This July 1991 archival
document
represents the first time
Israelis and Palestinians signed a comprehensive agreement.
Although non-binding, it
served as a model for future proposals.
The Framework's historical
relevance is also in its clarification that
governments cannot move
ahead of the people, who must have in place citizen-to-citizen relationships
and models that reduce fear, increase confidence, and
demonstrate to both
peoples what successful, sustained relationships look like.
This document in printable
form is at http://traubman.igc.org/ppp.pdf
FRAMEWORK FOR A PUBLIC PEACE PROCESS
Toward a Peaceful
Israeli-Palestinian Relationship
Preamble
Ten Israelis and Palestinians actively involved
in the search for peace, and a ranking member of the Palestine National Council
met July 15-19, 1991, at the Sequoia Seminar in Ben Lomond, California, in a
dialogue on the future of the Israeli-Palestinian relationship. They met under
the co-sponsorship of the Stanford University Center on Conflict and
Negotiation and the Beyond War Foundation with the assistance of Dr. Harold
Saunders (former Assistant Secretary of State) and members of the Stanford
Center and Beyond War's Task Force on the Middle East. Achievements of the
conference include:
·
An
unequivocal commitment by both Palestinians and Israelis to a just and lasting
peace for two nations enjoying full self-determination, mutual recognition, and
security.
·
A
convincing demonstration of the capacity of Israelis and Palestinians to reach
agreement about plans for a common future, and for the first time, to express
that agreement in a comprehensive document endorsed not only by the Israeli and
Palestinian participants but also by the Palestine Liberation Organization.
·
Compelling
testimony about the human suffering of the Palestinians under the occupation
and the terrible costs and risks of the status quo to both sides.
·
Concrete
measures the participants and other citizens can undertake to broaden political
consensus for the peace process and to overcome mutual distrust and
dehumanization.
·
Valuable
insights about the preparation and conduct of a "public peace
process."
The participants now want to share the fruits of
their dialogue with their fellow citizens and with concerned citizens of other
interested countries.
FRAMEWORK FOR A PUBLIC
PEACE PROCESS
Toward a Peaceful
Israeli-Palestinian Relationship
Purposes
We offer this Framework for a Public Peace
Process as a vehicle for drawing together in common cause and mutually
supportive activity all who are working for a peaceful Israeli-Palestinian
relationship.
Specifically, we will use this paper as both an
educational and a political instrument. By inviting Israelis and Palestinians
to sign this document, we seek to enlarge the number of those who understand
and support the ideas expressed here. In public debate the document will
demonstrate the ability of Israelis and Palestinians to reach agreement on
concrete issues critical to a peaceful settlement of the conflict between them.
We invite all who work toward this end to
consider themselves as working together within this Framework to give coherence
and momentum to a public peace process.
In doing so, we as concerned Palestinians and
Israelis complement, support, and encourage the active efforts of political
authorities toward peace.
Premises
Moving the Israeli-Palestinian and the
Arab-Israeli conflicts towards resolution will give impetus to a broader peace
in the Middle East.
The Israeli-Palestinian relationship stands at a
moment of danger and opportunity. Ironically, as prospects for advancing the
peace process increase, danger and human suffering become more acute.
Human suffering increases daily in the West Bank
and Gaza. Human rights violations under the occupation, the closure of
educational institutions, and the various types of collective punishment
contribute daily to this suffering. The environment of violence and
confrontation leads to a vicious cycle of violence and counter-violence which
undermines advancement of the peace process.
The West Bank and Gaza are heading toward
economic catastrophe, due to sharply increased unemployment and lack of
industry. Punitive measures by the Israeli authorities aggravate the problem.
The economic and political conditions of the Palestinians outside the occupied
territories have deteriorated. Palestinians living in the Gulf states, many of
whom are now homeless and stateless, can no longer provide the economic cushion
that previously helped reduce the economic frustrations of those living under
Israeli occupation.
Every day there is tangible evidence of more
Israeli settlements, enlargement of existing settlements, and extensive and
growing land confiscations. This increases Palestinian desperation and
complicates and undermines efforts to seek a settlement.
As despair and bitterness grow in the occupied
territories, the intifada may become more violent. The possibility mounts that
there will be a movement from stone to knife to gun. With no remedy
forthcoming, this sharp increase in violence could even trigger another war.
The ongoing occupation is taking its heavy toll
on Israeli society. It causes the brutalization of the people and the erosion
of Israeli morale and traditional Jewish values. Israelis have been attacked
and killed by Palestinians in Israel's city streets. The continuing debate over
the territories is tearing the fabric of Israeli society. It affects the
Israeli army's preparedness. It requires Israelis to spend long periods of
frustrating military service in the territories. The cost of the occupation is high,
and the heavy investments in infrastructure and in settlements are at the
expense of Israel's infrastructure and of the disadvantaged members of society.
It also endangers international financial aid vital for the national effort to
absorb the Russian Jewish immigrants.
The internal violence in Palestinian society has
raised fears for the peace process in Israeli society.
We feel that a substantial number of people in
both our communities are ready to say: "Enough! It is time to move beyond
war to peace." The deteriorating situation jeopardizes their efforts to
move toward peace.
Principles and
Provisions
of a Palestinian-Israeli Agreement
The objective of the peace process is to
establish a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians as part
and parcel of a comprehensive settlement between Israel and the Arab states.
This peace is to be achieved through the
withdrawal of Israeli forces from territories occupied in 1967, allowing the
Palestinian people the exercise of their right to self-determination in those
territories. This includes the right to establish an independent state or other
confederative solution of their choice. At the same time, the State of Israel
is to be guaranteed recognition, security and territorial integrity by both the
State of Palestine and other Arab States. This can take place through mutually
agreed steps, by means of negotiations involving the legitimate representative
of the Palestinian people, whom the Palestinians consider to be the Palestine Liberation
Organization; the government of Israel; and other concerned parties; based on
U.N. resolutions 242 and 338.
The following provisions will govern a
Palestinian-Israeli agreement:
End of the state of war and all hostile
activities in the region.
Mutual Recognition. The State of Palestine, the State of Israel, and the Arab States
shall mutually recognize each other.
1967 borders with minimum necessary
modifications for both sides.
Stages. To achieve this
historic compromise between the two peoples, there are barriers that have to be
overcome on the principles of equality, mutuality, and reciprocity. Implementation
in stages will help build mutual confidence and trust, leading to the
attainment of the above mentioned objectives.
The agreement of the peace settlement will be
implemented in stages within a time frame of a maximum of five years, starting
from the date of signing the agreement. This time frame is needed for the
gradual buildup of mutual confidence and trust, to assess the compliance on the
part of both parties, and for the building of the infrastructure and
institutions of the envisaged Palestinian state.
In this interim period, all acts of violence
will be stopped in Israel, in the territories, and on the borders. At the same
time, the government of Israel will stop all settlement drives including the
expansion of existing settlements, confiscation of land, and emergency
regulations. During this interim period, Israel will minimize the presence of
Israeli military troops in the Palestinian-populated areas. In the interim
period, the full de jure application of the Geneva Convention will be provided
to help protect the safety of the Palestinian population.
Any non-compliance with the above conditions
will lead to dispute resolution measures agreed upon by the parties.
General Security Principles
·
The
peace agreement by itself will reduce motivation for war and hostility in the
region.
·
Political
stability in the region, resulting from a comprehensive peace settlement, will
reinforce security in the region.
·
Economic
prosperity and interdependence will ensure the common interest in maintaining a
lasting peace.
·
General
and specific security provisions in the military sense for each state as laid
out below.
General Security Provisions for Both States
·
Guarantee
of security in the Middle East depends upon the reduction of arsenals of arms
in the whole region, including weapons of mass destruction.
·
Security
is seen as including the State of Israel, the State of Palestine, and all Arab
States.
Israeli Security Provisions-Principles for
Security:
·
Israeli
security based primarily on Israel's own ability to defend itself.
·
Limited
militarization of the Palestinian State.
·
Regional
arrangements preventing deployment of foreign troops in Jordan, Palestine and
Israel, other than those agreed upon by the parties.
·
Financial
and technical support to Israel from third parties as compensation for loss of
territory.
·
Specific
security arrangements on the ground and in the air space following the
aforementioned principles to be agreed upon by the parties in the peace treaty.
Palestinian Security Provisions-Principles for
Security:
·
Long-term:
International economic and financial investment to build an infrastructure,
industrial development, and housing to help ensure the stability and security
of the State of Palestine.
·
Short-term:
— International guarantees
for the security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the State of
Palestine.
— An agreed-upon Palestinian defense
force to maintain internal order and to safeguard the borders.
Jerusalem
·
Jerusalem
is the holy city for three faiths and is important historically, nationally,
and culturally for the two peoples. It can and should be the city of peace.
·
The
political solution for Jerusalem should not lead again to its physical
division. It is agreed that the city shall remain physically united.
·
After
the peace treaty and the five-year interim period, the Palestinian part of
Jerusalem will be the capital of the State of Palestine. The Israeli part of
Jerusalem will be the capital of the State of Israel.
·
Each
part of Jerusalem will have its own municipality, each with equal
representation on an umbrella municipal council for metropolitan Jerusalem.
·
Freedom
of access and worship at all holy sites, and free movement through the city
will be guaranteed to all citizens and visitors.
Right of Return
·
The
State of Palestine is the state of all Palestinians wherever they live. They
can return whenever they want.
·
The
State of Palestine will regulate the return of Palestinians according to its
long-term plans of absorption.
·
The
procedures for Palestinians who wish to return to their homes in Israel or
receive compensation will be subject to negotiations in the peace process. No
collective return of Palestinians to their homes is envisioned. The procedures
to receive compensation for their properties for Jews who left Arab countries
shall be subject to similar negotiations.
Refugees.
Significant economic assistance will be acquired to rehabilitate, retrain, and
resettle Palestinian refugees and to provide them with opportunities to live as
citizens in permanent residence in the State of Palestine or in agreement with
Arab States where they live at present.
Settlements
·
Settlers
who wish to stay in the State of Palestine after the peace treaty should obtain
consent from the State of Palestine and should undertake to accept Palestinian
jurisdiction.
·
Settlements
obtained by land expropriation during the occupation should be returned to the
State of Palestine.
·
Settlements
obtained by individual legal purchase remain as the legal property of the
owners, and owners should be compensated if they choose to leave.
Gaza. Arrangements will be
made for a free passageway through Israel between the West Bank and Gaza.
Water. An agreement should be
concluded regarding sharing water resources. Under such an agreement there
would be a regional system covering the countries of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan,
Israel, and Palestine. The system could draw on water resources of other Middle
East countries.
Normalization
·
Arrangements
and goals will be defined for the normalization of relations between the two
states.
·
Normalization
includes diplomatic relations, the exchange of ambassadors, and other representatives.
·
The
economic relationship between Israel and Palestine should include joint
projects in agriculture, tourism, commerce, industry, energy, and
transportation. Labor mobility across the borders of the two states should be
regulated by mutual agreement between them. Civil aviation agreements covering
the mutual use of airspace by the two countries will be part of the peace
treaty.
·
Economic
relations in the region could ultimately be modeled after the European
Community concept with cooperation and coordination in all areas and without
interference with the character and sovereignty of each state.
A Public Peace Process
Present suffering, misperceptions, fear, and
mistrust make it difficult even to take the first steps toward a peaceful
relationship. While political leaders seek new relationships among governing
institutions, citizens on both sides must pave the way by imagining steps to
help those in the other community fear less, change perceptions, and risk
trust. The aim is to enable Israelis and Palestinians to think and work
together towards a growing relationship of peace.
To accelerate constructive change in the present
relationship between our communities, we have identified the following areas
where we are prepared to encourage citizens in both communities to work
together in building new relationships.
To broaden consensus on a new relationship, we will encourage steps such as the following which do not depend
on government authorities:
·
stimulate
public debate on specific components of a peaceful Israeli-Palestinian
relationship.
·
emphasize
the need for peace and clarify the fruits of peace, notably greater access to
water, oil, tourism, and other aspects of economic prosperity and cultural
enrichment.
·
broaden
public opinion polling on security and a two-state solution to include
significant elements of the Palestinian as well as the Israeli community.
·
dramatize
the human and economic costs of continuing occupation for both sides.
To humanize the other side and increase trust, we will work to expand direct contacts and joint activities
between Israelis and Palestinians to overcome stereotypes and distorted
perceptions and to promote thinking and acting together. For instance, we will:
·
invite
Palestinians and Israelis where we can to write regularly in each other's
publications and encourage joint publication.
·
encourage
supportive activities by professional organizations of lawyers, psychologists,
medical doctors, and other professions.
·
provide
training and educational programs for Israeli and Palestinian teachers and
students.
·
promote
student visiting between Israeli and Palestinian schools, exchange lecturers
between universities, establish an Israeli-Palestinian school, develop common
curricula.
·
establish
a joint conflict resolution center.
·
provide
and distribute video interviews that promote mutual understanding and empathy.
·
demonstrate
concern for human rights by practical steps to support those harmed by
violations, to press respect by authorities for the Fourth Geneva Convention in
the occupied territories, to campaign for the rights of prisoners through legal
challenges and media campaigns.
·
try
to establish twinning relationships between Israeli and Palestinian
communities.
·
help
Palestinian family reunions.
To broaden participation in the public peace
process, we will:
·
encourage
joint political activities, including Israelis and Palestinians of all three
religions.
·
expand
the activities of women's organizations on both sides to expose the
consequences of human rights violations, especially for families and children.
·
more
fully integrate Sephardic-Oriental Israelis into the peace process. Their
unique historical and cultural experience of Jewish-Arab co-existence and their
particular struggle for social justice and equality make them a natural bridge
to the Arab world in general and the Palestinians in particular.
·
dramatize
the costs of continuing conflict for the large segments of both societies.
These activities are illustrative and represent
only those areas where we can have influence. As other individuals and
organizations add their activities to the list, we will experience the breadth,
depth, and momentum of a public peace process.
Call to Join in a Public
Peace Process
Many other Israelis and Palestinians have
engaged in dialogues such as ours. Many are engaged in activities such as those
mentioned above. We encourage all of them to step forward and to join hands
with us openly and explicitly. We call on them and others-individuals and
organizations-to help expand this framework and the public peace process
through practical actions of their own.
We encourage and support all efforts of
political leaders on both sides to reconstitute an active peace process among
constituted governmental authorities.
At the same time, we believe that official
negotiations can produce a genuinely peaceful relationship between Israelis and
Palestinians only if they are embedded in a larger political process involving
the peoples of both communities. That political process is what we call a
"public peace process." In democratic bodies politic, a public peace
process has the potential to generate, support, and intensify the governmental
peace process. Our purpose is to make that public peace process a compelling
political fact for all to see and feel.
Concerned citizens of other concerned countries
have contributed much to our dialogue. We encourage them to join us in
increasing numbers in this public peace process.
To produce a political environment in which our
two peoples can move toward a peaceful relationship, we call on fellow citizens
and organizations throughout our communities to add their own course of action
until the public peace process constitutes an irresistible movement toward a
peaceful Israeli-Palestinian relationship.
Invited Israeli
Participants
Moshe Amirav: Member, Jerusalem City Council; Chairman, City Committee for East
Jerusalem; Former member of the Likud Central Committee.
Shlomo Elbaz: Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, Hebrew University,
Jerusalem; Co-founder and Chairman, East for Peace.
Giora Ram Furman: Brigadier General,
(Res.); Former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Israeli Air Force; General
Secretary, Kibbutz Haartzi Movement; Chairman,
Council for Peace and Security in Israel.
Galit Hasan-Rokem: Professor of Hebrew Literature and Jewish Folklore, Hebrew
University; Founding Member, Women's Network for Peace in Israel.
Moshe Ma'oz: Professor, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, Hebrew University;
Advisor on Arab Affairs to Defense Minister Ezer Weizman and Prime Minister Shimon Peres.
Oded Megiddo: Lieutenant-Colonel, IDF
(Res.); Owner and Director of a firm dealing with land development in rural
Israel; Member, Council of the Shinui Party; Member, Council
for Peace in Stages.
Invited Palestinian
Participants
Mamdouh al-Aker: Urological Surgeon;
Founding Member, Mandela Institute for Political Prisoners; Board of Trustees
of Friends School, Ramallah; Member, Israeli and Palestinian Physicians for
Human Rights.
Rihab Essawi: Professor of Education, Hebron University; Former Director of the
Union of Charitable Societies in Jerusalem. Former Director of the American
Friends Service Committee Legal Aid Office in Jerusalem.
Bernard Sabella: Professor of Sociology, Bethlehem University; Member of the Board
of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs.
Hanna Siniora: Editor, Al Fajr newspaper of East
Jerusalem; President of the European-Palestinian Chamber of Commerce, Jerusalem;
Nominated by the PLO as a member of a Palestinian delegation to peace talks in
July 1985.
Invited Representative
of the Palestine National Council
Nabeel Shaath: Chair, Political Committee of the Palestine National Council;
Advisor to President Yasser Arafat on International Relations.
Moderator
Harold Saunders: Director of International Programs, The Kettering Foundation;
Former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.
Cosponsors
Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation
The Beyond War Foundation
STATEMENT OF AFFIRMATION We, the participants, cosponsors, and moderator in this
conference subscribe to the "Framework for a Public Peace Process"
as an accurate reflection of the outcome of our dialogue. The purpose of
the conference was not to produce a formal agreement, which can be
negotiated only by duly-constituted authorities. The purpose was to
demonstrate that Israelis and Palestinians could find common ground in the
search for peace. We regard this document as the basis for continuing
dialogue between the two communities and commend it to others as the basis
for a similar dialogue. Nabeel Shaath, an official of the Palestine National Council,
has stated in a letter to us that he is authorized by the Palestine
Liberation Organization to endorse and support this document as a basis for
future dialogue in the search for peace. July 19, 1991
Dr. Harold H.
Saunders Dear Friends:
I have had
great pleasure participating in the proceedings of the conference,
"Building a Common Future." The discussions were most fruitful,
involving a spirit of give and take and a commitment to work toward a just
and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. I have
received a copy of the Framework for a Public Peace Process, the valuable
document that was produced by the participants, moderator and cosponsors of
the conference. It gives me pleasure to say that I am authorized by the
Palestine Liberation Organization to endorse and support this document as a
valuable basis for future dialogue in the search for peace. I hope that it
will be equally endorsed by a wider constituency of the Israeli public,
seeing it as a real attempt to start a dialogue leading to peace and
security for all Israelis and Palestinians as a key step toward peace in
the Middle East. I would like
to express my deepest gratitude to all of you for making this conference a
success and for producing such a fine document. Sincerely
yours, Nabeel Shaath
The Beyond War Foundation
The Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation
Chairman, Political Committee
Palestine National Council
