Insights

Gershon explains the importance of investing a lot more energy and thought into how to integrate the bottom-up peace making process within their overall strategies.

Gershon Baskin feels that Mitzna’s victory can be a turning point and it is now it is up to us to make the real difference.

After many more casualties on both sides, the sides will come back to the only real viable solution to the conflict – real political separation together with economic cooperation and integration.

Israelis and Palestinians who know that eventually we will reach peace…must not give in to the emotional drive to cut links and contacts. Quite the opposite, we must remain committed to dialogue aimed at planning our future together through a vision of cooperation, mutual respect and dignity.

Gershon Baskin shares his ideas about what can be done from “bottom-up” to create peace

Both sides benefit from this arrangement in meeting the needs and demands of both sides. Israel gets verification of the arrests, trial and imprisonment of suspected terrorists. Arafat gets guarantees against Israeli bombings of Palestinian prisons. Both sides gain significant American, Canadian and EU encouragement to implement the ceasefire. Perhaps this model of American, Canadian and EU observers can also serve both sides in guaranteeing the implementation of future agreements and arrangements between them.

Gershon Baskin shares some ideas/actions that will make a small contribution towards a “bottom-up” peacemaking strategy.

In this paper Gershon Baskin shares his personal experience with the people involved in the Oslo process that started in 1993 with secret talks between Israel and the PLO and soon became a cycle of negotiations, suspension, mediation, restart of negotiations and suspension again. Gershon Baskin touches upon the agreements that were reached, until the Oslo process ended after the failure of the Camp David Summit in 2000 and the outbreak of the Second Intifada.

Gershon Baskin believe’s that the launching of the intifada was neither planned or strategically thought of by the Palestinian leadership – be it the PA or the Tanzim.  It was a series of events that developed rapidly, escalated and got out of control.  Decisions regarding its continuation and its course were made mostly following the events themselves. This paper is how Gershon thinks it unfolded.

Who owns Jerusalem and who has the right to control the city?