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JPL Highlights - 20 years - 1989-2008
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JPL was organized in 1989 to seek policies that would promote an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Our very creation challenged the idea that there was only one point of view coming from the American Jewish community. From the outset, JPL has taken positions that were quite controversial in the Jewish community (at the time) -- that Israel should negotiate with the PLO or that the two-state solution was the only way to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East.
Twenty years later, JPL continues to be in the forefront of efforts to pursue Israeli-Palestinian peace. In 1997 JPL called for a shared Jerusalem, a position that none of the establishment organizations endorsed. In 2000 we made headlines (e.g. New York Times) with an open letter from 300 Rabbis endorsing this position. In recent years, following Hamas electoral victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections we have opposed efforts to boycott the elected government. Rather, we have promoted a Palestinian coherence-in-governance approach in which Palestinian President Abbas would negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian people, and a treaty agreement would become binding on all factions, including Hamas, provided it was ratified by a referendum of the Palestinian people.
Over the years, JPL brought its message to the public through close to one hundred op-ed pieces, many in the Israeli and Palestinian press, as well as scores of radio and television appearances. Virtually single handedly, we brought into existence a U.S. government program which, since 1991, has funded Israeli-Palestinian grassroots cooperation. We have repeatedly served as a vehicle through which rabbis could advance positions outside the bounds set by other Jewish organizations. For two decades, we have been an effective, imaginative voice in Washington and in Jerusalem.
Highlights of JPL activity include:
1989-1992 Context: PLO in Tunis, George H. W. Bush is President, First Gulf War, Madrid Conference, Rabin replaces Shamir as Prime Minister, Bill Clinton is elected.
Pre-JPL - Dr. Segal is part of first Jewish-American delegation to meet with PLO (1987). Segal's writings serve as catalyst for Palestinian Declaration of Independence (1988).
1989 - JPL's first year; lobbies-Congress in support of a resolution calling on the Shamir government to re-open West Bank schools. A letter endorsing this position is signed by 50 Rabbis.
1989 -- JPL sends Prime Minister Shamir a letter signed by over 200 American Rabbis calling on the Prime Minister to accept the principle of "exchanging land for peace."
1990 -- In Congressional testimony JPL proposes an escrow account into which a portion of U.S. economic (not defense) aid to Israel, equivalent to what is spent on expanding West Bank settlements, will be held until settlement activity is halted.
1990 -- JPL proposes the creation of a Peace Fund by the United States to support joint Israeli-Palestinian educational, cultural and humanitarian activities.
1990 -- The Senate Appropriations Committee endorses JPL's Israeli-Palestinian cooperation idea and recommends that $350,000 be made available for these purposes in fiscal 1991.
1991 -- JPL lobbies Congress for a resolution urging the Shamir government to halt settlement expansion, the Arab states to end the boycott of Israel, and the Palestinians to end violence.
1991 -- JPL testifies before the House Appropriations Committee and urges making loan guarantees to Israel conditional on a halt to settlement activity. JPL also calls for the activation of a United States rescue effort if the situation of Soviet Jews deteriorates.
1992 -- JPL testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee again urging loan guarantees to be made conditional on a halt to settlement activity. Testimony carried by C-SPAN.
1992 -- JPL organizes a letter to the Democratic candidates for the nomination for President urging them to vigorously oppose the Likud settlement drive. The letter is signed by 267 Rabbis.
1992 -- JPL testifies before the Platform Committee of the Democratic Party calling for opposition to settlement expansion. Carried by C-SPAN.
1993-2000 Context: Oslo Accord is signed, Rabin is assassinated, Netanyahu is elected Prime Minister, Barak replaces Netanyahu, Camp David negotiations, Second Intifada begins.
1993 -- Months before the Gaza-first approach of the Oslo Accords become known, JPL calls for a Gaza-first approach to Palestinian statehood, and holds a symposium on Gaza-first approaches for the Washington policy community.
1994 -- JPL holds a forum for the policy community in Washington on the issue of Jerusalem.
1994 -- JPL develops a proposal for using the loan guarantees to provide substantial incentives to promote the return of settlers in the territories -- back to Israel proper. Co-authored by Jerome Segal, William Quandt of the Brookings Institute and Khalil Jahshan of the National Association of Arab Americans the proposal appears in the Washington Post, and the Jerusalem Post. Subject of news stories in Israel.
1994 -- In response to Clinton Administration failure to provide 1994 funding for the Palestinian-Israeli Cooperation Program, JPL delivers a petition signed by over 800 Rabbis to President Clinton.
1994 -- JPL campaigns to save the Palestinian-Israeli Cooperation Program. Eight Senators write to the President.
1995 -- JPL wins Clinton Administration support for $500,000 for the Palestinian-Israeli Cooperation program.
1995 -- JPL puts forward a new and far reaching proposal on economic (not defense) aid to Israel and the Palestinians which would place the $1.275 billion in economic aid into a Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. This fund could support projects such as a joint Israeli-Palestinian University, water conservation. and desalination projects in Israel, a Palestinian Youth Service Corps, a Jewish, Christian and Islamic institute for religious understanding based in Jerusalem, and providing public education. JPL proposal appears in The Los Angeles Times and in the Hebrew daily Ha'aretz.
1995 - Dr. Segal meets with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and presents a proposal for a Palestinian state to be established within the short term. It would exercise sovereignty over Gaza, and pending the results of negotiations, administrative authority within the West Bank. Peres expresses interest and asks Segal to present it to Arafat. Segal meets with Arafat. Arafat is suspicious that Peres seeks to keep the Palestinians from sovereignty in the West Bank.
1996 -- JPL organizes a letter from American Rabbis to President Clinton, urging that he communicate both to Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Netanyahu that they have "obligations to peace" -- specifically in the areas of fighting terrorism and in exercising restraint in settlement building. The Rabbis urge the President to make clear that "if they fail in these obligations to peace, continued economic (not defense) assistance from the United States would not be forthcoming." 250 Rabbis signed the letter which was widely covered in the Israeli and American press.
1997 -- JPL adopts a new position calling for sovereignty over Jerusalem to be shared between Israel and a future Palestinian state.
1997 -- JPL organizes an open letter from 150 Rabbis to Prime Minister Netanyahu urging him to refrain from construction at Har Homa (in East Jerusalem). Letter is published in the Jewish-American press.
1998 -- JPL wins backing by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees for $500,000 for Israeli-Palestinian people to people cooperation.
1998 - Dr. Segal's article arguing the security and moral basis for sharing Jerusalem with the Palestinians is carried in ten Jewish papers around the country.
1998 -- JPL begins organizing a Rabbinic Call for a Shared Jerusalem with the objective of opening a serious discussion of the Jerusalem issue within the American Jewish community.
1999 -- JPL speaks to over one thousand rabbis about sharing Jerusalem and over 300 sign the Rabbinic Call. The Call gets widespread attention including a story in the New York Times.
1999 -- JPL attains report language from the Appropriations Committees calling for continuation of the Israeli-Palestinian Cooperation program.
1999 -- JPL's ten years of work in the area of Israeli-Palestinian Cooperation contributes to Administration decision to vastly expand U.S. commitment in this' area.
2000 - Dr. Segal's book, Negotiating Jerusalem, is published. Negotiating Jerusalem was written in conjunction with top Israeli and Palestinian social scientists and is the most in-depth study ever made of the attitudes and values of Israelis and Palestinians towards Jerusalem. It undercuts the common wisdom that Jerusalem is not negotiable. JPL is asked by Rob Malley, President Clinton's Special Assistant to provide ideas on how to resolve the Jerusalem issue. Some of this material is used by the NSC to brief President Clinton prior to the Camp David negotiations. We are told that during the negotiations President Clinton referred to the data presented.
2000 - In August, following Camp David, Dr. Segal, accompanied by the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt, Dan Kurtzer, meets with President Mubarak's national security advisor to present the "Sovereignty Belongs to God" option for dealing with the Temple Mount. Dr. Segal also meets with members of the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams.
2001- 2006 Context: George W. Bush is President, Ariel Sharon is elected Prime Minister, 9/11, Second Gulf War, Israel unilaterally withdraws from Gaza, Arafat dies, Sharon forms Kadima Party, Olmert becomes Prime Minister
2001 - JPL organizes an open letter signed by 100 Rabbis which affirms that Judaism does not require exclusive Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount. The statement is reported in the Israeli and American press.
2001 - Following the election of Ariel Sharon as Prime Minister, JPL organizes a second letter, also signed by 100 Rabbis. Addressed to President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon, the letter calls on Israel to not expand the Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, even if negotiations are postponed.
2001 - The Israeli daily, Ha'aretz, publishes Dr. Segal's article, "A Choice Based Approach to the Right of Return," which explains how it is possible to show respect for a Palestinian right of return, while balancing it with Israel's right to remain a Jewish state.
2001 - The Palestinian daily, Al Quds, publishes Dr. Segal's article, "Reflections on Palestinian Strategy," in which it is urged that the Palestinians end the violence of Intifada II, and instead put forward a proposal which details solutions to the key issues that they would accept as an end to the conflict.
2002 - With the establishment of a new position, JPL Israel Representative, JPL bases it's daily work in Jerusalem rather than in Washington D.C.
2002 - JPL organizes a letter to President Bush from former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, former Chief of Staff of the IDF, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, and former Absorption Minister, Yuli Tamir. The letter calls on the Bush Administration to put forward a fully detailed final status agreement and then to "vigorously encourage" both sides to sign it.
2002 - The New York Times publishes Dr. Segal's article laying out "Externally Directed Separation," in which the U.N. Security Council would determine the permanent borders between Israel and the State of Palestine. Related articles are published in the Israeli and Palestinian press.
2003 - JPL, working with the Steinmetz Center of Tel Aviv University, undertakes polling of the Israeli public and finds that 65% of Israeli Jews support the proposal that the United States would come forward with a fully developed treaty proposal and then try to build support for it.
2003 - An Israeli-Palestinian Track II group, with respect to which Dr. Segal was an active participant/advisor, produces a Vision Document which formulated a shared vision of how to end the conflict. This was used to brief numerous figures in Israel, across the political spectrum.
2003 - JPL organizes a Rabbis' letter to President Bush and Members of Congress in which 100 rabbis voice their support for the Ben-Ami letter calling for a detailed US peace proposal. JPL staff presents this approach to numerous Congressional offices.
2004 - JPL develops a policy proposal intended to build upon the support among Israelis for unilateral withdrawal. According to the JPL proposal, this withdrawal would not be limited to Gaza, but would include almost all of the West Bank and provide a one-to-one territorial exchange for areas Israel retained. Further, Israel would take this unilateral move provided that the UN Security Council would recognize the resulting boundary as Israel's permanent border with Palestine, and would recognize Israel as a Jewish State within that border. Essentially the UNSC would serve as a intermediary between Israel and the Palestinians and Arab states.
2004 - JPL polled Israelis on the above proposal and found Israeli Jews supported it 54% to 30%. JPL presented the idea extensively to Knesset members and EU representatives in Jerusalem. JPL assisted Knesset Member Reshef Cheyne place an op-ed in the Boston Globe in support of this approach.
2004 - JPL published, in Al Quds, a proposal under which the Palestinians themselves would respond unilaterally when Israel completes its withdrawal from Gaza. Under this proposal the PLO would proclaim a Palestinian state with sovereignty over Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Within Gaza it would establish de facto sovereignty, and on this basis seek admission to the UN. It would then unilaterally announce a cease fire, and state its willingness to accept the Geneva Accord as a basis for ending the conflict, subject to any agreed modifications reached by Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.
2005 - In the face of the Sharon government's refusal to enter into negotiations with the Palestinians, JPL further refined its proposal for Full Unilateral Withdrawal, and presented its plan to top Israeli officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert; leader of the Labor Party, MK Amir Peretz, and former head of the Shin Bet, Ami Ayalon.
2005 - JPL further develops its proposal for coordinated unilateral action by the PLO once Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip. The revised formulation emphasizes an assertion of sovereignty under the 1988 Declaration of Independence issued by the PLO in Algiers. This step would be taken only if Israel agreed to open negotiations on giving the State of Palestine full air, land and sea access to the Gaza Strip. Dr. Segal presents this approach to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and subsequently to the Negotiations Support Unit of the PLO.
2005 - The Israeli daily, Ha'aretz, publishes Dr. Segal's article, "The Missed Opportunity," which called attention to the unappreciated significance of the Palestinian Declaration of Independence of 1988, which accepted that Israel was created under international law as a Jewish state, and identifies Palestine as "the land of the three monotheistic faiths."
2006-2008 Context: Hamas wins Palestinian legislative elections, Quartet boycotts new government, Second Lebanon War, Hamas takes over Gaza, Final status negotiations between Israel and the PLO resume
2006 - The electoral victory of Hamas in the Palestinian legislative elections, and the absence of a charismatic leader such as Arafat, creates a fundamental problem for any peace process: Who can sign for the Palestinian people? In a series of articles published in the Palestinian press, Dr. Segal advances an approach to the peace process in which Palestinian President Abbas will negotiate, but that any treaty agreement would be submitted to the Palestinian public for ratification in a referendum.
2006 - A document developed by Palestinian prisoners similarly calls for a ratification-by-referendum framework that would allow a peace process to go forward. JPL develops a proposal whereby Hamas' support for this approach would be linked to steps by the EU to lift the boycott of the recently elected Hamas government. JPL presents this approach to EU diplomats.
2006 - Dr. Segal (not under JPL auspices) meets with Prime Minister Haniya (Hamas) to explore possibility of institutionalization within the legal framework of the Palestinian Authority of this ratification-by-referendum approach. Haniya asks Dr. Segal to transmit a letter to President Bush, which he then dictates. Dr. Segal transmits the letter which proposes a long-term truce with Israel.
2007 - At the request of EU diplomats, JPL prepares a memo for the EU on linking ratification-by-referendum to a lifting of the boycott of the Hamas government. This position paper is circulated within the EU at the highest levels, but is overtaken by events when Hamas forces take over Gaza.
2007 - Following the Hamas take-over in Gaza, Israel agrees to open final status negotiations with the PLO after a hiatus of nearly seven years. In the aftermath of the war in Lebanon and with rocket attacks from Gaza, Israeli interest in unilateral withdrawal is nil. Instead it is seized with whether the moderate Palestinian partner could truly exercise control over the West Bank. In response JPL develops a proposal which would allow for a Palestinian state within a year, but with only gradual Israeli withdrawal, as the new state demonstrates de facto sovereignty within the areas of its agreed de jure sovereignty. This would transform the meaning of the actions of Palestinian security forces. Rather than being vulnerable to the charge that they were "the police of the occupation," Palestinian security forces would be expanding the areas of Palestinian sovereignty.
2007 - The JPL proposal for statehood within a year is published in both Al Quds and in Ha'aretz. Dr. Segal meets with top Israeli, Palestinian and American figures to present the plan, including Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayaad; Nabil Shaath, advisor to President Abbas; Yoram Turbowicz, Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Olmert; Tal Becker, Advisor to Foreign Minister Livni, and Richard Jones, U.S. Ambassador to Israel.
2008 - In response to slow progress in the negotiations, JPL Israel Representative, Ofer Zalzberg, undertakes dozens of meetings across the political spectrum within Israel and with the international diplomatic community. Emphasis is placed on finding break-through ideas on Jerusalem, refugees and security. JPL puts forward (once again) the Sovereignty Belongs to God framework for the Temple Mount (including polling data showing its strong potential); new ideas that would link the setter and refugee issues within the framework of qualified residential rights for citizens of the other state; and early Palestinian statehood as a way to better address the security issues.
2008 - President Carter's meetings with Hamas result in Hamas' reaffirmation of its commitment to the ratification by referendum framework. Dr. Segal communicates with President Carter to provide him background on this issue, and then publishes an article in Ha'aretz in which he argues that winning a Palestinian referendum is the test of any negotiated peace agreement, and that this means that the price of peace for Israel has gone up, but is still worth paying. In particular, Israel will need to be more forthcoming on refugees. Segal argues for making a sharp distinction between the surviving actual refugees from 1948 and their several million descendants.
2008 - Both Dr. Segal and Ofer Zalzberg take part in a small, but important, meeting in England to discuss ways of revitalizing the Arab Peace Initiative. The focus is on getting the Israeli public to recognize the significance of this Arab proposal which offers Israel normal relations with all of the Arab states providing it can reach agreements with the Palestinians and the Syrians. The meeting is attended by Saudi Prince Turki, former head of Saudi intelligence; Nabil Fahmy, former Egyptian Ambassador to the US; and Avi Gil, former Director of the Israeli Foreign Ministry under Shimon Peres. Shortly after the meeting, the PLO, in an unprecedented move, places ads in Israeli papers calling the attention of the Israeli public to the opportunity we now have to end the Israeli-Arab conflict in all of its dimensions.
2009 - A key recommendation in the new document of the bi-partisan group at U.S./Middle East Project is that the US “Cease discouraging Palestinian national reconciliation and make clear that a government that agrees to a cease-fire with Israel, accepts President Mahmoud Abbas as the chief negotiator and commits to abiding by the results of a national referendum on a future peace agreement would not be boycotted or sanctioned.” This is very much in line with JPL's efforts during the last two years.
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The Jewish Peace Lobby
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Jewish Peace Lobby, P.O. Box 7778
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