1. Jews and Palestinians each have an equivalent claim to their own national homesteads, that is two neighbouring, sovereign states, Israel and Palestine, in secure frontiers and support one another in attaining this objective,

2. Jews and Palestinians, wherever else in the world they are staying, have the right to live in peace and freedom as human beings with equal rights against whom there will be no discrimination;

3. nobody will lose her or his homeland, because somebody else seeks his homeland there, that the independence of neither of the people be impaired by the immigration of the other, and for those who lost their land and/or homeland in the course of a conflict that appropriate and just solutions should be found that involve restitution of the land or the entire compensation of the former owner,

4. the relationships between Palestinians and Jews be based on the principles of complete equality, respect and considerateness conveying an image of man in which human dignity is incontestable,

5. we reject violence as a means of conflict-resolution between people and that we mutually try to discern the motives of violence and prevent it in its origins;

6. we reject as a form of violence the unilateral creation of facts that endanger the peace process and the already declared principles, namely the take-over of land and the shifting of the demographic situation in Arab living- and farming areas;

it is most important that political, economic and social conditions be created in which the Arab citizens of the state of Israel are free of any discrimination and that they can consider themselves as having equal rights, as being of equal value and receiving equal treatment,

the Jewish settlements on the Westbank and in Gaza were built adverse to international law and are an obstacle on the path to an understanding and to a permanent peace, that they therefore should be evacuated step by step and that the inhabitants be entirely compensated,

a solution has to be found, that is appropriate to the holy site and its history, for an undivided Jerusalem as two capitals of two sovereign states,

we suggest a regular intensive dialogue between Palestinians and Jews all over the world striving mutually to get to know the history and fate of the other, tending to mutualities and differences and to finding ways of overcoming our present helplessness;

we consider an active cultural and economic exchange amongst Jews and Palestinians and adequate educational programs to be a suitable and important means of enhancing this dialogue.

We appeal to all friends of the peace-process in the Near East and to every Jew and every Palestinian, whether man or woman, all over the world to join us in our discussion and in the manifestation of these principles by signing the declaration and sending it to us by mail or by fax or by joining us by e-mail and we invite you to let us have your feedback.

    Edward und Aïda Badeen, Basel, Switzerland
    Peter und Sonja Dreyfus, Biel-Benken, Switzerland
    Sabine Dreyfus, Binningen, Switzerland
    Joseph und Thérèse Kalak, Muttenz, Switzerland
    Peter Liatowitsch und Hannah Strøm Liatowitsch, Basel, Switzerland
    Gehad Mazarweh und Susanne Schwarz Mazarweh, Germany
    Billy Meyer, Basel, Switzerland
    Berta Rasumowsky, Zürich, Switzerland

You can reach us

by mail: Jewish-Palestinian Declaration
POB 425
CH-4010 Basel, Switzerland

by fax: +41-61-273 09 40

internet: homepage: http://www.isra-pal-peace.ch

e-mail: info@isra-pal-peace.ch