How these Israeli mayors are finding their own path to peace
A group of Palestinian officials have been meeting with Israeli mayors on both the right and the left in an effort to convince them that there is a partner for peace on the Palestinian side.
Just two years after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered the creation of the Palestinian Civil Committee for Interaction with Israel, its members can check off one item on their agenda. It was hard, sometimes even Sisyphean, but through sheer determination they came up with a way to circumvent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Now they hope they can convince Israelis that there are people on the Palestinian side with whom they can talk peace. The members of the committee, headed by Mohammed Madani of Fatah’s Central Committee, recently met with Israeli mayors to tell them that the window of opportunity for diplomatic negotiations is closing and that they should take advantage of it before it is too late. Much to their surprise, the mayors were willing to listen.
“There are people in the Likud Party, including some in Netanyahu’s inner circle, who are surprised to hear what we have to say,” said committee member Elias Zenaniri. “They tell us, ‘We didn’t know that things were like that on the Palestinian side.’ Actually, they don’t know anything about us. They really believe that Israel is surrounded by wild animals, like Netanyahu tells them. Then they discover that there are no wild animals on the other side, only people who want to live in peace.”
