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Shibley Telhami for Americans for Peace Now

Professor Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, expresses his respect and admiration for the work of APN and Peace Now in an open letter to supporters.

Dear Friend:

Major tragedies and crises test both individuals and groups.

The horror that befell the United States on September 11th presented a major challenge to every American, but especially to those who care deeply about peace in the Middle East. It wasn't simply the fear and sense of vulnerability, or even the astonishment at the degree of ruthlessness that the terrorists demonstrated, but even more: it was about profound questions that everyone asked about who we are, what kind of a world we live in, and who we want to be.

We all understand that the choices we make in responding to this horror will not only affect the degree of threat we will face in the future, but they will also define who we will become.

The September 11th attacks were also a reminder of the danger of keeping quiet in the face of bloodshed, and of the need for everyone to keep a moral compass so as not to allow passions of the moment to dictate who one is.

In the past year, violence and hardship among Palestinians and Israelis have allowed the extremists on both sides to define the discourse and to increase despair. Many of the moderates who reject violence and occupation have remained quiet in the shadow of death and destruction.

But one group has remained a voice of reason and moderation even in the midst of despair: Peace Now, and its affiliate, Americans for Peace Now. It has not wavered, it has not been quieted in its consistent drive for a just peace in the Middle East. It has provided a ray of hope, a link between the many on both sides of the conflict who remain committed to a negotiated and just settlement.

As I was contemplating the disaster that befell America in my own mind and relating it to the Middle East, I was immediately drawn to the example that Peace Now had set upon its inception almost twenty years ago. My thoughts went back to the year 1982 and the picture that profoundly affected my own consciousness. There was a massacre in Lebanon of hundreds of innocent Palestinians in Sabra and Shatilla. It was one of the especially tragic moments in the bloody history of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

But right in the middle of that tragedy, there was an inspiring picture: tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrating in the center of Tel Aviv, chanting "Peace Now."

That choice that those thousands made was doubly significant. On the one hand, it was a humanitarian gesture and expression of empathy with Palestinian victims, a revelation of one's humanity even in the midst of bloodshed.

But in addition there was something more profound.

It was a sense of rejection of attaining security at any price.

It was an understanding that one becomes what one does.

It was a rejection of the invasion of Lebanon and of the proposition that the conflict could be resolved by military means.

In my own judgment, the stand that Israeli supporters of peace took in 1982 had the consequence of not only opening an important debate in Israel itself, but also in signaling to the Palestinians that Israelis, like Arabs, are not all alike. For years, Palestinians had believed that there is no difference in Israel between Left and Right except tactically. I believe that the tone set by Peace Now in that dark crisis in 1982 was the prelude to the contacts that ensued in the next decade between Israelis and Palestinians that ultimately helped bring about the Oslo Accords.

When analysts across the board look today to the single biggest obstacle, beyond violence, to a stable solution between Israel and the Palestinians, most agree that it is the hundreds of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza that have made the task of separating Israelis and Palestinians nearly impossible. Peace Now has been a prophet on this issue for two decades, and has not allowed the passions of the moment to derail its courageous fight to seek an end to settlement activity. Even as Israeli public opinion has hardened in the past year, Peace Now has spoken out loudly and repeatedly in objection to twenty-five new settlements being established since Ariel Sharon was elected Prime Minister, settlements that were revealed to the public only because of Peace Now reconnaissance flights over the West Bank. It is the moral thing to do, and it is the strategically wise thing to do.

Israelis and Arabs, especially Palestinians, are fated to live together in the Middle East. Neither is about to leave the region to make room for the other. The history of the past century should teach us that there can be no stable outcome imposed by force, and certainly no moral outcome. They will both survive if they continue to fight, but what will become of their societies and their lives as militants and occupiers? Peace Now is always there to remind us of the better alternative.

I urge you to support its efforts.

In Israel, Peace Now continues to be the only organization that systematically investigates the settlement movement and documents its negative impact on the peace process. Its Youth Dialogue program is one of the few remaining efforts that brings together Israeli and Palestinian children in an effort to understand each other's perspectives on the violence has imposed itself on their lives. And Peace Now is helping to mend relations between the Jewish and Arab Israeli communities after police killed thirteen Israeli Arab children at the beginning of the current Intifada.

In the United States, Americans for Peace Now has been the only major voice in the American Jewish community talking about what both Ariel Sharon and Yasir Arafat need to do to get peace negotiations back on track. Through speaking tours in the U.S., position papers, briefing calls, op-eds, and press releases, Americans for Peace Now has continued to advocate for a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is working with government officials in this country and in the Middle East to improve the chances for meaningful peace negotiations to take place, to keep journalists and Members of Congress informed about the significance of Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy in the broader fight against terrorism, and to call on its grassroots activists to get involved in their communities with building support for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

There are many ways that you could respond to the terrible events of September 11th.

Making a generous contribution to Americans for Peace at this time is the best way to show your support for a brighter future in the Middle East-nearly half of every dollar it raises goes directly to Peace Now in Israel, and the rest goes to support its programming here in America.

Even more: a contribution to Americans for Peace Now is a positive, moral reaffirmation about the kind of people we want to be, even in the face of the hatred and rage that struck this country in September.

Sincerely,

Shibley Telhami

Shibley Telhami is Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland and is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. In addition to his academic work, Telhami is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the advisory committee of Human Rights Watch/Middle East. He has been a member of the American delegation of the Trilateral American/Israeli/Palestinian Anti-Incitement Committee mandated by the Wye River Agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. He also has a weekly radio commentary that broadcasts all over the Middle East. He was appointed by the White House to the Board of the United States Institute of Peace. He has also served as advisor to the United States delegation to the United Nations during the Iraq-Kuwait crisis.