PA Does PR in Israel

Nov. 20 2008

Palestinians bypassed normal political negotiations to appeal directly to the Israeli public by buying full page ads in Israeli newspapers to promote the Saudi peace initiative, the first time the Palestinian Authority has run ads in Israeli papers.

Israeli parliament member Ahmed Tibi, who is Arab, said PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas “believes that this initiative is the best method to solve the conflict, and he thinks that up to this point the Israeli public and Israeli politics have not been given a chance to truly understand the initiative.”

The ad, ringed by the flags of dozens of Muslim nations and titled “The Arab Peace Initiative--Full relations and diplomatic ties between Israel and 57 Arab and Muslim states in exchange for a comprehensive peace agreement and a full end to the occupation,” ran in at the four daily Israeli newspapers.

The ad included quotes from Saudi Prince Abdullah calling for “a full Israel withdrawal from all Arab territories conquered in 1967” and promising “normal relations in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel, by convincing Arab states that a military solution to the conflict will not bring peace or security.”

Under the Saudi Plan, Israel would be required to cede the Golan Heights, all of Judea, Samaria and most if not all of eastern Jerusalem, including the Old City. Israel would also be required to find “a just solution” for millions of foreign Arabs claiming descent from those who fled the country during the War of Independence.

President Shimon Peres does not fully support the plan, but has said he believes it to be a good starting point for negotiations. Tzipi Livni, chairwoman of the Kadima party, has expressed similar sentiments.

And the Israeli public just might buy it too. Many here vote leftwing and several subscribe to the land-for-peace theory. And most Israeli will try anything for peace, even if it involves giving away most of your land, evacuating thousands of your fellow citizens and destroying their homes and then building dozens of new neighborhoods in order to relocate these people.

Does anyone remember Gaza? Did that work? Or could it be that the rockets that come from Gaza will then come from a Palestinian state and would be able to reach every part of Israel, not just the traumatized ones in the South?