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The Israelis' right to a home land is by no means a justification for depriving others of their home.
Peace in Palestine is possible only in a cooperative community comprising all people who live there.

see also: Gush Shalom's proposal of a Peace Agreement

Dear Friends & Family,

The following is something I received a few days ago and have decided - after much deliberation - to pass along to you. In light of the current "lose/lose" situation in the Mideast, I now believe that this is the only viable option, as a first step, for creating a new reality in this region of our world. 

I have many dear personal friends both in Israel and Palestine and I feel the pain of both peoples very intensely - and especially the lightworkers and peacemakers who have worked so hard to prevent what we are now seeing. 

I also have friends who will disagree with this declaration and I deeply respect their opinions and the historical circumstances from which these were formed. I am concerned for the very survival of both Israel and Palestine and for the safety and sanity of the many good people from both communities who deeply long for peace, security and justice. 

We stand at a crossroads at this historic moment. Jerusalem and the issue of its possession can draw the whole world into an unthinkable conflagration. Or it can trigger us into a quantum leap and, like the fall of the Berlin wall, bring us instantly into a consciousness of new possibilities for the planet. Jerusalem stands at a crossroads at this moment with the eyes of the world focused upon it. It can quickly turn into a living hell or it can become the "New Jerusalem" foreseen by the prophets. I know that we can influence that choice. 

For this reason, I would invite you - no, I plead with you - to send the following declaration to all those listed below, and to send it to everyone on your mailing list, asking them to do the same. We do not know what effect it will have upon those receiving it, but we do know that releasing this energy into the Universe at this time can have a profound effect at all levels and create a momentum that will turn the tide toward sanity and a new positive future unlike anything we have experienced on the planet. 

Please paste the Declaration into a new email to send to the world leaders, and include the title "Jerusalem Declaration 2001" in the subject heading. I would suggest you also copy and paste it into a new email if you are sending it to your mailing list, since people are more likely to respond to this personal gesture than a simple forward. You may include all or part of this cover letter, or write your own. The point is to send it out. 

I don't pretend to have all the answers in this current crisis, but I think it is obvious to all of us that what is happening now is not the answer to creating the kind of future we want. And unless we are willing to step out of the boundaries of conventional considerations, we may well plunge over the edge and into the abyss. But I do not believe that is our destiny. 

This situation is not simply the responsibility of the people who live in the region. It belongs to us all, for it embodies the planetary drama of our collective human potential for either creating a positive future or allowing the narrow thinking of the past to plunge us into the unthinkable. Will you help? 

Many Blessings, Michael Lightweaver Network 2012 www.n2012.com  

ps: Issue #5 of the Global Village News & Resources (which I publish) has been delayed in being sent out, but you can view it on the web at http://www.savesite.net/gvnr

We the people of the world, representing every nation, every religion, every race and ethnic group, hereby declare the Old City Of Jerusalem as the First International City Of Peace. 

We declare "null & void" it's violent history of hatred born of it's repeated defeat, destruction, occupation and domination by various countries, cultures and religions. 

We declare that Jerusalem belongs to all the people of the Earth and is destined to be a model of our highest collective potential for Harmony, for Holiness, for Light and for Love. 

We declare that the only true temple created by the Divine, and shared by us all, is the human heart. The willingness to sacrifice even one life for buildings of stone, created by men and maintained by violence and fear - in the name of God - is the greatest possible sacrilege and blasphemy.  

We hereby call upon world governments and all religious and political leaders to work together swiftly for bringing the administration of the Old City Of Jerusalem under the authority, jurisdiction and supervision of the United Nations. 

We call upon all people everywhere to acknowledge and embrace this divine moment to the end that Jerusalem may fulfill her destiny in becoming a living model of peace, justice and harmony for the whole world.  

I AM One More Voice For Peace & Sanity Now! 

Name:

City:

Country:

Date:

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Copy and send To:

- Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Barak ebarak@parliament.gov.il, pm@pmo.gov.il
State Of Israel Ministry Of Defense, public@mod.gov.il

- Palestine, Chairman Yasser Arafat, info@nmopic.pna.net

- Egypt, President Mohammed Mubarak, webmaster@presidency.gov.eg

- USA, President William Jefferson Clinton, president@whitehouse.gov
Vice President Al Gore, Vice.President@whitehouse.gov
Secretary of State Madeline Albright, secretary@state.gov

- United Kingdom, Prime Minister Tony Blair , labour-party@geo2.poptel.org.uk

- United Nations, The Honorable Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General, Fax: (212) 963 2155 & 963 7055, sg@un.org or ecu@un.org, Peter Van Walsum, President, UN Security Council, netherlands@un.int, UN Permanent Security Council Members, Ambassador Qin Huasun, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China , france@un.int, Amb. Sergey Lavrov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, rusun@undp.org ,
Sir Jeremy Guentin Greenstock, KCMG, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, uk@un.int , Ambassador A. Peter Burleigh, Permanent Representative of the United States, usaun@undp.org

Pertinent Websites Resources:

http://www.knesset.gov.il/knesset/engframe.htm - Email address of the Israeli Members of Parliament (Knesset)

http://www.trytel.com/~aberdeen/elinx.html - Email addresses for the Heads of State of all countries

http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/heads.html - Governments on the WWW: Heads of State

http://www.peaceday.org/cntryhds.htm - Email to World Leaders!

http://www.thesurfer.com/government/ - Political Resources on the Net

US Congress - http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ - http://thomas.loc.gov/ - http://www.house.gov/writerep/

"Now, more than at any other time, the struggle for peace must not stop. The following declaration of principles is a proposal for joint Israeli-Palestinian discussion. It should not be considered a take-it-or-leave-it proposition.

We went into details in order to express our conviction that all the issues at stake - the components of the conflict - can be resolved. Not by diktats, not by an overbearing master-and-servant attitude, but by negotiations between equals.

The government and the army leadership are leading us into a hell of blood and fire. We call upon all peace-seekers in Israel to unite for the future of the two peoples of this country, Jewish Israelis and Palestinian Arabs.

The country has given birth to us as twins."

Between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Representative of the Palestinian People.

Whereas both parties wish to end the historical conflict between them, establish peace and bring about a historical conciliation between the two nations,

And whereas both parties wish to base the peace on the principles of self-determination, mutual respect, justice and equality,

And whereas both parties acknowledge the principle of "two states for two nations",

And whereas both parties accept UN resolutions 242, 338 and 194 as the basis for a solution and regard the implementation of the agreement below as the full realization of these resolutions,

It is agreed by both parties:

Section 1: The End of the Occupation.

Within one year, the Israeli occupation, in all its manifestations and functions, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including Arab East Jerusalem, will come to an end.

Section 2: The State of Palestine.

Within one year, the independent and sovereign State of Palestine will be established on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including Arab East Jerusalem, the part of the Dead Sea that borders the Palestinian shore and the territorial waters of the Gaza Strip.

Section 3: Borders

The border between the State of Israel and the State of Palestine will be the cease-fire lines as they existed on June 4th 1967 (hereinafter: the Green Line), unless stipulated otherwise in this agreement.

The State of Palestine will have full sovereign control of all its border crossings on land, sea and air.

Both parties wish that the border between them should be open, with unrestricted passage of people and goods, within the framework of the economic and border-passing arrangements to be agreed upon by the parties.

Section 4: Jerusalem.

Both parties acknowledge the uniqueness of the City of Jerusalem and declare their intention to preserve it as a single urban unit, open to all.

The Arab neighborhoods of the city, according to the map attached, will be an integral part of the State of Palestine and will serve as its capital. These areas of the city will be connected to each other and to the State of Palestine as a single, continuous, territorial entity.

The Jewish neighborhoods of the city, according to the map attached, will be an integral part of the State of Israel and will serve as its capital. These areas of the city will be connected to each other and to the State of Israel as a single, continuous, territorial entity.

The Jewish quarter of the Old City will be part of the State of Israel and will be attached to its territory. The Muslim, Christian and Armenian quarters of the Old City will be part of the State of Palestine.

There will be no barriers or obstacles preventing unrestricted passage between the two parts of the City. Both parties will establish border checkpoints, if they so decide, at the entrances/exits of the City.

The municipality of the Palestinian Jerusalem and the municipality of the Israeli Jerusalem will establish a joint council, based on the principle of equality, to manage the shared municipal services. The council will be headed by the chairman of the council and his/her deputy, one of whom will be Israeli and the other Palestinian. They will rotate their positions after two years. The first assignment will be determined by lot.

Section 5: Holy Sites.

Both parties acknowledge the uniqueness of the Holy Sites and their importance to the believers of the three monotheistic religions.

The area of the Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount) will be part of the State of Palestine.

The Western Wall (the part also called "the Wailing Wall") will be part of the State of Israel.

All archeological or other excavations in the area of the Haram al-Sharif (the Temple Mount), the Western Wall or in their immediate vicinity shall be undertaken by mutual consent.

Section 6: Exchange of Territory.

Exchange of territories can be effected by agreement between both parties.

Section 7: Extra-territorial Roads.

A highway will be constructed between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and it will belong to the State of Palestine. The highway will not be connected to the Israeli road network at any point and will pass either above or below it.

Section 8: Security.

Both parties have the right to national and personal security.

Both parties renounce the use of force and the threat of force against each other.

Both parties undertake to combat terrorism and terrorist initiatives organized in one state against the other, its residents and institutions.

Both parties undertake to prevent the entry of any foreign military force into their territories. Any contravention of this section by either state will grant the other state the right to take any measures required for self-defense.

The State of Palestine undertakes to refrain from arming itself with heavy offensive weapons for 25 years. This obligation will become void if peace treaties are signed between Israel and the Arab states.

Both parties will come to an agreement regarding the usage of each other's air space.

Section 9: The Settlements.

Residents of the settlements located in territory that is to become part of the State of Palestine will be evacuated from the territory before the end of the Israeli occupation.

The settlements will be transferred intact to the Palestinian authorities, without any damage inflicted on buildings or other immovable property. The property evacuated by the settlers will be considered part of Israel's contribution to the rehabilitation of the Palestinian refugees (as specified heretofore in section 11.)

Section 10: Water.

The water resources of the entire land between the river Jordan and the Mediterranean belong to both parties.

A Supreme Israeli-Palestinian Committee will be appointed and will be responsible for water resources and distribution. Water will be allocated justly and equally, on the basis of the numerical proportion of residents in both states.

Both parties will cooperate in projects for the development of additional water resources, such as desalination of seawater.

Section 11: Refugees.

Both parties agree that the human tragedy of the Palestinians must be resolved by a moral, just, practicable and agreed-upon solution that takes into consideration the character and essential needs of the two states.

Israel acknowledges its central responsibility for the creation of this tragedy during the course of the wars of 1948 and 1967. Both parties will establish a "truth commission" of historians - Israeli, Palestinian and international - that will examine the precise causes that lead to the creation of the problem in all its aspects, and will issue an objective, conclusive report within three years. This report will be incorporated into the schoolbooks of both states.

Israel acknowledges the principle of the Right of Return as a basic human right.

According to this right, every refugee will be accorded the choice between compensation and permanent settlement in another country, return to the State of Palestine or return to Israeli territory, according to the following principles:

(1) In order to heal the historical wound and as an act of justice, Israel will allow the return into its territory of a certain number of refugees, which will be decided by agreement. The returnees will be allowed back under a reasonable annual quota within a time limit not exceeding 10 years.

(2) A generous level of compensation will be determined for each refugee for property that remained in Israel, loss of opportunities, etc. The compensation will be paid by an international fund. Israel will contribute an appropriate portion to this fund, taking into account the value of Palestinian property that remained in Israel.

(3) Israel will use its influence with the international fund so that the Palestinian state will be enabled to absorb refugees who chose to return to it, as well as refugees currently residing in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, by providing suitable housing and employment opportunities.

Section 12: Implementation of UN Resolutions.

Upon full implementation of sections 1 to 9, both parties will present a formal joint statement to the UN Security Council, declaring that both parties consider resolutions 242 and 338 fully realized. Upon full implementation of section 11, both parties will present a declaration to the UN that resolution 194 has been realized

Section 13: Differences of Opinion.

An agreed-upon international committee will monitor the implementation of this agreement and act as arbitrator in the case of differences of opinion.

Section 14: End of the Conflict.

Full implementation of this agreement will constitute the end of the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Letters of support, remarks and contributions to pay for this advertisement to: Gush Shalom, P.O.Box 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033, Israel, Phone 972-(0)3-5221732, info@gush-shalom.org

http://emanzipationhumanum.de/english/vision001.html