Madrid for the people
Some 15 years after the Madrid conference which launched the
now defunct Israeli-Palestinian peace process, former statesmen and stateswomen
from both sides got together to try to revive the quest for peace. What we now
need is to complement this crème-de-la-crème peacemaking with a gritty ‘Madrid
for the people’, Khaled Diab argues in a letter to former Israeli Foreign
Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, one of the figures who spearheaded the initiative.
February 2007
Dear Mr Ben-Ami
I have read your article
which appeared in Ha’aretz and was republished by Common Ground New
Service. I also applaud your convening of Madrid+15. It pleased me
because I had called for a similar gathering (which I called Madrid II) in an
article I wrote last year.
Your opinion about internationalising the quest
for peace is interesting in that it seeks to create a new momentum. There is no
doubt that robust international engagement will help enhance the situation and
close the gap between the two sides. However, like you suggested regarding
Condoleeza Rice’s visit, we should not hold our breath: Washington is not
interested, Europe is too divided, the Arab world is ineffectual and the UN is
powerless. In addition, like previous attempts, such as the unofficial Geneva Accords, it is
essentially an exercise conducted by what you could call the ‘peace elite’.
Besides, no deal struck at the political level
will work without a groundswell of popular opinion to see it through. If any
lessons can be drawn from Oslo, it is that there was little public ownership of
the project – either on the Palestinian or Israeli sides – and this contributed
significantly to the failure of the process.
At the moment, there is too much polarisation
and demonisation on the two sides, which disinclines already reluctant
politicians from making an earnest attempt to relaunch the peace process. In
fact, a recent experiment in dialogue between the two sides has convinced me
that Israelis
and Arabs have a common enemy: their complete distrust and fear of the
other side. Most Palestinians and Israelis do not believe that the other side
is earnest in their desire for peace. The only way to overcome this lack of
trust is through direct dialogue, people to people.
Any new peace initiative, in my humble view,
needs to start from the bottom and travel up – and not from the top down, as
has traditionally been the case. It is civil society and ordinary citizens that
need to drive home to politicians the urgency of reaching a settlement. I
understand that you are contemplating launching a follow-up to the Madrid+15
conference. The first gathering was made up almost exclusively of former Arab,
Israeli and International statesmen and stateswomen. This should be
complemented by making the second meeting a true civil society forum, bringing
together every colour of Israeli, Palestinian, Arab and international NGO to
discuss the outlines of a ‘people’s peace’ which they can then take to the
political leadership as an example of what can be achieved. You called the Oslo
process an exercise in ‘make believe’. If we are to transform the current
situation into a realistic quest for peace, this cannot be done without the
people and a real two-way grassroots dialogue.
May peace (salam/shalom) be with us
This letter was e-mailed on 11 February 2007 to
the Toledo International Centre for Peace which is headed by Shlomo Ben-Ami.
Further reading
Read the Salom
Now! draft
manifesto
Madrid II: towards a civil peace in the Middle East
November 2006 – Prompted by the dire situation
in Gaza, Spain, France and Italy have floated an unexpected Middle East peace drive.
This initiative will almost certainly join other similar aborted road maps and
peace plans slowly decaying in the graveyard of international diplomacy. What
the EU needs to do is to abandon the deadlocked political level and organise a
high-profile Madrid II conference targeted at civil society to set in motion a
‘people’s peace process’. Read on
How I learned to start worrying and hate the bomb
November 2006 – With North Korea’s recent
nuclear test and Iran’s suspected nuclear designs, Khaled Diab explains why he
learned to start worrying and hate the bomb and suggests how the proliferation
of nuclear weapons can best be arrested – and reversed. Read on
Give ‘salom’ a chance
September 2006 – The
best lessons to draw from Lebanon and Gaza are that all sides lost the battle
and the only way for everyone to win the war is through peaceful means.
Politicians have shown a lack of imagination and willpower and so it is up to
ordinary Arabs and Israelis to lead them down the path to salam/shalom (peace).
It is high time to demand Salom Now! Read on
Salom
now!
Reaching out for a people’s peace in the Middle
East
Using
a carrot and stick for peace
September 2006 – Given the fragile situation in
Lebanon, the pledge by EU member states to provide troops to police the
UN-backed ceasefire was well-timed. However, to avoid a fresh crisis from
erupting, Europe will have to aid efforts to forge lasting peace in the Middle
East. Read on
Salom
now!
Mobilising the untapped power of Arab and Israeli
peaceniks
Part I – Silent world
Part II – Peace begins at
home
Crisis
in
From
complete failure to comprehensive solutions
July 2006 – Israel’s
massive onslaught against
The EU’s
new Palestine
February 2006 – It may be better for the EU to
provide more carrots and fewer sticks for Hamas, writes Khaled Diab. Read on
Dressed
to kill –
Under
the cloak of Bush’s foreign policy
December 2005 – Jeff Sommers, Khaled Diab and Charles Woolfson expose what lies beneath the cloak of US President George W Bush’s foreign policy. Read on
Time
to rethink the EU’s role in the Middle East
January 2005
– If Yasser Arafat’s death is to signify anything more than the symbolic start
of a new era, the European Union must radically rethink its role as a mediator
in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to persuade the two peoples to work towards
a new dawn. Read on
Commission
wants closer EU-Israeli ties
January 2005 – The European Commission and the
EU’s former envoy to the Middle East have both come out in favour of enhancing
economic and political ties with
ã2007 K. Diab. Unless otherwise stated, all the content on this website
is the copyright of Khaled Diab.