One Voice gathers half million pro-peace signatures

Monday September 24, 2007 21:17 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies

In a petition, supervised by the Ramallah-based One Voice movement, about half million signatories voiced their support to the two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

One Voice Logo

Signatories, comprised of Palestinians and Israelis, called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, to begin immediately final status talks, based on the two-state solution, until November18, 2008.

Top Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Eriqat, declared his support to the signing campaign, saying “ if both the Palestinian and Israeli peoples opt for peace, there should be further moves like promoting moderate elements”.

A part of the movement’s moves is organizing a simultaneous public gathering, involving Palestinians, Israelis and internationals in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the Israeli city of Tel-Aviv and in London, by October18, 2007.

According to a latest public opinion survey, conducted by the One Voice, %76 of Palestinian and Israeli respondents voiced support to the two-state solution.

Daniel Lobtski, chairman of the Israeli Peace Works Network, commented on the One Voice’s bid by saying “despite the fact that a 12-month-long time frame can be risky for the entire conflict, it is an imperative to set forth a timetable for tackling all outstanding issues and putting an end to the conflict”.

The petition comes shortly before the Washington-sponsored conference on Middle East peace, scheduled for this November. The conference will expectedly back the two-state solution, U.S President Gorge W. Bush envisioned in 2002, after Palestinian-Israeli peace failed amidst violence.

Peace talks broke down in the wake of failure of the late 1999’s U.S-sponsored Camp David talks in Washington and the upsurge of Palestinian-Israeli violence or what has been known as the Palestinian Intifada or ‘uprising’.

ramallah | peace process | news report rami at imemc dot org