whether Republican or Democrat -- commits itself to pushing this process forward.

We cannot substitute political rhetoric for effective policy towards conflict resolution in Israel and Palestine. We must seize back this conversation today so that President Obama and Governor Romney know that the majority of Israelis, Palestinians and Americans will not settle for anything less than real American leadership toward a just and lasting peace.

*Darya Shaikh is acting CEO of the OneVoice Movement. Her blog was originally published on The Huffington Post: http://huff.to/SiDBKH.

Learning from the Past: Former Gush Katif Settlers Talk Future Evacuation

OVI activists Tom Bar-Gal, left, and Liran Naet, center, discuss future evacuations with former Gush Katif settler, Avi Farhan.

On a beach near Kibbutz Neve Yam, not too far from Haifa, we sat together - OneVoice activists and a group of former residents of the Gush Katif settlements – at the home of the Farhan Family on October 17.

We went there with some trepidation, but we were mostly curious about the meeting. Before that evening, we barely knew anyone from the Gush Katif settlements, and the motivation to know them and converse with them was very high. As we arrived, the families welcomed us with warmth and kindness, but with a little fear, similar to what we felt. After waiting a few minutes with the rest of the locals, the meeting started.

As a Movement that promotes the two-state solution, we believe that the evacuation of settlements is an inherent part of the process. Because of that, we wanted to better understand the significance of the evacuation for these people, who refer to themselves as being “thrown out” of their houses. The stories of the families varied: there was nostalgia and longing for the lives they used to have, memories of good relationships they had with their Arab neighbors in the southern part of Gaza, and frustration and disappointment due to the lack of support from the government post-evacuation.

As we expected, we found a large variety of opinions and positions about the essential issues surrounding a possible solution among the former residents of Gush Katif. Some of them suggested living under a Palestinian government outside of the borders of Israel, while others strongly disagreed with retreating from any territory and did not believe that any agreement involving compromise is possible. But most of all, we found an eclectic group of people, whose largest concern was the fear of being hurt again by another evacuation.

Although there were obvious disagreements about the “right way” to go about this, it was noticeable that we all care for and are concerned about the future of the country and the well-being of each other. Eventually, we separated not as partners or as rivals, but as equals looking for a way to end the conflict and curious about meeting again and getting to know each other better.

I had three main conclusions from this meeting:

First, an evacuation, while necessary, is a hard and hurtful process, and any additional family that settles in the occupied territories is in danger of facing pain and sorrow. I do not believe that we can simply blame the families who settle there, we must hold the government accountable, as they ultimately are allowing it to happen. Because the future of the settlements is uncertain, we must – because of humanitarian reasons – stop all the construction in the occupied territories.

Second, Israel's unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip has brought years of insecurity, but above all, it damaged our trust and in the belief that the conflict will end. We should aim to have all future moves made through negotiation and only with the agreement and support of the Palestinian people.

Eventually, in any future evacuation, all efforts must be done to ease the process of evacuation and re-habitation. We must learn from past mistakes and understand the difficulties of the evacuated people, and support them in any way we can.

- Tom Bar-Gal, OVI regional officer of the north

Amro Brighith talks New York-metro tour

OneVoice Palestine's Amro Brighith speaks to students at Banana Kelly High School's buildOn program.

New York, October 18, 2012 – The second of the International Engagement Program’s three fall tours has come to an end. With stops in New York City and New Jersey behind him, OneVoice Palestine youth leader Amro Brighith took time out of his busy schedule to talk about his experience and what he hopes to achieve upon his return home.

OneVoice: Amro, thanks for talking with us today. What did you think of the tour and how did it go?

Amro: I thought it was really great. This tour allowed me to exercise my public speaking and English skills, and talk about the Movement with people of different backgrounds. Of course, it was great to visit the U.S. for the first time, to visit New York and see how people live here. I think it was a really successful tour.

OneVoice: Does the success of this tour increase your motivation and make you want to continue to do your work on the ground in Palestine?

Amro: It really does. I was motivated before I went on tour, but it makes me want to work more to change the situation and to end the occupation, and it increased my desire to continue my efforts for the two-state solution. I felt here that a lot of people don’t know that much about the conflict and how we live our daily lives. So, I’d love to work more to do what I have to do to change the situation for the better.

OneVoice: What will you tell your friends and family about your experiences here when you get back home? What will you tell them about the Americans you encountered?

Amro: I’ll tell them I had a great time and it was a really exciting experience. I’ll tell my family that the Americans I spoke to listened closely to my personal story and asked some great questions. After hearing what I had to say, these Americans wanted to get involved and help end the conflict, too. Seeing that makes this tour very worthwhile.

OneVoice: What was the most difficult question you faced?

Amro: Actually, it was a comment. An older woman said that the Palestinians deserved the whole land, back to the 1948 borders. That’s a very, very sensitive topic. I told her, “thank you for your comment, but at OneVoice we look toward the future and we agree on the 1967 borders as the basis for a Palestinian state.” It’s with difficult questions or comments like this where the Movement’s message must get through.

Or Kaner sees New York tour as a valuable experience

OneVoice Israel's Or Kaner speaking to a Rutgers-Newark class during the New York-metro tour.

New York, October 18, 2012 – With the second of the International Engagement Program’s fall tours in the books, OneVoice Israel’s Or Kaner gave us a behind-the-scenes look at his time in the New York-metro area. He sat down and talked to OneVoice about what he saw and heard from audiences members and why he would go on another tour in a heartbeat.

OneVoice: Hi, Or. It’s great to have you talk with us. Now that the tour is over, what can you say is the most memorable part of your experience in the States?

Or: It’s not when we were on a tour event, per say, but it was a great moment, nonetheless. I really liked when I heard Amro talking to his brother on the phone, telling him “this guy (me) is against settlements, he’s an ex-soldier and he’s cool.” I thought this was great to hear and I don’t think I will ever forget it.

OneVoice: Do you believe that you were able to make the audiences understand what you do on the ground and what needs to be done?

Or: I think so. I used a lot of buzz words; I tried to explain the situation using personal examples combined with other related and pragmatic examples from the Movement. Once I got into the flow of speaking with audience members, many from different backgrounds, I felt like I was influencing and seeing a change in them.

OneVoice: How can Americans help you achieve the two-state solution? What can they do here in the U.S.?

Or: First, they can help by pressing their leaders to pressure our leaders. Second, they have to believe in the two-state solution, and through this belief they can create their own chapters in their campuses, thinking together and creating a change within themselves. This is a moral obligation for all societies and especially for the United States, the strongest economic power in the world. The U.S. has done it before and I hope they can do it again.

OneVoice: Would you go on another tour again and why?

Or: Of course! It is a great experience: it improves your English, improves your self-esteem, and it feels great because you are reaching out to others. As a project manager, I interact with a lot of people, so working on a different continent and speaking with people of a different culture makes it really interesting and I would love to do it again.

Mohammad Asideh wins the Generations For Peace Samsung Award for Impact

Mohammad Asideh (right) receives his award from HRH Prince Feisal Al-Hussein, Founder and Chairman of GFP.

New York, October 18, 2012 – OneVoice is proud to congratulate Mohammad Asideh, senior Youth Leader and staff member at OneVoice Palestine (OVP), for receiving the Generations For Peace Samsung Award for Impact. HRH Prince Feisal Al-Hussein of Jordan, Founder and Chairman of GFP, was on hand to personally honor Mohammad for his dedication and hard work at the October 13th gala. 

Mohammad was singled out for “his own personal journey of change with Generations For Peace [and his] extraordinary impact, training 300 leaders of youth and involving more than 3,500 children in five cities in the West Bank,” according to GFP.

Arabic-language news site alwatanvoice.com notes Mohammad “honored the efforts of the Palestinian youth for standing against the occupation while building their independent state at peace with its neighbors, regardless of the political, economic, and social challenges.” 

Mohammad’s commitment to youth mobilization and outreach in the West Bank as an OVP leader and a GFP volunteer is a testament to his strong, nationalistic commitment and drive to better his community and build a brighter future for the people of Palestine. Mohammad’s devotion is as an example for all of us and a reminder of what true leadership is all about.

Hear what Mohammad had to say. Video by Generations For Peace.

To read more about Mohammad and his work with OVP and GFP, take a look at the links below:

Mohammad Asideh Gets Practical to Build for the Future

OneVoice trainees of Generations For Peace spark community action

Sport: The Missing Link to Conflict Resolution

IEP Spotlight: Mohammad Asideh devotes civic service to Palestine's future generations

 

Grassroots mobilization a hot topic on IEP New York tour

OVI's Or Kaner, left, discusses OneVoice Israel's collaboration with Knesset's Two-State Solution Caucus.

New York, October 17, 2012 – “In order to establish the change, you need to be the change.”

While this sounds like a proverb of old, it actually came from a New York City teenager on a Friday after school, when she and her peers stayed late to listen to OneVoice’s Amro Brighith and Or Kaner.

At the Marble Hill School for International Studies and Banana Kelly High School, one can sense a will, a desire to make a difference and a change in the community and beyond, much like what OneVoice’s youth leaders are doing in Israel and Palestine.

Youth empowerment is a large part of OneVoice’s success. Or, of OneVoice Israel, and Amro, of OneVoice Palestine, spoke to the high school students participating in after-school programs, run by buildOn, about the importance of youth leadership in making change.

“When I first told my family and friends that I will fix the situation in Palestine, they laughed at me because it seems hopeless,” Amro said. “But I don’t want my two-month old niece to live the way I do. I have to try my best because I am – we are – the future.”

Many of the high school student members of buildOn lead tutoring programs for young children, attend peer mediation training, and participate in community service projects. As one student at Banana Kelly said, “we need to try to influence people and hope to bring them back from the wrong path.”

This theme carried over through the last three days of the IEP tour in the New York-area. Discussions about the fear, apathy, and status quo in Israel and of hopelessness and frustration in Palestine regarding the lack of serious negotiations and the ongoing occupation echoed loud and clear with students at The New School, New York University, and professionals at a roundtable hosted by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC). Though the occupation makes Israelis and Palestinians unequal parties to the conflict, OneVoice believes that there is an equal responsibility on both sides to pressure the leadership to resolve the issues and end the conflict. 

The importance of building a bridge between the grassroots and influential organizations like the UN was not lost on the UN staff participants and the OneVoice youth leaders. All noted a need to cultivate relationships between the two in order to achieve common goals.

Outreach to young people is one way to establish positivity and knowledge early on, something OneVoice is already actively doing.

“OVI goes to high schools and middle schools as part of our outreach, and we discusses, educate, and remind the students what’s going on,” said Or. “But there are challenges, like getting permissions from parents, but we try to do these projects despite the opposition.”

Likewise, Amro said OVP has developed a strong partnership with Jordan-based Generations For Peace, through which Palestinian children are engaged in peace-building and community engagement through sports, an effort for which OneVoice Palestine was recently honored.

Ingraining the importance of grassroots mobilization from the young to the old is critical to influencing the political sphere, a key mantra for OneVoice and its volunteers.

“If we create a new political reality, the conflict will end,” said IEP Associate Shaina Low. “And if the people speak, the leaders must jump.”

IEP’s Big Apple tour brings OneVoice’s message to diverse audiences

OVP's Amro Brighith speaks to Middle Collegiate Church about his work to achieve the two-state solution.

New York, October 17, 2012 – Over 8 million people live in New York City. That’s 8 million pasts, presents, and futures interacting and intersecting every day.

From October 7-12, New Yorkers and New Jerseyans met two youth activists from Israel and Palestine who are working to build a viable two-state solution. Amro Brighith, of OneVoice Palestine, and Or Kaner, of OneVoice Israel spoke to their American peers about their work on the ground and the need for political pressure and assistance from everyday Americans.

“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an international matter,” Amro told students and community members across the city. “Your leaders have moderated between the two sides for over 20 years, and it’s time to put more pressure on the leadership to say what they have to say and do what they have to do [to finally end the conflict].”

During the first three days of the tour, youth leaders spoke to students at Rutgers, Columbia, and Princeton Universities, as well as parishioners at Middle Collegiate Church and members of the Young Professionals in Foreign Policy in a networking mixer. The participants, spanning the religious, ethnic, and political spectrum, served as a microcosm of the 8 million New Yorkers and signified the diverse interest in solving the conflict.

Although the focus of the tours and of OneVoice generally is work on the ground in Israel and Palestine, the question of what Americans can do was a popular topic throughout the tour, undoubtedly because of the upcoming presidential election.  At Princeton, one participant asked what Palestinians need from Israelis, and what Israelis need from Palestinians in order to reignite faith in the peace process and enable a return to negotiations, so the information can be forwarded to his congressman in Washington, D.C.

OneVoice’s efforts to address each society’s concerns was evident in both Or’s and Amro’s answers. Or believes that Israelis need to see a commitment to an end of claims after solving all final status issues from the Palestinians, while Amro sees a commitment to a settlement freeze from the Israeli leadership as an important step in the path to negotiations. All final status issues weigh heavily on the minds of Amro, Or, and their respective communities, and there is a realization that while the occupation makes the parties to the conflict unequal, there is an equal responsibility to resolve it.

“Each needs to show that the other wants serious peace, so negotiations can start and we can move forward,” said Or. “This is exactly what we do at OneVoice – we show our communities that there is a partner for peace on the other side.”

In order to achieve such goals, the youth leaders stressed the parallel nature in which they work to influence their societies, as well as the importance of political and religious inclusion in such talks.

“I speak to many kinds of people at our town hall meetings,” Amro said. “We have supporters from many political parties; we even have security forces attending our meetings. Our Gaza office just reopened and we are training youth leaders to talk to Palestinians living there. We need to reach out to as many people as possible.”

The situation is not that different in Israel, Or explained.

“We’re trying to work with everyone in the Israeli political spectrum– from the ultra-Orthodox and settlement communities, and to those on the far left, while not giving up our principles,” he said. “It appears that the right wing has taken over Israel. Yet, we give all a stage to speak their minds while letting them hear our beliefs. This is how we try to influence and this is how it needs to be done.”

It's not Fayyad, stupid!

By Samer Makhlouf*

When popular social protests erupted across the occupied West Bank this September, I was thrilled to see the masses take to the streets, drawing attention to skyrocketing prices for basic goods and demanding social justice. Such popular will in action seemed absent for some time in Palestine. For a moment, I thought to myself, maybe something new was lurking on the horizon and radiating hope for change.

That fleeting moment disappeared with the smoke of the burning tires, when it became apparent the youth at the forefront of the protests were mere pawns, aimed at targeting Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. As if the blame for our dire circumstance and suffering could be laid squarely on his shoulders, or that his simple resignation would bring forth our salvation.     

The hardships we as Palestinians endure are real. With high fuel prices, unpaid salaries and spiraling costs of living, it's become nearly impossible for us to lead normal lives. The popular protests should be about a rejection of the status quo, a natural reaction against the bitter reality on the ground, and a demand for a better life after so many years of hardship.

Sadly, elements within Palestinian society subverted the spirit of these protests as part of their personal vendetta against Fayyad. With chants blaming official policies for the current economic woes, politicians and news media alike lined up to demand the dismissal of Fayyad's government. All of them seemed to turn a blind eye to the problems festering ever since the signing of the Oslo Accords; problems made  worse by the Paris Protocol on Economic Relations, and other similar agreements.

Worse yet, the manipulation of these young protestors only served to obfuscate the principal cause behind their suffering: Israel's tight control over Palestinian land. Haaretz journalist Amira Hass said it best: "It's the occupation, stupid!"

All of us are affected by Israel's continued military presence, day in and day out. The opportunity here, as we stand at a historical crossroads, lies in clearly stating that the status quo, the occupation, and interim agreements that do not address the underlying problems are all unsustainable.

The Palestinian leadership, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad, has the opportunity to be proactive and even provocative, ensuring that the cost of the occupation is not taken for granted. One option that is being much discussed is the cancellation of the 1994 Paris Protocol. While I'm not an economic expert, this would, at the very least, create ripples in the stagnant political waters. But I would go further and suggest that these ripples should be used to end the occupation, not just ease its hardship, with Paris being superseded by a comprehensive move towards final status negotiations. We must not replace one interim agreement with another.

I call on the key players in the international level (US, EU, Arab countries and the UN) to recognise that Oslo and its annexes have run their course, and come together and guarantee one year of serious negotiations with clear terms of reference to sign a just and comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and Palestine in a way that deals not only with the economic issues but all final status issues in accordance with international resolutions. Oslo was intended to lead to statehood and peace, and that is the route that we must put this process back upon.

The current agreement grants Israel the right to collect taxes from Palestinians in the West Bank on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, which it often withholds as a punitive measure. It also gives Israel control over the supply of all utilities and restricts value added tax and fuel prices to comparable rates paid by Israeli consumers despite the vast difference in living standards.   

Palestinian leaders will have to enact extreme economic measures, which will likely be met by Israeli counter measures, including the disruption of fuel supplies in the occupied Palestinian territories. In turn, I hope such actions ignite the people to mobilize against the true impediment posed by the occupation toward realizing our national aspirations, right to self-determination, and independence through a two-state solution.

Enough with attacks on Fayyad, as though the situation was better before him or will improve after him.

What I'd like to see is our youth peacefully blocking roads that lead to Israeli settlements, the expansion of which continues to create negative facts on the ground. I'd like to hear their chants against stalled peace talks. Our politicians, whatever their leaning, must call for and support a peaceful popular movement that seeks to permanently resolve the conflict as the first step toward addressing our economic, social, and other internal crises.

*Samer Makhlouf is executive director of OneVoice Palestine.