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Defeating Denormalization: Shared Palestinian and Israeli Perspectives on a New Path to Peace

(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Dan Diker, ed. - In the 1990s the Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Israel signed the internationally-sanctioned Oslo Accords, which acknowledged mutual recognition, included reconciliation, and the normalization of relations between the sides. Yet today the Palestinian leadership has adopted a strategy of "denormalization of relations" with Israel as a political weapon. For example, Jibril Rajoub, the Palestinian minister of sport, declared in 2014, "Any activity of normalization in sports with the Zionist enemy is a crime against humanity." Yet this campaign does not represent the attitudes or interests of the average Palestinian, especially the 150,000 Palestinians who are employed in West Bank Palestinian-Israeli industrial zones or in Israel. This study reveals the demand among a growing number of Palestinians for engagement and opportunity together with their Israeli neighbors. Many Palestinians and virtually all Israelis prefer cooperation over denormalization. This policy book gives voice to Palestinians who call for reconciliation with Israelis even in the absence of a final political agreement.
2018-06-29 00:00:00
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