To the heads of State and Government of the European Countries
Ladies, Gentlemen,
The round of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, initiated nine months ago under the auspices of the United States, has ended with no results. Each party has already blamed the other for this new failure. In accordance with the commitments made, no official information on their content has filtered through, and we have no way to take stock of its outcome. However, we maintain that any return to the status quo ante is a source of danger. Therefore we urge you to join with the United States in order to put forward a framework and save the two-state solution—the only solution which will enable the Palestinians to achieve their national existence in a sovereign State and Israel to remain a democratic State with a Jewish majority. This framework would have the advantage to prompt both parties to react and to voice their points of disagreement—and relatedly, their points of possible convergence. It would thus enable them to resume negotiations and to try to reach an agreement on the basis of the following principles, known to all:
. Borders based on pre-1967 lines, with agreed-upon land swaps of equivalent size and quality, so as to take account of the realities on the ground and to limit the number of Israelis bound to go back inside Israeli borders.
. Security provisions granted to both parties, notably guaranteed by an international presence based mostly on the United States.
. Compensations granted to Israelis now living in the West Bank settlements, who will be relocated in Israel.
. Various options offered to Palestinian refugees and to their descendants, so as to solve their problem on a permanent basis. They would get compensation and would be able to settle in the future state of Palestine, in their current host countries, in third countries (at the sovereign discretion of the country concerned), or in Israel (for a symbolic minority of them, at the sovereign discretion of the State of Israel).
.Jerusalem as the capital of both States, based on the current sharing out of neighborhoods: those inhabited by Jews would be part of the capital of Israel, and those inhabited by Arabs, part of the capital of the future Palestinian State. Holy sites would be protected under international agreements and would remain accessible to all.
. Recognition, by both parties, of the right of the Jews to a State, and of the right of the Palestinians to a State, without prejudice to the equal rights of their respective citizens.
Without an international political interference today, it is highly likely that the situation will seriously deteriorate, and that the gap existing between both populations will widen again.
