Palestinian Civil Society Launches Effort to Create a Post-Oslo Peace Process

Petition to World Leaders Calls for UN General Assembly to Re-Establish UNSCOP

Hope is that Palestinian President Abbas Will Join this Call When He Addresses UNGA on September 23rd

JERUSALEM, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on ideas published in the Palestinian press by Jerome Segal, at a press conference in Ramallah, fifty Palestinians from various parts of civil society, including one member of the PLO Executive Committee, and one from the PLO Central Committee, released a petition calling on 195 world leaders, including the President of the State of Palestine, to:

"take such action as necessary for the United Nations General Assembly, as was done in 1947, to establish a United Nations Special Commission on Palestine (UNCOP-2), which will be charged to produce within four months, a comprehensive plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and to report that plan back the General Assembly."

In 1947, following repeated failures of British efforts to resolve the conflict through negotiations, the world turned to the UN for a solution.

The petition comes at a particularly low point in the effort to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, following President Biden's trip to the Middle East in which he made clear to the Palestinians that their struggle for independence is not his priority, saying:

"I know that the goal of the two-state [solution] seems far away . . . So even if the ground is not ripe at this moment to restart negotiations, the United States and my administration will not give up on trying to bring the Palestinians and the Israelis closer together."

The conclusion that the Oslo Peace Process is dead, was reached by many observers a decade ago. It is now 34 years since the PLO recognized Israel's right to exist, and no one expects successful Oslo-like negotiations.

The idea of going to the United Nations to establish UNSCOP-2, first emerged in a New York Times essay in 2012 by former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, former High Commissioner of the European Union, Javier Solana, and Jerome Segal, founder of the Peace Consultancy, who is serving as a consultant to the new Palestinian initiative.

Unlike the 1947-UNSCOP, which gave rise to UNGA Resolution 181, The Partition Resolution, the new proposal is not focused on producing a final status plan for immediate acceptance by the PLO and the Government of Israel.

Rather, it would create a new process of conflict resolution in which the United Nations becomes a medium for people-to-people peace making between the Palestinian people and the citizens of Israel. It is believed that this new process can transform Israeli politics and politics in the international community, especially the United States, in ways that ultimately will give rise to an Israeli government which is a serious partner for peace, as were the Governments of Prime Ministers Rabin and Olmert.

While the new UNSCOP-2 process does not require acceptance by the current Israeli government, it hopes for facilitation. It would go through the following steps:

- The General Assembly would establish the Special Commission on Palestine. UNSCOP-2 would be charged to develop a complete end-of-conflict plan that could win referendums of both a) all the Palestinian people, except those who are Israeli citizens, but including refugees worldwide, and b) all the citizens of Israel. The plan would also have to be consistent with the Arab Peace Initiative.

- UNSCOP would then come to the region and engage with all of Israeli and Palestinian civil society, including visiting refugee camps outside Palestine.

- On the basis of this inquiry it would develop its full plan, and this would then be presented by the UN Secretary General to the government of Israel and to the PLO as the basis for the planned referendums. First, however, Israel and the PLO would be invited to take three months to see it there are any improvements to the plan that can be mutually agreed upon, before submission to referendums, which the governments would be asked to facilitate, with or without endorsement.

- The referendum on the Palestinian side would go forward, whether or not the Israeli government boycotts the process. If the referendum passes, it would be viewed as an act of self-determination by the Palestinian people, and would be presented by the UN Secretary General to the President of Israel, to convey to the Israeli people. Further, the UN would call on all state and non-state actors, such as Hamas and the Government of Iran, to affirm that they would respect such a peace agreement, if Israel agrees to it.

The organizers of the petition have been in touch with President Abbas, seeking his endorsement, and Dr. Segal, who met with President Abbas on this back in 2015, said, "I believe he will be enthusiastic, as this can fill the void created by the death of Oslo."

The petition has been posted on medium at:

https://medium.com/@JeromeSegal/an-initiative-to-end-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict-1b654f5369e2

For further information please contact The Peace Consultancy at [email protected] or at 445-216-3846

SOURCE Jerome Segal