L.A. traffic yields to nobody, not even for two men who may have
the answer to peace in the Middle East.
The event, titled “A proposal for peace in the Middle
East,” featured Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, the president of Al Quds
University in Jerusalem and the Palestinian authority commissioner
for Jerusalem, and Ami Ayalon, a former commander of the Israeli
navy and current director of Shin Bet, which is responsible for
internal security in Israel.
Nusseibeh and Ayalon spoke on their proposal for peace, which
features cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians. They
suggested the use of borders from the June 1967 lines with
Jerusalem as the capital of both states, the waiver of the right of
return and the declaration of peace between the two sides.
They were scheduled to speak in Perloff Hall at 4 p.m. Wednesday
but were delayed in traffic for a little more than a half hour,
during which UCLA professors Steven Spiegel and Leonard Binder led
a question and answer session regarding Israel and Palestine.
Much to the relief of Spiegel and Binder, Ayalon and Nusseibeh
did arrive and launched into a discussion about their past
year-and-a-half of work.
Though Ayalon and Nusseibeh’s concept is not unique, the
document and their process for implementing it are: They are asking
the general Israeli and Palestinian public for signatures to
support their proposal, helping it gain greater recognition.
“Classic diplomacy failed,” Ayalon said during the
discussion. “It doesn’t work in the Middle East. Nobody
will save us from ourselves. It is up to us.”
Since June 25 this year, the organization they work for, the
People’s Voice, has gathered about 90,000 Israeli and 60,000
Palestinian signatures, Nusseibeh said.
“We hope if we’re able to develop a critical amount
of signatures, we can make an impact on important political
players,” he said.
At the end of their brief discussion, the presentation was
opened for questions. One audience member, Levan Atanelov, a UCLA
student, asked what students could be doing right now to help in
the cause for peace.
“I don’t know what you can do,” Nusseibeh
said. “This will not happen without the acceptance and
recognition of the world. You are the world. We want to find
friends here who will work together to help us find peace back
home.”
Atanelov took those words to heart, though he was not exactly
positive about the success of the current proposal.
“I want to call on people to please come together and do
something,” Atanelov said. “I think the plan has the
purpose of awakening those who are now dormant. I do not know that
it will work. But if it does, God bless it.”
Eric Nusinow, a second-year political science student, said the
speakers had a unique perspective, but he echoed Atanelov’s
doubts.
“I don’t want to seem too cynical, but I don’t
see it happening yet,” he said.