The only semi-democracy in the Middle East

AVRAHAM BURG, respected senior voice in Israel’s political landscape, declared in December 2015 for a single state, writing: “The time has come to fight for a secular democracy that belongs to all its citizens”.

 One Democracy is proud to make this available.

“From here on the battle is not over delusions of peace being just around the corner, nor over creating an illusory reality according to which any minute now, out of nothing, a separation agreement will appear and redeem us. This is a battle of life and death, between a bad one-state regime and one state that is good for both peoples” Read more…

Al Arakib’s Day at the Supreme Court

Report by Kibush, Israel’s Occupation Magazine
More on Bedouin resistance in One Democracy’s Newsblog

Nuri al-Ukbi: `It would be a proof that redressing injustice is possible`

Israeli Supreme Court offers a conciliation process to achieve a fair solution on Bedouin lands case; state must answer in two weeks whether it agrees to conciliation on Araqib lands.

At the end of long deliberation at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, the court suggested the holding of a conciliation process in order to reach a fair solution on the question of Bedouin land ownership at Al Araqib , northwest of Beersheba. Read more…

Draft for a Petition to PLO leaders

Intense pressure is being brought to bear for a two-state sign-up. Should we be organising some counter pressure? Here is One Democracy’s suggested text for an Online Petition:

We the undersigned send this message to Palestinian negotiators:

* We urge you to stand firm for the basic rights of all Palestinians to live and work on their lands in security, in accordance with international law, for an end to military rule, for the dismantling of discrimination and apartheid in Israel, for an end to the illegal collective punishments of Gaza and for the right of return of all our people exiled from their homeland, for freedom of movement and the removal of illegal barriers and walls, and for free access of all our people to Jerusalem.

* We urge you instead to actively promote Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against all of Israel’s apartheid practices and war crimes, to end your security role for the Occupation, to align yourselves with and to support all the community and political struggles throughout Palestine for civil and human rights.

* We believe it is now time to declare a final break from the Oslo agreement, from the two state solution and from any further damaging negotiations to re-partition Palestine, and to examine other viable routes to a stable, democratic future of freedom, justice and equal rights for all Palestinians and other peoples of the lands of historic Palestine, including shared and equal sovereignty based on universal values and equal respect.

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“No good for Palestinians will come of the current Middle East talks. Worse, harm seems likely.” – Susan Abulhawa

 “Inter-governmental diplomacy is not a pathway to a just peace, but rather a sinkhole for Palestinian rights.”  - UN rapporteur Richard Falk

The One State Proposal

This post was written in November 2011 for a conference in Jerusalem called “The Best Plans” which set out to test various Peace Plans for their usability and likelihood of acceptance by the two populations. It follows a format set for all submissions. While we really don’t think that lack of a clever plan is what is holding things up, it seemed worth putting in an appearance as against bi-nationalism, cantons (and worse), as otherwise the One State would not be represented at all. Read more…

J14 declares “New State of Israel”

On 12 December, in an audacious intervention, a large group of social justice activists presented this manifesto to the top echelons of Israel’s Zionist establishment. Their delivery was so stylish and dramatic that it drew applause and sheepish grins from the likes of Ehud Barak; the governor of the Bank of Israel drew out his mobile phone and filmed the historic occasion. It was indeed historic, not so much in pulling off a breathtaking flashmob event, as for the content Read more…

Vision of the Movement for One Democratic State

Adopted 24 October 2010 in Dallas, Texas. Read the full text, and Sign the Declaration, here

1. The entire territory of Palestine between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River is one country Read more…

UN Special Rapporteur: Two-state consensus a “misleading diversion”

From the transcript of an oral presentation made by Dr. Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in  the Palestinian Territories, to the General Assembly on 20 October 2010 Read more…

Who best to decide whether Israel is guilty of Apartheid than scholars from the country which coined the term and then succeeded in ending its own apartheid system? In a major study based on international law, the Human Sciences Research Centre of South Africa set out to examine the facts dispassionately, avoiding “political discourse and rhetoric”.

Frances ReMillard of ICAHD-USA has produced an invaluable summary that makes this comprehensive legal study easier for the lay campaigner to digest and use.

Is Israel an Apartheid State — Rhetoric or Reality?

Do Israel’s practices in occupied Palestinian territory, namely the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, amount to the crimes of colonialism and apartheid under international law? Read more…

Al-Shabaka is the Palestinian Policy Network, and has produced a series of clear, thoughtful and informative policy papers. Among them:

BDS

“BDS: A global movement for Freedom and Justice” by Omar Barghouti:  “Al-Shabaka policy advisor Omar Barghouti examines the formation and evolution of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. Barghouti argues that BDS’s growing success is due to its rights-based approach, collective leadership, call to Israelis of conscience, and promotion of context-specific strategies.”

Self Determination

In “Reclaiming Self-Determination”, Ali Abunimah demonstrates the difference between Sovereignty, which refers to rights and qualities of a territorial state which define its standing and degree of self-control and independence,  and Self-Determination, which is “exercised by a people legitimately inhabiting a given territory”, who might decide on various degrees of sovereignty (e.g. in relation to alliances such as the EC) that are acceptable.

Sovereignty

In “How Sovereign a State?” Camille Mansour reveals how unlikely it is that a truly sovereign Palestinian state can come about as a result of negotiations in the present circumstances.

http://al-shabaka.org

Shministim Letter 2009-10

“Inspired by generations of conscientious objectors in Israel and around the world, who opposed their governments by saying: “We will not fight your wars! We object to being enemies!”.

Shministim are school “seniors” or eighth grade teenagers facing army call-up. They will serve several prison sentences before finally being Read more…

Palestinian refugee and exile communities in more than 25 countries demand their rights and discuss their needs and priorities in landmark report

November 2006

The Civitas: Foundations for Participation project, based at Nuffield College at the University of Oxford, announces the forthcoming launch of its report Palestinians Register: Laying Foundations and Setting Directions. This landmark report Read more…

What we Palestinians need

An  outline of priorities for the Palestinian struggle by Mustafa Barghouti, general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative

Palestinians have only two choices before them, either to continue to evade the struggle, as some have been trying to do, or to summon the collective national resolve to engage in it.

The latter option does not necessarily entail a call to Read more…

The London, Madrid One State Declaration

For decades, efforts to bring about a two-state solution in historic Palestine have failed to provide justice and peace for the Palestinian and Israeli Jewish peoples, Read more…

Twelve Principles

If there is no viable re-partition of Palestine into two states, the best alternative is a political rather than a territorial peace. ONE DEMOCRACY proposes the following principles, which could be supported by Read more…

The fifth Bil’in International Conference on the Popular Struggle

April 21-23, 2010

Closing Statement

The participants who included many high level diplomats and Palestinian politicians from across the political spectrum were welcomed to Bil’in by the head of the Bil’in popular Read more…

Adalah: Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel —

Proposed Democratic Constitution for Israel

Introduction by Adalah Chairman Prof. Marwan Dwairy

On the tenth anniversary of its founding, Adalah is issuing “The Democratic Constitution,” as a constitutional proposal for the state of Israel, based on the concept of a democratic, bilingual, Read more…

The Olga Document

The following document, authored by Prof. Anat Biletzki, Andre Draznin, Haim Hanegbi, Yehudith Harel, Michel (Micado) Warschawski, Oren Medicks, was written in a series of meetings in Giv’at Olga, and titled after Read more…

ZOCHROT CONFERENCE 2008

Learning the Nakba as a condition for peace and reconciliation

Norma Musih: The Jewish people in Israel, or at least most of them, live in complete ignorance or even denial of the Palestinian disaster that took place in 1948, the Nakba. Read more…

Thinking practically about the return of the Palestinian refugees:  Eitan Bronstein and Norma Musih

Norma Musih: What I’m presenting here today is part of an article Eitan Bronstein and I wrote and published recently at Sedek 3. It’s a suggestion Read more…

Zochrot Conference on Right of Return

Introductory remarks by Eitan Bronstein

I am moved and happy to open this conference: “Towards Return of Palestinian Refugees: Practices, Strategies and Visions.“  This title promises a great deal, Read more…

Declaration of the Second Haifa conference For the Return of the Palestinian Refugees and the Democratic Secular State in Historic Palestine

Endorsed by the preparatory committee in its meeting in Jaffa, 9/4/2010

The Preparatory Committee

The preparatory committee is a group of activists and individuals from different political movements and parties, human rights organizations, civil society and various sectors of public life such as the arts, Read more…