Peace Accord Q & A

Below are questions and answers from our first Peace Accord Campaign Conference Call, December 7, 2006. The calls will be weekly updates and planning sessions, and are open to anyone participating in the project. The next call will be on Wednesday, December 14, at 9:15pm. To join the call, simply dial 1-702-835-5000 and enter this access code: 847184.

Q: When you say Arab-Americans should participate – could it be international students of Arab descent, or does it have to be American-born?
A: No, there’s no reason to exclude anyone – the idea is to bring in people who identify with one of the sides, but anyone who is interested and wants to participate is more than welcome. Also, we are trying to find Palestinian Fulbright scholars who are currently studying in the states.

Q: We got this email about Jumpstart Peace – an initiative to get students to encourage student governments to invest in joint Arab Israeli educational ventures. Can this be the basis for something like that?
A: I think this is totally within that realm, you are working together toward a joint end – as long as there is an agreement about something that you can sign at the end.

Q: Our campus anti-occupation group supports either one state or two states – I don’t think they will sign onto a two-state solution. Should I try to get them involved?
A: If they’re for 2-state, even if also for 1-state, the project is to bring up the moderate voices, so I would try and bring them in however possible.
A: You can also stay away from the issue of 2 or 1 state and talk about the violence on both sides; religious leaders have made agreements about ending violence that stay away from politics.

Q: Does it need to be another student group, or can it be individuals?
A: All you need are 2 people on a campus, there’s no reason to think huge. If there are 2 willing parties that’s all you need. It’s likely once things get started, other will join in.

Q: Mairav, what kind of materials are you going to send out for this?
A: I’m sending a whole package, it includes a lot of peace accord texts, as well as interesting articles. Also, I’ve gotten great responses from other organizations about this, from Peace Now, the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Brit Tzedek, and the American Task Force on Palestine – They can all be a resource for you guys on this.

Q: When talking about the two-state solution, people want details on what that means, is that an issue of the specifics, or do you want something more general?
A: I want whatever the people engaging it want to embrace. The Geneva Accord really delves into these issues, or you could do something more general.

Q: How are you going to deal with contentious issues like right of return?
A: Even the fact that it will be something to contend with is great. It might be that you come to a wall. You can also look to other models and see what their proposed solution the right of return is – other people have dealt with these issues before and come to agreements.

Q: I’m worried that if it’s not really vague no one will sign on to it. Is the goal to do something deep with a few people or something shallow with a lot?
A: It could be either. We would love to see thousands of signatures, so in that sense, the more people who participate the better. The basic task is to agree on something, so you probably need to start with the lower common denominator. At the same time, working out something detailed and really delving into the issues is also great.

Q: What about mediation? On my campus we have people who are trained to facilitate dialogues, and a lot of past agreements have come through mediation.
A: That’s a great idea – we’ll send out information about how to get a facilitator or mediator on your campus, and we’ll get some information about the Jewish Dialogue Group’s system for dialogue. Another idea is to get a professor who is interested in the subject to volunteer as a mediator. We can also send dialogue groups as programs to help in this process.