Press Room

AAI in the News

Grassroots Peace Iniative Gets Under Way

Interview With James Zogby
Posted on Tuesday May 20, 2003

A new international initiative is being launched in Israel and the territories aimed at drafting a peoples’ road map to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and achieve a just and lasting peace.

The program, known as One Voice, is being supported by a broad range of organizations and people, including businessman and World Jewish Congress chairman Edgar Bronfman, American Arab Institute president James Zogby, and celebrities like Brad Pitt and his wife Jennifer Aniston.

It is based on the premise that there is a silent majority among Israelis and Palestinians who want a negotiated settlement and an end to the cycle of violence.

The initiative, which also has the backing of local leaders, including deputy Industry and Trade Minister Michael Ratzon, Labor MK Matan Vilna’i, Rabbi Michael Melchior, leading Palestinian Islamic cleric Sheikh Tayseer Tamini and Yasser Abbas, son of Palestiniann Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), was officially launched at a press conference in Tel Aviv on Monday night.

The program is an offshoot of the US-based Peace Works Foundation, headed by American Jewish businessman Daniel Lubetzky, which is opening offices in Herzliya, Ramallah, and Gaza as part of the project.

Mohammad Darawshe, regional director and co-founder of One Voice, said that despite the recent upsurge in terror attacks and ongoing fighting in the territories, there was clear evidence that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians want a peaceful solution to the conflict.