The preparation of the statement took 40 days of back and forth drafts between 16 representatives of Palestinian and Israeli organizations including Ziad Abu Zayyad, Gershon Baskin, Izhak Schnell, Saman Khoury, Dan Jacobson, Hanna Sinoria, Walid Salem, Sharon Dolev, Shadi Habaib, Yael Patir, Elad Donagevsky, Eli Cohen Gewerc. Certainly some of them still have their own reservations, but from the kind that they now can live with.

Today we are beginning the process of collecting signatures from the civil society and the Parliamentarian and ex- Parliamentarian. Then we plan to hold a meeting of 200 people at least in 25/10/2007 in order to announce the statement. Followed by delivering it to the decision makers in
Israel, Palestine, and the Quartet. Therefore your signatures is badly needed in order to support our joint work for peace.

Please send your signatures to any of the initiators (emails above), in
a week time the utmost in order to help us begin to prepare effectively
for the next steep.
Looking forward to hear from you
Best Regards
Walid Salem
Director//The Society of Democracy and Community Development
Tel: 02-6281151
Fax: 02-6283351
E.mail: Walid@panoramacenter.org

Message from Palestinian and Israeli Civil Society to the International Conference on the Middle Eastern Conflict:
The people of Palestine and Israel call upon President Mahmoud Abbas
(Abu Mazen) and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to begin immediately intensified
negotiations to conclude, by the end of 2008, a genuine peace agreement
based upon: the Arab Peace Initiative and the previous agreements
signed between the two sides; the implementation of UN Security Council
Resolutions 242, 338 and 1397; a fair agreed-upon solution to the
Palestinian refugees problem in consideration of General Assembly
Resolution 194; the end of the Israeli occupation; the evacuation of
all Jewish settlements from within the final borders of the State of
Palestine; and a solution for Jerusalem based upon keeping it as one
city but establishing it as the capital of the two states: Palestine and
Israel.
Such an agreement should have a timetable and a mechanism for
implementation, and be conducive to the establishment of an
Independent, sovereign Palestinian state within the borders of the 4th of June 1967,
with limited mutually agreed-upon 1:1 swaps to meet the vital needs of
the two states.

This agreement should be implemented immediately and completed by the
establishment of the Palestinian state no later than the end of 2009.
And with its implementation, both sides will declare an end to the
conflict, opening the door to a comprehensive peace settlement to the
Arab-Israeli conflict. In setting out to achieve this goal, we call upon the two
leaders to work out a results-based implementation plan with clear
benchmarks that will concretely reflect positive changes in the life of
the Palestinian and Israeli people, and to provide peace, respect for
human rights and security to the two peoples.