The Path to Freedom
Ali Abu Awwad’s work recognizes 10 principles he believes critical to durable peace and security in the region
Recognition of both peoples’ belonging to the entire land. Any solution must guarantee the political legitimacy and historic belonging of both the Palestinian and Jewish identities to this land in a way that secures the other’s identity and does not threaten it.
The two-state solution is the only solution to this conflict: It is a solution that should guarantee the practice of the highest values of existence - security, independence, and democracy.
Belonging over ownership: Palestinians and Israelis both relate to the land through ownership, but this must be transformed into something far deeper and wider: belonging. We all belong to this land and we all must serve it, not conflict over it.
Change behaviors, not identities: Transforming the conflict requires changing behaviors, not losing identities. The most important behavior to change is ending the Israeli occupation and stopping any act of violence by the Palestinians. A solution depends on people giving up behaviors that humiliate the other, without feeling one’s own identity threatened by doing so. And any act of harm of violence must be considered a crime.
Both sides must take responsibility for themselves. We have to stop justifying violence. We must let go of the tremendous fear, trauma, stereotypes and anger that fuel this conflict in horrible, unilateral acts. We must stop acting as victims competing over fear or rights and become survivors who will partner for a shared future.
Nonviolence is the only national path towards security and freedom for both sides. Nonviolence is not only a strategy or tactic—it must become part of both our identities and behaviors at the same time.
Peace camps in both societies must redesign their strategies beyond personal transformation to practical national plans where both political leadership and grassroots are engaged in the best cooperative way that can create the environment for a peaceful solution to happen.
The international community must commit to be pro-solution, without intervening in or fueling the conflict. Instead, partner with both sides to solve this madness.
Any antisemitic or Islamophobic act must be considered a threat to both sides’ existence, at the same time. We don’t need more divides, we need bridges.
This conflict is political, not religious. At the same time, any political settlement has to consider the deep religious values of the three faiths without using religion as a political weapon for harm or divides.