Z STREET INITIATIVE: RETHINKING THE END GAME IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Z STREET’s NEW INITIATIVE http://www.zstreet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=2
Improving lives in the Middle East: RETHINKING THE END GAME
At Z STREET we believe the goal of the Peace Process should be peace. The rest of the world, however, seems to have veered off into believing that the goal has to be the immediate creation of a Palestinian State, which will then satisfy the “two states” idea.
So many people act as if any deviation from an ossified focus on immediate Palestinian state-creation is an obstacle to peace, but what if the obstacle to peace is the insistence on the creation of a second state, and the goal, instead, should be something quite different? What if the goal was instead what it perhaps should have been to begin with, and the geopolitical configuration should be determined based on how best to achieve that attainable goal?
What we do know for sure is that the two states model has failed time after time. Given that certainty, Z STREET believes it is time for everyone to stop thinking about the people in the Middle East as aberrations, and instead start focusing on the obvious commonalities.
This means Rethinking the End Game. At the end of the day, everyone wants to live safe, productive lives. They want to have the ability to read what they want, say what they want, work where they want, and go where they want. And they want access to good medical care, cutting-edge technology, first class educational opportunities and a vibrant economy.
Our goal at Z STREET is to work towards a viable model that ensures that the greatest number of people have access to all these rights and services while internalizing the importance of tolerance, mutual acceptance, pluralism and respect for the law. We place those goals in our analysis first – they are the end game – and then search for the political constructs, whatever they may be, most likely to achieve those ultimate goals.
That is why, in Washington D.C. in early May, Z STREET is bringing together experts who will explain the reality of the immediate future, and how best to improve that. We will see it from the perspective of human and civil rights, from the economic standpoint, from the cultural perspective. We will also learn how it will play out in terms of international law and, of course, in terms of security for Israel. All of these different, unfortunately heretofore largely ignored perspectives, will offer options for how to successfully move forward on a peace process that can actually lead to real improvements in the lives of all the people who live there. And that will lead to peace.
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