The Oslo accords were both very good and very bad. Very good because, for the first time, both sides agreed to recognize each other and to work out a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Peace was presented - if only for a brief time, as an honorable national goal. Dialog with the ‘enemy’ became permissible and even desirable. But the agreements were very bad, because they did not specify even the outline of the possible settlement. As soon as the papers were signed, both sides began public bargaining from maximalist positions. Many Israelis imagined we could give the Palestinians a small patch of land on which they would meekly live in semi-autonomous native reservations. This is called ‘Peace with Security,’ meaning ‘Peace with Greater Israel.’ Many Palestinians imagined that peace would mean that the ‘Zionists’ would all go home, and allow them to return in force to Palestine as it was a hundred years ago. This is called ‘Peace with Justice,’ meaning ‘Palestine without Jews.’ These ‘solutions’ were presented to the peoples of each side by their leaders, to show what a good bargain they had made. However, the Palestinians also heard the Israeli leaders ‘promising’ that there would be no Palestinian state, and the Israelis heard the Palestinian leaders calling for holy wars.

Extremists on either side seized on these declarations to create a fear that the peace was really surrender. Extremists on each side told their people that the Oslo accords are an American conspiracy to deprive them of their rights, motivated by greed for petrodollars or by the Jewish lobby. A hundred years of hate and struggle have created monumental fears and hates on both sides. It was not hard for those who have a vested interest in killing the peace to kindle these fears into violence - Baruch Goldstein, Yigal Amir, Yehyeh Ayash, Sheikh Yassin. Both sides have listened to the voices of darkness. Politicians on either side have made their political fortunes by killing the peace.

To save the chance of peace, we must speak clearly and put peace first. The leaders of both the Palestinians and the Israelis must tell their peoples the truth: there will be no peace without compromise, without respect for the rights and needs of the other side. There is nothing to be gained from continuing the struggle for the unattainable and the unnecessary, and everything to be gained from working for a peaceful future.

PEACE has prepared a declaration based on these principles. The final version will be sent to PEACE participants shortly, circulated for signing at the peace really on Saturday, and posted on the Web. We want to show both peoples that peace does not mean national suicide; that it is possible to live side by side in mutual respect. It is not a map of territories, but a map of principles. It is a call to our leaders to listen to the peace lobby; to negotiate in earnest based on principles of fairness; to look for solutions, rather than providing excuses as to why problems cannot be solved, and to lead our two peoples on the road to rapprochement. We hope every person interested in peace will add their names to declaration and help our peoples break the circle of violence.

There is no doubt that the peace process is very ill, if not dead. Resurrection of the dead however, is not unknown in the Middle East. By the combined will of both our peoples, and with the help of friends of peace all over the world, perhaps we can make this miracle happen.