Israel and the Palestinians

The U.S. should:

(a) Consistently engage in diplomatic efforts to achieve peace;

(b) Urge Israel to stop  all settlement expansion in the occupied territories;

(c) Urge direct negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leader, including leaders of Hamas  which does not recognize Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. Negotiating with enemies without pre-conditions is not a sign of weakness;

(d) Urge  direct negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Urge all Palestinian factions to refrain from rocket attacks, suicide missions or other acts of violence against Israel. Support a decision by Israel to suspend negotiations if such attacks do occur.

(e) Urge Israel to make it easier for West Bank Arabs to travel within the occupied territories, and to cross into Israel for employment;

(f) Urge Hamas to accept a two-state solution. If Hamas refuses to do so even if Israel were to withdraw from most of the occupied West Bank and parts of Jerusalem, support an Israel decision to break off negotiations and not to withdraw from the West Bank or East Jerusalem, but do not support any Israeli expansion of West Bank settlements.

(g) Urge Palestinian leaders to require that school children’s history texts not contain blatant anti-Jewish falsehoods such as the long-discredited “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” Textbooks should be historically accurate – for instance make it clear that the West Bank was under Jordanian rule and not an independent Palestinian State when Israel occupied it after the 1967 war.

(h) Urge Israeli and Palestinian leaders to deal reasonably with Palestinians’ claim of the right to return to their former homes in Israel. Some Palestinian Arabs fled Israel voluntarily during and after the 1948 war was started by Arab countries in protest against the U.N. resolution partitioning Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish section. But other Palestinian Arabs were pushed out by Israel. The number of Palestinians living in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria and not integrated into the host countries’ society has increased enormously. Their return to Israel would end the existence of Israel as a democratic Jewish state. But they should be financially compensated and their host countries should allow and encourage them to become citizens;

(i) Urge Israeli and Palestinians leaders to accept the idea that parts of East Jerusalem can be the capital of the new Palestinian State and other parts can be the capital of Israel;

(j) Urge Israel to ensure that its soldiers refrain from violence against unarmed civilians and from imposing economic hardship on Arabs in the occupied West Bank;

(j) Urge Israel to treat Israeli Arabs as full and equal citizens and not to discriminate against them in any fashion.

Tags: Hamas, Israel, Israeli Arabs, Israeli settlement, Jerusalem, Jewish State, negotiation, Palestinian refugees, Palestinians, right to return, textbooks, two-state solution, West Bank