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.