Amman Declaration of Global Majority and the Palestine-Israel
Journal
June 24, 2007
As members of Global Majority's International Advisory Board and
Board of Directors, in collaboration with the Palestine-Israel
Journal, we issue the following Amman Declaration on the occasion
of the "Promoting Peace through Dialogue" International Conference
convened in Amman, Jordan, June 22-24, 2007.
We gather at an ominous time in the history of the Middle
East.
Violence continues to afflict the innocent in Palestine, Israel,
Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan, as well as in other regions of the
world.
We gather as civil society representatives from Israel, Palestine,
Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Japan, South Africa,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Germany,
Hungary, Kenya, Australia, the United Kingdom, Mexico and the
United States committed to modeling the power of dialogue and the
possibility of solutions generated through principled negotiation,
mediation and conflict resolution methods;
We acknowledge the plight of all victims of war, including families
torn by the loss of family members and those displaced by war to
the uncertain status of refugees - both the internally displaced
and those forced to leave their homelands.
We call for the promotion of dialogue, negotiation and mediation
between state and non-state actors and civil society
representatives to prevent and to settle violent conflicts
including, but not limited to, those in Palestine, Israel, Iraq,
Afghanistan and Lebanon.
Forty years after 1967, we reaffirm that ending the Israeli
occupation of the Palestinian territories is the key step towards
peace and security in the Middle East. We believe that the solution
lies in the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based
upon the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, alongside
the State of Israel.
WE CALL UPON THE LEADERS OF ISRAEL AND PALESTINE TO:
1. Join in the condemnation of all forms of violence including, but
not limited to, the violence occasioned by occupation,
marginalization, resource control and exploitation, and individual
and military acts of overt violence;
2. Join in a shared commitment to participate in an international
conference to secure peace and to affirm a two-state
solution;
3. Join in a call for the international community to recognize a
two-state solution to the conflict and to provide the necessary
diplomatic, economic and social resources to ensure the protection
of the people and the establishment of autonomous and mutually
recognized nations; and
4. Acknowledge the role that civil society organizations in Israel,
Palestine, the region and the international arena can play in
creating and promoting the conditions for a renewal of the
Israeli-Palestinian peace process;
5. Take advantage of the Arab Peace Initiative, reaffirmed in
Riyadh in 2007, as a unique opportunity in which the Arab world
offers the State of Israel recognition, peace and normalized
relations in exchange for withdrawal from the occupied territories,
the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and an
agreed-upon resolution of the refugee problem and Jerusalem;
and
6. Commit to a process of negotiation, mediation and dialogue to
address issues
including, but not limited to:
a. Boundaries and political borders;
b. Settlements and the separation wall;
c. The rights of refugees;
d. The future of Jerusalem;
e. The equitable distribution of water and other natural resources;
and
f. The recognition of appropriate political entities and the
sovereign rights of all peoples.
WITH RESPECT TO THE WAR IN IRAQ AND THE PLIGHT OF REFUGEES WE CALL
FOR:
1. The formation of a regional conference including, but not
limited to, the participation of designated representatives from
stakeholder organizations within Iraq to be convened with other
regional leaders and members of the Quartet (U.S., UN, EU and
Russia) to address the following issues:
a. The commitment to assisting Iraq in achieving autonomy,
stability and sovereignty, as well as working toward the withdrawal
of foreign military forces; and
b. The establishment of an international fund and coordinating
committee under the auspices of the United Nations or designated
regional partners to provide for:
i. The reconstruction of infrastructure;
ii. The return and support of refugees and displaced (including
internally displaced) populations;
iii. The establishment of appropriate reconciliation mechanisms for
the purpose of engaging victims of violence in a process of healing
and reintegration; and
iv. The development of such other mechanisms as may lead to the
establishment of peace and wellbeing for the populations of
Afghanistan and Iraq.
WITH RESPECT TO THE CRISIS INVOLVING IRAN AND MEMBERS OF THE UNITED
NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL AND OTHER REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL
PARTNERS, WE RECOMMEND:
1. The initiation and prioritization of dialogue and negotiations
to address the issues of peaceful nuclear energy development;
2. The initiation of dialogue and negotiation to address strategies
for the achievement of a Middle East nuclear weapons-free zone;
and
3. The advancement of dialogue and negotiation engaging all nuclear
weapon states, whether party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty or
not, to embrace a commitment to total nuclear weapons disarmament
by a certain date, including specific timetables leading to the
total abolition of all nuclear weapons.
WITH RESPECT TO THE CURRENT CRISIS IN LEBANON, WE CALL FOR:
1. The initiation of negotiations and dialogue among all interested
internal parties;
2. The formation of an international body to support and assist in
the promotion of dialogue; and,
3. The formation of an international fund for the provision of
assistance to refugees, internally displaced persons and victims of
war, and for the reconstruction of the infrastructure and social
services.
AND FURTHER, WE CALL UPON GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY TO SUPPORT THIS
AMMAN DECLARATION BY CIRCULATING ITS CONTENTS AND BY ENCOURAGING
MEMBERS TO CONTACT THEIR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES AND THE LEADERS OF
ISRAEL AND PALESTINE TO HONOR THE WILL OF THEIR CITIZENS AND THAT
OF GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY.