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So doing, including ending the occupation, "will liberate the two peoples and open the way to a lasting peace."
On April 19, Haaretz writer Ilan Lior said endorsers include 17 Israel Prize winners (the state's highest honor, presented annually), as well as others awarded the annual EMET prize (for distinguished academic and professional achievements).
Insisting their effort isn't token, they call it part of a larger process for "a legitimate alternative to Israel's current policies," including conflicts, violence and occupation, a dead-end essential to stop.
Haaretz columnist and endorser Sefi Rachlevsky said:
"Our initiative is not a naive one. Instead of Israel being the first to extend its hand and support Palestinian independence, it is trying to warn us against it. That is not only a moral disaster, but it's also liable to bring about a practical catastrophe in which Israel will isolate itself and turn into a kind of South Africa, (a threshold, in fact, it long ago exceeded)."
"Israel is acting this way out of the delusion that it's possible to continue its colonialist behavior, which is built on anti-democratic racism that contradicts (its own) declaration of independence."
Professor Yehuda Bauer added:
"I am speaking from a Zionist standpoint. Zionism sets as its goal the preservation of a Jewish national home with a solid Jewish majority - this was the dream of people from the left, right and center of classical Zionism. But....occupation guarantees the nullification of Zionism - that is, it rules out the possibility that the Jewish people will live in its land with a strong majority and international recognition. In my eyes, this makes (Israel's) government clearly anti-Zionist."
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