Imagine a Hollywood star like Brad Pitt or Edward Norton — or even Arnold Schwarzenegger — appearing on Palestinian TV with this public service announcement: A real hero doesn’t kill innocent civilians.
That’s in the works, and just one segment of a broad initiative, called One Voice, taking off in the Middle East, in an effort to amplify the voices of the silent majority — on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides.
Daniel Lubetzky, the co-founder of One Voice, was in San Francisco this week to talk about the new initiative that he hopes will mobilize all those silent moderates in the Middle East. He spoke Monday at the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation.
Lubetzky, the son of Jewish immigrants, was raised in Mexico City and attended Stanford Law School. While there, he received a fellowship from the Haas Koshland Foundation to write about legislative means to foster joint ventures between Arabs and Israelis.
That research turned into Peaceworks, a company that makes specialty food products, like sun-dried tomato pesto, as a joint venture between Israelis and Palestinians. The N.Y.-based company has also branched out into Indonesia, Sri Lanka and South Africa, but Lubetzky remains most concerned with the Middle East.
One of the major obstacles to peace in the region is that the conflict has been hijacked by extremists on both sides, according to Lubetzky. Those who are moderates and truly believe in peace are silenced by the extremists, he believes.
Additionally, he said, many have given up hope. “There is a lack of personal responsibility. We need to mobilize Israelis and Palestinians to become guardians of diplomacy.”
One Voice is a nonpolitical organization, and Lubetzky prefers that it be referred to as an initiative or movement. When asked to give the group’s views on the Palestinian “right of return” or Jerusalem, he said there is none.
Rather, One Voice operates according to a declaration called the “Proclamation of Principles for Reconciliation,” which has such tenets as recognizing “the mutual right of both peoples to independence, personal and state security, sovereignty, liberty, dignity, respect and economic viability.” It also believes that for “the Palestinians ending the occupation and achieving freedom is critical, while for the Israelis ending terrorism and ensuring security is critical.”
The proclamation can be signed by others at www.silentnolonger.org
Interestingly, most Israelis believe that Palestinians won’t sign on to such a document, Lubetzky said, and Palestinians believe the same of Israelis, when in fact the opposite is true. “Each side has only been exposed to the bad side of the other,” he said.
Queen Rania of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was a recent signatory, as was Shimon Peres. In North America, such heavyweights as Edgar Bronfman Sr., president of the World Jewish Congress and James Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute, are both on board. So are celebrities Rhea Perlman and Danny DeVito. Locally, Rabbi Ari Cartun of Palo Alto’s Congregation Etz Chayim and Iftekhar Hai, the Peninsula-based director of interfaith relations of the United Muslims of America, serve on One Voice’s ad hoc advisory committee.
While Lubetzky came without a Palestinian counterpart, he assured those gathered Monday at the JCF that the initiative is a completely joint effort. There are two executive directors, one Israeli and one Palestinian, and the Middle East director is an Israeli Arab, Mohammad Darawshe, who is the spokesman of Givat Haviva.
And contrary to what many in the Jewish community believe, said Lubetzky, most Palestinians are desperate for peace.
One Voice volunteers collected several thousand signatures to its proclamation at the Jenin refugee camp alone — in three days. “The Palestinians are far ahead of the Jews in moving forward with this,” he said. In many cases, Palestinian nongovernmental organizations have been helping with the outreach, with volunteers often traveling to villages by horse and donkey, since Israeli checkpoints make it so difficult to travel in the West Bank.
After thousands of signatures are collected on both sides, One Voice will present several different plans on how to resolve the conflict, allowing participants to vote on their preferred one. Then, hopefully, the politicians will follow the voice of the people.
Lubetzky said there are examples of progress. For example, Sheik Taiser Rajab Altamimi, head of the Islamic Court in Palestine, serves on One Voice’s honorary board of advisors. Altamimi has often condemned violence against Israelis, and preaches non-violence but “you never hear it. The good guys never get on TV.”
Lubetzky urged those in attendance to contact the media, often, and urge that such initiatives as One Voice get coverage.
Though he expressed optimism during his talk, Lubetzky ended on a purely practical note. “We’re not trying to approach this out of peace and love and humanity, it’s in the self-interest for both sides. Each side has their narratives of the past and present, but we speak of one shared vision of the future.”