[Gush Shalom] Changed date for A-Ram demo + Welcome to Geneva
Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)
info at gush-shalom.org
Mon Dec 1 21:44:27 IST 2003
GUSH SHALOM pob 3322, Tel-Aviv www.gush-shalom.org
On the day when Israelis and Palestinians meet in Geneva to launch a
major peace initiative, and as the Palestinian factions move closer to
declaring a comprehensive cease-fire, the Sharon Government chose to
launch a new invasion of Ramallah which had cost the life of four
Palestinians, among them a nine-year old child. Today has also seen a new
settler provocation at Jabl Mukaber, a Palestinian neighhborhood of
Jersualem. And yet the tide of public opinion seems to be turning in both
societies, after three years of lethal deadlock.
Today's messages:
[1] Date of A-Ram demo moved to Dec. 13
[2] Welcome to Geneva - Gush Shalom ad, Ha'aretz 28/11/03
[3] Avnery on signs of change
\\// //\\ \\// //\\ \\//
[1] Date of A-Ram demo moved to Dec. 13
Mark the day:
The big demonstration against construction of the "Seperation Wall" at A-
Ram, north of Jerusalem, will take place on Saturday, December 13 - NOT
on Dec. 6 as was earlier announced. Participants in this action include
Gush Shalom, Ta'ayush, and other
members of the Coalition Against the Wall; on the Palestinian side it
is organised by the A-Ram Municipality together with the whole
range of political and social organizations active in this town of
60,000, which stands to be cut down the middle by the Wall, in the
near future. For more information on A-Ram read Gideon Levy's
article http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/366014.html
More details will follow. In the meantime - please make sure to save
the day!!!
PS: An organising meeting will take place at A-Ram of Friday,
Dec. 5. For details call Teddy Katz 051-244674
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2] Welcome to Geneva -
Gush Shalom ad, Ha'aretz 28/11/03
AN IMPORTANT STEP
“Gush Shalom” welcomes the “Geneva initiative”
which is to be launched officially next Monday. This
is an important step in the right direction.
We shall discuss at a later date the differences
between this document and the Draft Peace Treaty
published by Gush Shalom two years ago.
At this point in time, the important thing is to
emphasize:
THERE IS A PARTNER FOR PEACE!
THERE IS A BASIS FOR PEACE!
THERE IS LIFE AFTER SHARON!
Gush Shalom,
Help us with donations to
P.O.Box 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033,
Phone 972-3-5221732.
{ HYPERLINK http://www.gush-shalom.org }www.gush-shalom.org
Requests for information about current actions:
{ HYPERLINK mailto:info at gush-shalom.org }info at gush-shalom.org
Gush Shalom ad, Ha'aretz, Nov. 28, 2003
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
[3] Avnery on signs of change
Incident in Lisbon
by Uri Avnery
A few days ago I had a collision with Miguel Angel
Moratinos, the astute Spanish diplomat who for
several years acted as the emissary of the European
Union in our region.
Together with experts from a dozen countries –
from Brazil to Pakistan - we took part in a
conference of the Portugese Institute for Strategic
Studies. In the debate about the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, Ahmad Khalidi, the editor of a prestigious
Palestinian publication and the scion of one of the
most distinguished families in Jerusalem, also took
part.
In my lecture I criticized the reluctance of Europe
to exert pressure for peace. I said that this attitude
was “scandalous”. Khalidi, on his part, also harshly
criticized the Europeans.
When it was Moratino’s turn to speak, he reacted
angrily. How do you have the impertinence to
complain about Europe? he asked, raising his
voice. Where is the Israeli peace movement that
should have changed the political situation in
Israel? Why is its voice not heard? Do you want
Europe to do your job for you? And, addressing
Khalidi: You want Europe to do something for you?
Than first of all please put an end to terrorism! If you
are not able to do this, don’t blame Europe! Blame
yourself! If both of you do your part, Europe will do
its share, too!
(By the way, during the official dinner, Moratinos
recounted that after the failure of the Camp David
summit, the Europeans talked the Americans into
setting up a Clinton-Arafat meeting. Arafat was due
to fly to Washington on January 1, 2001. But Ehud
Barak opposed it so violently, that the meeting was
cancelled and the Taba talks took place instead.)
Moratinos was quite right in his criticism. We tend
indeed to blame others for our own failures. We
cannot demand that foreigners – whether
Europeans or Americans – do our job for us. If the
peace camp does not constitute a political power in
Israel, we should not blame others. The same goes
for the Palestinians.
After the debate we shook hands. I honestly
admitted that he was right. Khalidi did the same.
But in recent weeks, things have happened on all
four fronts – Israeli, Palestinian, American and
European – which may indicate that matters are
beginning to move.
On the Israeli front, the most high profile event is
the launching ceremony for the “Geneva
Understandings” that is scheduled for this coming
Monday. After the young men who refuse army
service in the occupied areas, the revolt of the
airforce pilots, the Ayalon-Nusseibeh initiative, the
declaration of the four former Security Service
chiefs and the warning of the Chief-of-Staff, the
Geneva initiative is a further step in the same
direction.
For three years, the extra-establishment peace
forces stood alone on the battlefield. We protested,
demonstrated, maintained contact with the
Palestinians, aroused world opinion. All this time,
the bigger, establishment-connected peace
movement remained in a state of collapse and
uttered hardly a squeak. The brutality of the
occupation intensified from day to day, Sharon did
whatever he wanted, the opposition was comatose.
The slogan was “There is no one to talk to”.
Now there is an awakening. It seems that the
public has had enough of the bloody confrontation.
It understands by now that there is no military
solution and that the confrontation is destroying our
economy and increasing poverty. The Geneva
Initiative has come at exactly the right time to
express this new mood.
Its strongest point is educational. It shows that
there is indeed “someone to talk to” and that there
is a model for peace, with which both sides can live.
It will make a big contribution to the forming of a
new national consensus.
Its disadvantage is that it has no solid political
basis. It is boycotting the radical peace forces on
the left, while being attacked on the right by the
Labor Party hacks, led by Shimon Peres. The
political establishment suspects that it will serve as
an instrument for Yossi Beilin in his efforts to create
a new political party, after losing his place in Labor.
What worries me is that it is not written to
capture anyone’s imagination. It is a lawyers’
document, dry and matter-of-fact. That is good and
that is bad. Its movers declare that it is “not a
marriage agreement, but rather a writ of divorce.”
Meaning divorce between Israelis and Palestinians.
That is the very opposite of our own message:
“Two States – One Future”.
But all in all, this is a positive initiative, coming at
the right time and opening the way for more
initiatives to come. It seems that our ice-age is
drawing to an end. Even Sharon senses this.
Suddenly he is eager to meet Abu-Ala, he is talking
about “unilateral steps”. One should not believe a
word he says, but the fact that he utters such words
shows that something is indeed changing.
On the Palestinian front, too, there is a change.
Abu-Ala, in close cooperation with Yasser Arafat, is
working on a new Hudna (truce) with the Palestinian
factions, this time one that will be linked with a
Hudna with Israel. All sides will undertake to stop all
acts of violence, and Sharon will be asked to make
meaningful concessions.
If that succeeds – a very big “if” – then conditions
may be ripe for a deep change in public opinion on
both sides, which is without doubt a pre-condition
for any real movement towards peace.
On the American front, interesting things are
happening, too.
All the experts predicted that with the approach
of the elections, Bush would abstain from anything
liable to arouse the anger of the Jewish and the
Fundamentalist-Christian lobbies. But lo and
behold, Washington is giving public, and almost
official, support to the Nusseibeh-Ayalon and the
Geneva Initiatives. President Bush expressed
relatively strong disapproval of Sharon’s acts, side
by side with his routine condemnation of the
Palestinians. He also deducted a symbolic sum from
the American loan guaranties given to Israel.
That is not much. In fact, it is very little. But we are
not pampered – even small American gestures can
mean a lot. For Sharon, his American connection is
the jewel in his crown, more important than
anything else. The smallest change will set off an
alarm in his head.
Perhaps the most interesting change has taken
place in Europe, of all places. At the time of the
incident with Moratinos I did not know – nor did he, I
believe – that something was going to happen
concerning us.
Six years ago, Gush Shalom declared a boycott
of the products of the settlements. We said: “Every
Shekel for the settlements is a Shekel against
peace.” We composed a list of their products and
distributed it widely. Tens of thousands of families
joined the boycott.
Our aim was to prevent the transfer of Israeli
factories to the occupied territories, where the
government (under both Labor and Likud) gave
them huge subsidies. We told them: in the end you
are going to lose, because the Israeli and foreign
markets will be closed to you.
Our initiative has caused, so it seems, the
Europeans to wake up. Goods “made in Israel” are
exempt from custom duties in Europe, but the trade
agreement with the European Union expressly
excludes goods produced beyond the pre-1967
border, the so-called Green Line. The Israeli
government ignored this stipulation and broke it
flagrantly. The European officials saw this, gnashed
their teeth and closed their eyes, because some
European governments (including Germany and
Holland) obstructed any action against Israel.
Now this has changed. Lately, the Europeans
have demanded that every suspect Israeli firm
deposit the equivalent of the potential customs
duties until it proves that it is not located beyond the
Green Line.
The exporters complained loudly. This week the
Israeli government gave in and announced that from
now on, the actual place of origin will be clearly
marked on all goods exported to Europe.
At long last, a resolute European action.
Enterprises dependent on exports to Europe will be
compelled to leave the settlements and return to
Israel proper. Hallelujah!
As Galileo said: And yet it does move.
--
http://www.gush-shalom.org/ (òáøéú)
http://www.gush-shalom.org/english/index.html
(English)
with
\\photos - of actions
\\the weekly Gush Shalom ad - in Hebrew and
English
\\the columns of Uri Avnery - in Hebrew, Arab and
English
\\position papers & analysis (in "documents")
\\and a lot more
######################
Petitions against the Wall:
http://www.gader.org/Main/engPetition.asp (for
Israelis)
http://www.petitiononline.com/stw/petition.html
(international petition)
######################
N.B.:
On the Gush Shalom website links for:
Articles and documents in German, French and
Spanish
In order to receive Gush Shalom's Hebrew-language
press releases mail to:
gush-shalom-heb-request at mailman.gush-shalom.org
+ NB: write the word "subscribe" in the subject
line.
If you want to support Gush Shalom's activities
you can
send a cheque or cash, wrapped well in an extra
piece
of paper to:
Gush Shalom
pob 3322
Tel-Aviv 61033
Israel
or ask us for charities in your country which
receive
donations on behalf of Gush Shalom
Please, add your email address where to send our
confirmation of receipt. More official receipts
at
request only.
_______________________________________________
If you got this forwarded and you want to
subscribe, send mail to
gush-shalom-press-request at mailman.gush-shalom.org
and write "subscribe" in the subject line.
--
To unsubscribe, send mail to
gush-shalom-press-request at mailman.gush-shalom.org
and write "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
For assistance: info at gush-shalom.org
More information about the gush-shalom-intl
mailing list