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In
two weeks, a social forum will be held in Madrid that is devoted
entirely to the political situation in the Middle East. This Forum
for a Just Peace in the Middle East was organized by the social
movements of Madrid, including social organizations, solidarity
movements, human rights organizations, women’s groups and the trade
unions. More than 200 organizations were invited from Israel, the
Occupied Palestinian Territories and other places in West Asia. The
goal of the Forum is to conduct a deep and wide discussion on the
political situation in the region, the danger of the upcoming war and
also to speak about a joint strategy of struggle against occupation,
colonialism and war. In this sense, it is possible to define the
social forum of Madrid as anti-Annapolis. If the target of Annapolis
is Iran, and in a wider perspective the Muslim world, our own targets
in Madrid will be the neoconservative global war, the war of Ehud
Olmert and George Bush, and the ideology of the clash of
civilizations.
However,
it appears that in addition to our primary targets, we will be forced
to deal with an additional one: the attempt of the Peres Center for
Peace to integrate into the Forum, with the active assistance of the
Spanish Foreign Ministry.
The
involvement of a government ministry in a social forum is, in and of
itself, a serious violation of the Porto Alegre charter, which
established the absolute independence of the social forums from the
government. Yet the problem is not only statutory but absolutely
political: what are bodies that openly support neoliberalism and the
war doing with a conference that is entirely in opposition to
neoliberalism and the war??!!! This is not the first time that this
quasi-governmental entity attempts to sneak into a conference of
non-governmental organizations, and we have reviewed other attempts
in the past (see, for example, “The
Case against Palestinian Normalization with Israel”and “Peace
NGO Conference in Florence: A Fraud and a Mystification”).
However, this time the matter is more serious, as a majority of the
participants perceive the forum in Madrid as being anti-Annapolis,
and it is unacceptable that blatant supporters of Annapolis will be
present to seek converts for their plan of war, a plan being created
right before our eyes.
The
social forums do not make political policies, but rely on
international law, UN decisions and human and peoples’ rights as
defined in international conventions. As such, they support the
realization of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people—the
right to self-determination, the right of return—with no conditions
and with no exceptions. Any attempt to trade the right of return for
the right to a state, sovereignty for settlement blocs, withdrawal to
the borders of pre-1967 in return for “sovereignty in greater
Jerusalem” contradicts international law and the spirit of the
social forums.
This
is not to close the social forums, including the thematic social
forum of Madrid, to any organization, on condition that it truly is a
non-governmental organization and not a political party, but it must
be clear that this is not a supermarket in which all opinions,
including those supporting war and annexation, are legitimate. In
order to ensure that the Palestinian and Arab delegations do not feel
that we set for them a trap, the organizing committee of Madrid’s
social forum published a reference document, in the name of the
forum, which amongst other things determined that “the
Oslo Process and the Road Map which followed ignored the basic
requirements of justice and therefore failed in establishing peace,
security or prosperity in the Middle East…The basic requirements
for justice are only possible with an end to the Israeli occupation
and colonization of the occupied Palestinian territory, including
East Jerusalem; the recognition and facilitation of the rights of
Palestinian refugees, including their right to return to their lands
(in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (III)); and
end to the system of racial discrimination against Palestinian
citizens of Israel…” (for the full reference document, see “Forum
For a Just Peace in the Middle East: Madrid, a Space for
Peace—Reference Document”).
Only
a position founded on these principles can ensure a just peace in our
region. It is the polar opposite of the spirit of Annapolis and the
declaration of principles that will be published—if at all—in its
wake.
Within
the framework of this absolutely clear position of the Forum in
Madrid, everyone is welcome.
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