OneVoice Movement Press Coverage

By Dina Kraft

Achinoam Nini, left, and Mira Awad thank supporters at a Tel Aviv bar at a send-off party on April 30, 2009 ahead of their performance in the Eurovision Song Contest. (Dina Kraft)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Singers Achinoam Nini and Mira Awad look out at the crowd cheering them on at a packed Tel Aviv bar and beam delighted, almost surprised smiles as they sing their duet: a call for peace in Hebrew, Arabic and English called “There Must be Another Way.”

The Jewish-Arab duo hasn’t heard much applause since being named Israel’s representatives for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, which is something of a cross between the Grammys and “American Idol.”

Their selection during the recent Gaza war instantly made them — Awad, especially — targets of the country’s hard-line left and hard-line right. Both said it was wrong for them to represent the country and called on the duo to quit the competition.

Surrounded by supporters April 30 at a party shortly before their departure for Moscow, where the contest will be held later this month, the two sound a triumphant note. They defend their message of coexistence and their own friendship, which they say helped them get through this conflict within a conflict.

“There needs to be a moderate voice to advance things,” Nini, a major Israeli star, says after their brief performance. “Unfortunately, we see moderation get less of a stage because it seems boring and gray against the violent elements who photograph well in the media.”

“True, maybe we also look good in the newspapers — even though we don’t call for violence and don’t even French kiss like Britney Spears and Madonna,” she adds, laughing and jangling a large necklace of plastic geometric pieces that resembled a chandelier. “We just sing our message with our hearts and our heads.”

Neither is a stranger to politics.

Nini, 39, long has been an outspoken advocate of a two-state solution. Awad, 34, says she sees herself as part of the Palestinian nation while also feeling very much Israeli, as one of Israel’s 1.5 million Arab citizens.

Awad found herself under attack as soon as the announcement was made in January by the Israel Broadcasting Authority that she and Nini would represent Israel at Eurovision. This year marks the first time an Israeli Arab will represent Israel, and the timing of the announcement — during the war in Gaza — prompted fellow Arab citizens and Jewish activists and artists to write her an open letter urging her to change her mind.

"The Israeli government is sending the two of you to Moscow as part of its propaganda machine that is trying to create the appearance of Jewish-Arab ‘coexistence’ under which it carries out the daily massacre of Palestinian civilians,” the letter said.

Some right-wing lawmakers, meanwhile, questioned Awad’s loyalty to the state and suitability to represent Israel.

Awad, a singer and actress who grew up in Haifa, speaks of how difficult it was at the time to reconcile the Gaza war and the news that she would be performing at Eurovision.

She says she viewed the criticism from some fellow Arab moderates as of a piece with the Israeli Arab community’s complex feelings about their lives in Israel.

“I think sometimes my people here tend toward a militant way of expressing the pain; that’s just my personal thoughts on this,” she says. “At some point I tried to rise above that kind of guilt and say I need to look above and look at life here. I have a lot of friends who are Jewish Israelis, people who love me and would give their life for me. And therefore it opens your eyes when you realize the human connection is first and foremost, and then come the issues of nationality and religion.”

The two make a striking pair as they weave their way through their send-off party, their music blasting through the bar’s loudspeakers, laughing and embracing. Of the two, Nini, of Yemenite descent, has the more typically “Arab look” — dark olive skin and tight black curls. Awad, whose mother is Bulgarian, is lighter, with honey-colored hair and pale skin.

They seem to revel on mixing up stereotypes and grow angry when asked if their performance, and the song they wrote for the competition, is something of a gimmick

Gil Dor, Nini’s longtime musical partner, who accompanies her on guitar, also will be performing in the contest. Dor introduced the singers to each other eight years ago, suggesting they find a way to make music together.

Their cover of the Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out” was one of their first collaborations. They have an album of 12 songs, the Eurovision entry among them, coming out soon.

Dor says he ordinarily would be offended at the idea of musicians facing off in competition, but that in this case there is a noble mission involved.

“We are representing the country in an ideal in how it wants to look and how all would like to see its future,” he says. “So we are very proud to be representatives in this.”

Irit Pearlman, chairwoman of OneVoice, the grass-roots peace group that hosted the farewell party, says the song Nini and Awad will be singing sums up the feelings of the majority of both Israelis and Palestinians, who seek “another way” out of the violence of a conflict that seems to know no end.

“We are optimistic people and we want change,” she says. “I have two soldiers at home, two boys. I cannot get up in the morning without feeling I’m doing something to change things here. I want a better life for the next generation and we have to work on it.”

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/05/04/1004896/arab-jewish-duo-head-for-singing-contest-amid-criticism

Darya Shaikh

A poll by the OneVoice Movement indicates that most civilians want a two-state solution – resolving the conflict is not impossible.

George Mitchell, US special envoy to the Middle East, visited Israel and Palestine last week, trying to jumpstart a stalled peace process. He carries with him the weight of the Obama administration’s stated commitment to brokering a two-state agreement, but what sort of mandate does he have from those on the ground, those who will be most affected by the outcome of his efforts – the Israeli and Palestinian peoples?

A new poll released by the OneVoice Movement fills in some of the answers – providing a snapshot of where we are, and where we should be going.

Building on some of the public opinion and public diplomacy methods employed in the peace process in Northern Ireland, the poll was designed to engage Israelis and Palestinians on final status issues and procedural processes, with questions meant to push beyond the usual, intransigent yes or no responses and get to the heart of what people on the ground are willing to accept and how they think the process should play out.

The big picture? The findings indicate that despite fears to the contrary, the two-state solution remains the only resolution that is acceptable to the majority of both Israelis and Palestinians: 74% of Palestinians and 78% of Israelis would be willing to accept a two-state solution, while 59% of Palestinians and 66% of Israelis find a single, bi-national state to be unacceptable.

What’s more, Israelis and Palestinians are as convinced as ever that negotiations are the way to get there: 77% of Israelis and 71% of Palestinians find a negotiated peace to be either "essential" or "desirable".

Of course, that’s the macro view, and it’s not the whole story. There are significant gaps in public opinion on the toughest final status issues: Jerusalem, settlements, refugees. And there are even wider gaps on national priorities: the findings imply that mainstream Israeli and Palestinian populations still have yet to acknowledge the significant concerns on the other side. While the issue of greatest significance for Palestinians is freedom from occupation (94% deem it a "very significant" problem in the peace process, ranking it the primary issue on the Palestinian side), only 30% of Israelis find it to be "very significant", ranking the issue 15th on the Israeli side. Similarly, the primary issue on the Israeli side is stopping attacks on civilians (90% rate it a "very significant" issue). This issue meets with 50% approval on the Palestinian side, and ranks as 19 in a list of 21 issues.

So how do we push past the impasse and how do we ensure that this process isn’t subject to the same failings of all the others? The poll gives us some interesting answers here, as well.

First and foremost, there is a clear desire for civic engagement in the peace process: ordinary Israelis and Palestinians not only want to be informed on negotiations progress, they also desire greater involvement in the process.

Progress at the negotiating table is only one step in the process. An end to the conflict that satisfies the primary needs of both Israelis and Palestinians – end to occupation and assurance of security – will come only when the leaders come to an agreement that their peoples are ready to understand, accept and support. And this means civic education and true engagement of the grassroots. Yet it is in nobody’s interest to be naive regarding the challenges facing those interested in ending this conflict. There is a catalogue of well-worn arguments as to why peace is further away than ever. We have recently seen the election of a rightwing government in Israel; the political environment in Palestine appears to be critically divided; and we have, of course, just witnessed one of the most horrific outbreaks of violence in the history of this conflict. Within each challenge, however, there may exist an opportunity.

Rightwing Israeli governments have a history of surprising many by pursuing peace and making concessions; the divisions within Palestine, while a serious problem, are in many respects a reaction to the lack of progress in negotiation; and the unprecedented loss of life seen during the recent war in Gaza has painfully illustrated two stark realities – that the status quo is unsustainable, and that the only thing that will bring this cycle of violence to a close is for Israel to feel secure, and for Palestinians to have a state. Most importantly, while many commentators are pronouncing the death of the two-state solution, roughly three quarters of Israelis and Palestinians believe the rumours of its death to be greatly exaggerated. It is up to the leaders on both sides to finally deliver on the wishes of their people.

Governments alone can’t take this on. They need to work in tandem with civil society groups to ensure true connection between the top-level negotiations process and the will of the majorities on the ground.

As part of this effort, OneVoice is launching a Town Hall Meetings series throughout Israel and Palestine, which will start in May and continue throughout 2009. The meetings will use the results of the poll to start critical discussions on final status and mutual recognition issues – to highlight consensus where it already exists, and work toward consensus where there is none.

Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not impossible – failure is not a foregone conclusion. The shape of an agreement is there, and there is genuine possibility to work toward compromise on even the toughest of final status issues. But without more attention to the process – without engaging the people on the ground, who will have to live with whatever agreement is put down on paper – we will inevitably fall victim to the shortcomings and failures of the past.

And our children will have to pay the price.

Download the full polling report here (pdf).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/22/israel-palestinian-survey-two-state-solution

A vast majority of Israelis and Palestinians want to see a two-state solution to their conflict, a poll released Wednesday has found, dpa reported.

According to the survey, 74 per cent of Palestinians and 78 per cent of Israelis want to see an Israeli state and a Palestinian state living side-by-side, while the idea of one bi-national state is rejected by 59 per cent of Palestinians and 66 per cent of Israelis.

The poll, commissioned by the OneVoice movement, was conducted by Colin Irwin of the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool together with Israeli pollster Mina Tzemach and Palestinian pollster Nader Said. Some 500 Israeli adults and 600 Palestinian adults were questioned.

A almost-total majority of Palestinians - 97 per cent - said they saw the establishment of a Palestinian state as urgent, and a similar number - 95 per cent - said they regarded the Palestinian refugee issue the same way.

Of the Israeli respondents, 77 per cent said their most important issue was Israel’s security .

On the issue of Jerusalem, 94 per cent of Palestinians and 68 per cent of Israelis said the future of the city was a key issue, but 50 per cent of the former and 77 per cent of the latter oppose dividing the city.

Some 86 per cent of Palestinians want a total Israeli withdrawal to the de facto borders which existed before 1967 Middle East War, when Israel conquered the West Bank from Jordan, but 60 per cent of Israelis oppose this.

One hundred per cent of Palestinians also insist that Israel dismantle all settlements in the West Bank, and setters return to Israel, something opposed by 53 percent of Israelis.

Asked about priorities for rebuilding confidence in the peace process, 99 per cent of Palestinians said Israel had to lift its siege of the Gaza Strip, and an equal number said Israel had to remove all checkpoints in the West Bank.

On the Israeli side of the divide, 90 per cent said a halt to Palestinian suicide bombings and other attacks against civilians was essential or desirable, and 87 per cent said the same regarding a cessation of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

The poll was conducted in February this year. No margin of error was given.

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/73619/-most-israelis-palestinians-want-two-state-solution-poll-finds.html

The vast majority of Israelis and Palestinians are willing to live alongside each other peacefully in separate states, according to an independent poll released on Wednesday.

Results of the poll, commissioned by the grass-roots OneVoice Movement, indicate that 74 percent of Palestinians and 78 percent of Israelis are willing to accept a two-state solution.

The margin of error on the Palestinian side was 4.1 percent and 4.5 percent on the Israeli side, the group said.

Polling was conducted over the phone in Israel and was done in person in the Palestinian territories. OneVoice said the poll counters fears that the two-state solution is losing support in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The OneVoice Movement aims to bring Israelis and Palestinians together and advocates a two-state solution, and to "amplify the voice of Israeli and Palestinian moderates, empowering them to seize back the agenda for conflict resolution," according to its Web site.

The movement has over 650,000 signatories in roughly equal numbers among Israelis and Palestinians.

The poll was conducted by Colin Irwin of the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool, Nader Said of Arab World for Research and Development in the West Bank and the Dahaf Research Institute in Tel Aviv.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080267.html

JERUSALEM, April 22 (UPI) — Some 80 percent of both Israelis and Palestinians support the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Middle East, a survey indicates.

The poll, commissioned by the non-governmental organization One Voice and published Wednesday by Army Radio, also showed both peoples were strongly opposed to the notion of one bi-national state and indicated there was disagreement over Jerusalem and other holy sites, The Jerusalem Post reported.

One Voice is made up of Israelis and Palestinians and seeks to make the voice of moderates on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict heard, the newspaper said. The poll was conducted by Mina Tsemach of the Dahaf Institute and Irish scholar Colin Irwin in the wake of this year’s Israeli military incursion into Gaza.

Some 77 percent of Israelis were against any partition of Jerusalem, while both sides expressed vehement opposition to declaring it an international city, the Post said. Nearly all Palestinians polled cited the establishment of an independent state as their top priority, while it was only 11th on the priority list with Israelis.

The methodology of the poll was not reported.

© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Associated Press

A new poll shows that the vast majority of Israelis and Palestinians are willing to live alongside each other peacefully in separate states.

Results indicate that 74 percent of Palestinians and 78 percent of Israelis are willing to accept a two-state solution.

The poll was commissioned by the OneVoice Movement, a grass-roots group.

OneVoice says the poll belies fears that the two-state solution is losing currency in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The poll was conducted by Colin Irwin of the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool, Nader Said of Arab World for Research and Development in the West Bank and Mina Zemach of the Dahaf Research Institute in Tel Aviv.

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=927469&lang=eng_news

More than 70% of Israelis and Palestinians are ready for solution of two states for two people, survey conducted among 1,100 people reveals. However, most respondents are against dividing Jerusalem

A vast majority of Israelis and Palestinians are ready for a two states for two people solution, but are against dividing Jerusalem, a recent poll shows.

The survey was ordered by the OneVoice movement and conducted by Colin Irwin of the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool together with Dr. Mina Tzemach and Dr. Nader Said of the AWRAD research center in Ramallah.

According to the poll published Wednesday morning, 74% of the Palestinians and 78% of the Israelis are willing to accept the basic solution of two states for two people. On the other hand, 66% of the Israelis and 59% of the Palestinians object to one bi-national state.

The results are based on two samples: A representative sample of 500 respondents from the adult Israeli population and 600 interviewees constituting a representative sample of the adult population in the West Bank and Gaza. The poll was conducted in February, after the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

On the Palestinian side, 97% stated that the establishment of an independent sovereign Palestinian state was an urgent issue for them. Ninety-five percent said the same thing about refugee rights, 94% said the same about an agreement on Jerusalem’s future, 91% on the management of holy sites, 90% on the management of the Palestinian state, 89% on the settlements and 88% said the same on the rights to natural resources.

As far as the Israelis are concerned, a very important issue is the State’s security, according to 77% of the respondents. Sixty-eight percent said the same about an agreement on Jerusalem’s future and 62% said this about the rights to natural resources.

Forty-five percent of the Israelis said that a two-state solution was essential or desirable, while 21% said this was unacceptable. Forty-five percent said that the economic development in Gaza and the West Bank was "essential or desirable", and 24% said this was unacceptable. The Greater Israel idea was unacceptable to 47% of the Israeli respondents.

Fifty-three percent of the Palestinians are interested in "an Israeli recognition of the Palestinian refugees’ suffering while most refugees return to the West Bank and Gaza and a few of them to the State of Israel." Sixty percent of the Israelis are against such a possibility.

35% of Israelis: IDF must remain in territories

And what about the security-related issues? Thirty-five percent of the Israelis believe that it is essential or desirable for the Israel Defense Forces to remain in the territories, while 43% find this unacceptable.

One hundred percent of the Palestinian respondents said it was essential or desires for all settlers to leave the West Bank and for all settlements to be dismantled. Twenty-six percent of the Israelis share this opinion, but 53% find it unacceptable.

Eighty-six percent of the Palestinians are interested in an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders. Sixty percent of the Israelis say that this possibility is unacceptable, and 73% of the Palestinians believe that a border based on the separation fence is unacceptable. Thirty-five percent of the Israelis share this opinion.

Ninety-five percent of the Palestinians said that it was "essential or desirable" for all of Jerusalem to be part of a future Palestinian state. Fifty-six percent of the Israelis believe it is essential or desirable for all of Jerusalem to remain part of Israel.

What about the city’s division? Fifty-five percent of the Israelis and 61% of the Palestinians refuse to accept such a possibility.

As for rebuilding trust in the peace process, 99% of the Palestinians believe Israel must lift the siege over the Gaza Strip and remove roadblocks. The Palestinians also demand the release of Palestinian political prisoners jailed in Israel and an end to settlement construction.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3704708,00.html

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Eighty percent of both Israelis and Palestinians support the establishment of a Palestinian state, according to a survey conducted by Mina Tsemach of the Dahaf Institute and Irish scholar Colin Irwin in the wake of Operation Cast Lead and published by Army Radio Wednesday.

The poll was commissioned by the One Voice organization, an NGO of Israelis and Palestinians which seeks to promote the voices of moderates on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

One Voice chairman Irit Admoni-Perlman said the data must be presented to the incoming Israeli government as well as to public figures, "so that they’re aware of what the Israelis and Palestinians think."

The poll showed both peoples were strongly opposed to the notion of one bi-national state.

It also showed a will on both sides to cooperate on economic and security issues, but found that Israelis and Palestinians still disagree on Jerusalem and the holy places, the Palestinian refugee and other national issues.

77% of Israelis were against any partition of Jerusalem and both sides converged mostly in their vehement opposition to declaring it an international city. While almost all Palestinians polled cited the establishment of an independent state as their top priority, this was only 11th on the priority list with Israelis. Conversely, the security of Israeli residents was highly important with Israelis but only 12th on the Palestinians’ priority list.

The poll was conducted between the end of Operation Cast Lead in mid-January and the general election in Israel on February 10. Its results were set to be presented at a press conference in Ramallah on Wednesday.

The One Voice movement also plans to hold public gatherings in which controversial subjects will be discussed in the coming year, in order, it said, to influence leaders of both sides to accept the will of the people.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710756487&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Survey indicates around three in four would find outcome at least ‘tolerable’

David Pallister

A majority of both Palestinians and Israelis are willing to accept a two-state solution, according to a poll from the international grassroots movement One Voice.

Based on public opinion research methods used in Northern Ireland, 500 interviews were completed in Israel and 600 in the West Bank and Gaza immediately following the Gaza war and the Israeli elections.

Each side was asked which problems they thought were "very significant" and what the solutions might be.

The results indicate that 74% of Palestinians and 78% of Israelis are willing to accept a two-state solution on an option range from "tolerable" to "essential", while 59% of Palestinians and 66% of Israelis find a single bi-national state "unacceptable".

The poll comes as it emerged Barack Obama is to invite Israeli, ­Palestinian and Egyptian leaders to the White House within the next two months in a fresh push for Middle East peace. Obama, speaking at the White House yesterday, said there was a need to try to rise above the cynicism about prospects for peace.

The results of today’s poll imply that mainstream Israeli and Palestinian populations have yet to acknowledge the significant priorities and fears on the other side.

The top item for Palestinians is the establishment of an independent sovereign state at 97%, followed by the rights of refugees at 95% and agreement on the future of Jerusalem at 94%.

For Israelis the top item is security at 77%, followed by an agreement on the future of Jerusalem at 68% and rights to natural resources at 62%.

An analysis of the poll by One Voice says: "It is absolutely essential that the issues at the top of these two lists get dealt with in any peace agreement or it is unlikely that that agreement will last. This means Palestinians need to be aware of and address the ‘Security of Israel’ problem that comes in 12th on the Palestinian list, and that Israelis need to be aware of and address the cluster of issues at the top of the Palestinian list."

The poll also revealed significant divisions about the issues of settlements and refugees, on which there was no single proposed solution which met with majority approval on both sides. Ninety-eight per cent of Palestinians think that all the settlers should leave the occupied territories with the settlements abolished – an option that 53% of Israelis find unacceptable.

More than 90% of Palestinians want refugees to be given the right to return with compensation, while 77% of Israelis say that is unacceptable.

On Jerusalem, the sides are poles apart. The most attractive option for Palestinians – 95% – is for all of Jerusalem to remain in Palestine, and for Israelis it is for all of Jerusalem to remain in Israel at 56%.

The report says that "as these two options are mutually exclusive proposals to internationalise or divide the city also need to be considered".

One Voice concludes that, at a minimum, the results suggest that "the continued insistence of both sides on a negotiated and mutually acceptable resolution could offer significant legitimacy to political leaders looking to push for negotiations toward a two-state agreement".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/22/israel-palestine-poll

By Tobias Buck in Jerusalem

Israelis and Palestinians remain overwhelmingly in favour of a two-state solution as the best way to end their decades-long conflict, according to a poll published on Wednesday.

The findings provide something of a counterpoint to the gloomy outlook for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at the political level – though with important caveats. While the survey makes clear that a majority of Palestinians and Israelis accept the idea of two states for two people in principle, they remain sharply divided over the details of a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

The poll was released a day after Barack Obama, the US president, announced he would hold talks next month with regional leaders in a bid to revive the stalled Middle East peace process. The US administration has made clear that it wants to see the conflict resolved by creating an independent Palestinian state – a position that is at variance with that of the new Israeli government.

Mr Obama has also voiced support for the Saudi-led 2002 Arab peace initiative, which promises peace and recognition to Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from the territories it conquered in 1967. Israeli officials are deeply sceptical of the plan, not least because it also calls for a ”just settlement” of the Palestinian refugee problem – a demand which Israel fears could include the return of Palestinian families who fled or were driven from their homes inside Israel in 1948.

The new Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, has so far refused to endorse the two-state solution, in a marked departure from both the international consensus and the policy of the previous Israeli leadership.

On the Palestinian side, progress towards a peace accord is hampered by the continuing divide between Fatah and Hamas, the rival political groups, and the split between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The survey, released by OneVoice, a pro-peace group, and conducted by two leading polling groups in Israel and Palestine, finds support for the two-state solution remains strong despite the recent political setbacks.

Among Israelis, 78 per cent of respondents said a two-state solution is either ”essential”, ”desirable”, ”acceptable” or ”tolerable”. Only 21 per cent called it ”unacceptable”.

On the Palestinian side, 74 per cent said they back or could tolerate a two-state solution, with 24 per cent saying it is ”unacceptable”. However, an even greater number of Palestinian respondents said they want a Palestinian state to cover all of historic Palestine, meaning present-day Israel as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Further troubling news for peace advocates came from respondents’ views on the details of a final settlement. On the issue of Jerusalem, for example, 91 per cent of Palestinians said it is essential that the entire city form part of an independent Palestinian state, including the western part - which is internationally recognised as part of Israel.

On the Israeli side, 45 per cent said that all of Jerusalem – including the occupied eastern part of the city – must remain part of Israel.

Both Palestinians and Israelis overwhelmingly rejected a division of the city, either along the lines of 1967 border, or by Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/15fd5530-2f2b-11de-b52f-00144feabdc0.html