Palestinians speak out

Palestinian intellectuals published the essay below in the Israeli liberal 
magazine Ha'aretz.  They are taking great risk in doing so, and the 
Palestinian Authority in the past has imprisoned and tortured many who 
publicly spoke critically of the so-called peace process.  It is becoming 
all 
too evident for many Palestinians that this so-called peace is nothing more 
than the establishment of a Palestinian police force that enforces the 
interest of the Israeli state.  The territories being released to the 
Palestinians is nothing more than reservation camps, which will only 
comprise 
by the end of the settlement to no more than 13 % of occupied territory, at 
best, under the most humiliating circumstances.  

Khaldoun Samman
--------------------------------------------------------


Subj:    Palestinian Intellectuals 
Date:   3/23/00 5:46:45 AM !!!First Boot!!!
From:   MER@MiddleEast.Org (MiD-EasT RealitieS  -  www.MiddleEast.Org)
Reply-to:   MER@MiddleEast.Org
To: MER@MiddleEast.Org (MER)


     MESSAGE TO THE ISRAELI AND JEWISH PUBLIC

We, the undersigned Palestinian intellectuals, address to the Israeli and 
Jewish 
public this message clarifying our point of view on the current peace 
process.

We are concerned that what is being contrived is not peace,  but the seeds 
of 
future wars. The majority of Palestinians, including the undersigned, 
believed 
that the time was ripe for concluding with the Israelis a historic 
agreement 
that would allow us  to live together finally in peace in one land, despite 
the 
injustice, suffering and dispossession inflicted on us over the decades by 
the 
Israeli side.

The majority of Palestinians believed that peace would be based on two 
principles: 
justice and the requirements of a common future. What we are witnessing in 
reality 
is far from these principles. One side believes the present balance of 
power 
to be in its favour, and that it can impose
a humiliating agreement on the other side, forcing it to accept virtually 
anything 
it chooses to enforce. The historic settlement is becoming a settlement 
between 
Israelis themselves, not a settlement with the Palestinians. It is a 
settlement 
that suffocates the Palestinians humanly, territorially, security-wise and 
politically: 
humanly, because it does not recognize their human and historical rights; 
territorially, 
because it isolates them within confined areas in towns and villages while 
progressively 
confiscating their land; security-wise because it places Israeli security 
in 
principle over and above Palestinian rights, existence and security; 
politically, 
because it prevents Palestinians from determining their future and 
controlling 
their borders.

We believe we express the deepest convictions of our people when we openly 
confront 
you with these realities. You will have to choose between a settlement that 
is 
imposed by a balance of forces
overwhelmingly favouring your government and your military, and one that is 
just, 
which will favour both Israelis and Palestinians, and which will provide 
the 
basis for long-term coexistence on the same land. We are placing the choice 
in 
your hands.

We state, in all clarity, that we see only two solutions for a just 
settlement 
of the Palestine question. The first solution is based on the establishment 
of 
a Palestinian state, with complete sovereignty over the lands occupied by 
Israel 
in 1967 and Jerusalem as its capital, the right
of return for Palestinian refugees, and the recognition by Israel of the 
historic 
injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people. The Palestinian state will 
be 
established on the principles of democracy and human values adopted by the 
Palestinian 
Declaration of Independence in 1988.
The second solution is the establishment of one democratic bi-national 
state 
for the two peoples on the historic land of Palestine.

It is clear that the Palestinian negotiator, whose hands are tied by the 
overwhelming 
balance of power working against him, may be coerced into accepting a 
humiliating 
and degrading settlement that will lead to neither of these two solutions. 
History 
abounds with examples of nations
that were coerced into settlements they did not support and which ended in 
catastrophe 
for all parties.

We address this message, first and foremost, to those Israelis who believe 
in 
the values of justice and equity, and to all those who aspire for peace the 
world 
over. We want to tell them that the settlement the Israeli leadership is 
seeking 
to impose on the Palestinian negotiator
could not be a settlement with the Palestinian people. It will be a fragile 
settlement 
bearing within it the seeds of its own destruction.  We will neither 
support 
nor accept it.

We extend our hand to you to make a real and just peace, not the militarist 
peace 
of coercion, the generals' peace.

Name Position/Profession Signature
Signatories to the Message addressed to the Israeli & Jewish Public Opinion:
Abdel Rahman Abu Gharbia, President, Arab Thought Forum, Palestine
Abdulla Mutawi, Centre for Economic & Social Rights, UK
Ahmad Benani, International Observatory for Palestinian Affairs, Lausanne, 
Switzerland
Ahmad Khalifa, Editor, Institute of Palestine Studies Journal, Oxford
Ahmed Daoud, Journalist, Palestine
Ahmed Jaber, Beirzeit University, Palestine
Amal Ashrawi, Legal assistant, USA
Anita Grossmann-Abdullah, Institute of Community and Public Health, 
University 
of Birzeit
Atallah Said, Vice Chair of the Association of the Palestinian Community, UK
Ayub Mustafa, Center for Palestine Research and Studies-CPRS, Nablus, 
Palestine
Azmi Shuaibi, PLC member, Palestine
Baker Abdel Munem, Ph.D.(Engineering), Ph.D.(Economics and Political 
Science), 
Canada
Bassam Al Salhi, Friends School, Palestine
Bassim Al-Zubaidi, Lecturer, University of al-Najah, West Bank
Bilal Al-Hassan, Journalist and commentator, Editor of Al-Hayat Newspaper, 
UK
Bishara Dowmani, Associate professor, Berkeley, USA
Camille Mansour, Director, Institute of Law, Birzeit University, Palestine
Eileen Kuttab, Director, Institute of Women Studies, Birzeit University, 
Palestine
Eleine (Musallem) Hagobian, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Simons 
College, 
Boston, USA
Fadwa al-Labadi, Lecturer, University of Birzeit, Palestine
Faisal Darraj, Literary critic, Syria
Faoz Khalifa, Professional, Palestine
Fawzi Asmar, Writer and journalist, USA
Fouad Mughrabi, Professor, USA
Ghada al-Karmi, Writer,UK
Gazi Al-khalili, Writer & journalist, Palestine
George Abed, Economist, USA
George Giacaman, Professor, Birzeit University, Palestine
George Sahhar, Professional, Palestine
Ghassan Abdullah, Information Analyst, Institute of Law, Birzeit 
University, 
Palestine
Ghassan Abu Sitta, Centre for Economic & Social Rights, UK
Ghassan Faramand, Professor of law, University of Birzeit, Palestine
Gibreel Muhammed, Researcher, Palestine
Hadeel Rizq al-Qazzaz, Researcher, Palestine
Haidar Abd Al-Shafi, Head of Palestinian Delegation at Madrid Conference
Hanan Ashrawi, PLC member, and secretary-general of Miftah
Hani Alhouroub, Journalist, Palestine
Hani Al-Masri, Journalist, Palestine
Hassan Ladadwa, Researcher at Palestine Economic Policy Research 
Institute-MAS, 
Palestine
Hassan Khader, Writer and journalist, Al-Ayyam newspaper, Palestine
Hisham Sharabi, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA
Ibrahim Muhawi, Lecturer, Edinburgh University, UK
Islah Jad, Women Studies Institute, Birzeit University, PhD candidate, 
SOAS, 
London
Isma'eel Nashif, University Professor, Birzeit University, Palestine
Issam Manasreh, Professional, Palestine
Issam Nassar, Researcher, Institute of Jerusalem Studies, Jerusalem,
Al-Quds University lecturer
Izzat Abdelhadi, Director, Bisan Centre for Research and Development, 
Ramallah
Izzat Darwaza, Senior Lecturer, University of Manchester IST, UK
Ja'far Khawaja, Professional, Palestine
Jamal Zakkout, Journalist and activist, Gaza
Jamey Al-Qaruoni, Writer, Palestine
Jamil Hilal, Writer and researcher, PNC member, Palestine
Jamil Toubbeh, Professional, USA
Jawad Ibrahim, Aritist (plastic art), Palestine
Jawdat Abu-El-Haj, Professor of sociology at the Federal University of 
Ceara, 
Brazil
K. Husseni, Lecturer, Warwick University, UK
Kamal Boullata, Visual Artist, France
Kamal El-Sharafi, PLC member, Palestine
Khaled Hourani, Aritist (plastic art), Palestine
Khalil E. Jahshan, President, NAAA-ADC, USA
Khalil Hindi, Professor of Engineering Systems, Brunel University, England
Khalil Mahshi, Educationalist & Director General in Ministry of Education, 
Palestine
Lena Jayyussi, Senior Research Fellow, Muwatin-Palestinian Institute for 
the 
Study of Democracy
Liza Taraki, University Professor, Birzeit University, Palestine
Magdi al-Maliki, Head of Sociology Department, Birzeit University, 
Palestine.
Mahmud Shukair, Novelist, Palestine
Mamdouh Nofal, Writer & Journalist & member of PCC, Palestine.
Manuel Hassassian, Executive Vice-President, Bethlehem University, Palestine
May Jayyussi, Executive Diector, Muwatin, Palestine.
Mazen Qumsiyeh,Assoc. Prof. USA.
Mudar Qassis, Lecturer, Univ of Birzeit, Palestine
Muhammed Ghadia, Professional,Palestine
Muhammed Hallaj, University lecturer, Palestine
Muhammed Sulaiman, Writer, Palestine
Muhammend Ali Khalidi, University Lecturer, Lebanon
Muhammend Al-Msawalma, Film Director, Palestine
Muhannad Abd Al-Hameed, Journalist, Palestine
Muna Abdullahad, Middle East Broadcasting Center, UK
Muna Tamimi, Lecturer, Birzeit University, Palestine
Muneer al-Qazzaz, Lecturer, Birzeit University, Palestine
Mustapha Karkouti, President of the Foreign Journalists Association, UK
Muntasir Al-Gabir, MD, Nablus, Palestine
Nabeel Anani, Art painter, Palestine
Nadhmi al-Juba, Lecturer, University of Birzeit, Palestine
Nadim Nahhas, Journalist, UK
Naseer Aruri, Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, USA
Nawaf Al-Tamimi, Journalist, UK
Nimir Sarhan, Writer, Palestine
Nizar Sakhnini, NECEF, Canada
Omar Al-Qattan, Film maker, UK
Jamey Nassar, Chair of Political Science Department, Illinois State 
Department
Raja Bahloul, Lecturer, Birzeit University, Palestine
Raji Sourani, Director, Palestinian Center of Human Rights. Palestine
Rami Bathish, Miftah, Palestine
Randa Nassir, Professor, Birzeit University, Palestine
Rima Hammami, Professor, Birzeit University, Palestine
Rimone Kare', Consultant engineer, UK
Rudaina Hamouri, Tutor, UK
Sa'da Al-khateeb, Professional, Palestine
Salah Hania, Miftah, Jerusalem, Palestine
Saleh Abdel Jawad , Lecturer, Birzeit University
Salim Tamari, Director, Institute of Jerusalem Studies, Jerusalem,
Birzeit University lecturer
Samih Farsoun, Professor, American University, Washington DC, USA
Samir Abdullah, Chief Executive, PalTrade, Palestine
Samir Awad, Ph.D Candidate, USA
Sharif Nashashibi, Journalist, UK
Shukri Nabulsi, Engineer, Jordan
Suha Masoud, Artist, UK
Suhair Azzouni, General Director, Women's Affairs Technical Committee, 
Palestine
Sulaiman Mansour, Art painter, Jerusalem, Palestine
Tahir Al-Masri, Researcher, Center for Palestine Research and
Studies-CPRS, Nablus, Palestine
Tal'at Harb, University of Birzeit, Palestine
Talal Als'adi , Project manager, Nortel Networks
Talib Awad, Researcher, Palestine
Tawfeeq Abu Baker, Journalist and columnist, Jordan
Taysir Barakat, Art painter, Ziryab Gallery, Palestine
Wael Gharbiya, Professional, Canada
Yasir Shalabi, Researcher, Palestine Economic Policy Research
Institute-MAS, Palestine
Yusif Abu Samra, Professor, Birzeit University, Palestine
Yusif Daoud, Professor, Birzeit University, Palestine
Zahi Damuni, Professor, USA.
Zahira Kamal, Technical Women's Committee, Ramallah
Zakaria Muhammed, Editor of Al-Karmel, poet and journalist
Ziad Abu-Amr, PLC member, Palestine
Zuhair Sabagh, University Professor, Birzeit University, Palestine


---------------------------------------------

.                  MID-EAST REALITIES                    
               http://www.MiddleEast.Org
  Phone:  202 362-5266      Fax:  815 366-0800
              Email:  MER@MiddleEast.Org

Please forward to friends and concerned persons:
To start receiving MER email to MERLIST@MiddleEast.Org with subject SEND MER
To stop receiving MER email to MERLIST@MiddleEast.Org with subject STOP MER