I / we commit to changing the conversation……
As supporters of a nonviolent future for Palestine and Israel we want a halt to both overt and structural violence and commit to a new framework for peace based on equality and human rights.
The Two-State paradigm is dead. Israeli West Bank settlements, grown to 700,000 people since the Six-Day War, are integrated into the Israeli system in a manner that makes an independent viable Palestinian state no longer possible. Many of us who care for peace, justice and a reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis are left frustrated, despondent, and at times feel paralyzed. Still, we know that we are not condemned to live in a perpetual state of violence. And thus we must find a way to act.
Nonviolence International Board Member Jonathan Kuttab’s 2021 book, Beyond the Two State Solution, presents a vision for a path forward: a unitary state that carefully balances the interests of Palestinians and Jewish Israelis in a manner that denies either of them exclusive control of the land, but which can meet the needs, hopes, and fears of both communities. Beyond the Two-State Solution is not the sole answer; rather, it provides rich content for exploring a path to peace and justice.
This is an invitation for a new conversation that moves beyond the tired - and deadly - irreconcilable positions of either party. It suggests hope for a joint future built on nonviolence, democratic values, and law that satisfies the needs not only of the two “sides” of a conflict, but of all the people who against their will and interests are now condemned to perpetual fear, anger and war.
We organizations and individuals committed to a just solution in Israel-Palestine, urge all, regardless of their political positions to engage in this new conversation, and dare to be open to a possibility of achieving peace with justice in Israel-Palestine.
