Report from Palestinian Perspectives Session at J-Street Conference

by Harpo Jaeger

Tweets from Tuesday morning (Oct. 27, 2009) session at the J Street conference.

Palestinian Perspectives: Looking Forward
Ziad Asali, President and Founder, American Task Force on Palestine
Nadia Bilbassy, Correspondent, Middle East Broadcasting Center
Bassim Khoury, Minister of National Economy, Palestinian Authority
Moderator: Amjad Atallah, Co-Director, Middle East Task Force, New America Foundation

It is collected here for readability and to make it easy for people to point to this page to see this report as a coherent unit.

The original is tweeted by Harpo at: http://twitter.com/renaissanceboy

Time Body
10:37 AM

Sittin' at the press table! #jstconf09
10:48 AM

The panel is moderated by @amjadatallh, chaired by Avi Meyerstein (founder of http://allmep.org/). #jstconf09
10:53 AM

Panelists: Ziad Asali (http://tr.im/De7X), Nadia Bilbassy (http://tr.im/De7W), Bassim Khoury, Minister of Natl. Economy, P.A. #jstconf09
10:54 AM

@amjadatallah has asked panelist to talk about what the area would like like *after* peace. #jstconf09
10:56 AM

Bilbassy asks: What does having a gun do to an 18-yr. old? Sure, he can hurt others, but what about the effect on him? #jstconf09
10:56 AM

Bilbassy: The 2nd state in the 2-state solution should be completely secular and democratic. #jstconf09
10:57 AM

Bilbassy: If we wanted to live in a dictatorship, we could go live in any other Arab country. #jstconf09
11:00 AM

Correction: Ziad Asali could not be here, Hussein Ibish, also from American Task Force on Palestine takes his place. #jstconf09
11:03 AM

@ibishblog: 2-state solution is "transformative" #jstconf09
11:06 AM

@ibishblog: An ideal Palestinian state would be non-militarized, neutral in conflicts. This may not be completely possible. #jstconf09
11:07 AM

@ibishblog: Hamas' policies are at odds with the interests of Pals. #jstconf09
11:08 AM

@ibishblog: Hamas has a small religious right conservative, no more than 10-12% of the population. #jstconf09
11:08 AM

@ibishblog: Need a creative solution to issue of Jerusalem. Should be capital of both states. This is within our capabilities. #jstconf09
11:10 AM

@ibishblog: Pal state will be a national advocate for refugees, something they do not and have never had. #jstconf09
11:11 AM

Now to Khoury, who resigned his post in protest of non-adoption of Goldstone. #jstconf09
11:12 AM

@ibishblog Fayyad plan is the best hope right now. #jstconf09
11:13 AM

Khoury: "Not only are we not working towards peace, we are not planning for the day after." #jstconf09
11:13 AM

Khoury: It has been 8 years since I came to Washington DC, and what a sea of change I have felt. Thank you @jstreetdotorg. #jstconf09
11:16 AM

Khoury: Only political peace can bring about economic viability and prosperity. #jstconf09
11:16 AM

Khoury: I disagree with the notion that the Fayyad plan is most important. Politics first. #jstconf09
11:17 AM

Khoury: It is important to emphasize that Pals. did not benefit from peace. #jstconf09
11:18 AM

Khoury: Production base has dropped while population base grew. Result: per capita production dropped 50%. #jstconf09
11:21 AM

Khoury: declaring an area a terrorist group is a self-fullfilling prophesy. #jstconf09
11:22 AM

Khoury: More than 99% of Gazans do not "know beyond the walls of the ghetto prison they live in". #jstconf09
11:23 AM

Khoury: Gazans are not being taught tolerance. #jstconf09
11:23 AM

Khoury: Goldstone report sets foundation for how two peoples should engage. #jstconf09
11:24 AM

Khoury: We cannot agree to compromise on crimes against humanity. It is an international issue. #jstconf09
11:26 AM

Khoury: I don't agree with the decisions the govt made, but I will not be made an enemy of the state. #jstconf09
11:28 AM

Khoury: Proud of my government service. Proud of my history of advocating trade with Israel. #jstconf09
11:28 AM

Khoury: Israeli failure to investigate is a failure of the international system. "Justice delayed is justice denied." #jstconf09
11:30 AM

@ibishblog: Fayyad plan is not a substitute for diplomacy. It's a political conflict, needs a political agreement. #jstconf09
11:34 AM

Bilbassy: Hamas must be voted out, not removed any other way. #jstconf09
11:34 AM

Bilbassy: Israeli approach to Palestinian leaders has benefited groups like Hamas. #jstconf09
11:37 AM

@ibishblog: No Islamic government can be fair. #jstconf09
11:38 AM

Bilbassy: Hamas and Fatah are effective in garnering support because they work with supporters. #jstconf09
11:39 AM

@ibishblog: If secular states are corrupt, Islamic states are "extremely corrupt". #jstconf09
11:39 AM

@amjadatallah: Netanyahu's offered to negotiate without preconditions. #jstconf09
11:39 AM

Except, of course, that Pals. must recognize Israel as a Jewish state. #jstconf09
11:40 AM

And that Jerusalem won't be discussed. #jstconf09
11:40 AM

And that refugees will not be discussed. #jstconf09
11:41 AM

@ibishblog: Asking Pals to recognize Israel as Jewish state is red herring. No consensus in Israel as to what this means. #jstconf09
11:41 AM

@ibishblog: It's a "functionally meaningless" issue. #jstconf09
11:48 AM

@ibishblog: It does show that the diplomatic relationship between Israel and Arab states will be retooled by the peace process. #jstconf09
11:49 AM

Khoury is showing some pretty compelling stats about Israeli Arab poverty in Jerusalem. #jstconf09
11:50 AM

Disproportionately little government money goes to Arab side, although financial and social conditions are much worse. #jstconf09
11:51 AM

Khoury: Calling Jerusalem the capital of Israel is dooming its Arab citizens to live in apartheid. #jstconf09
11:51 AM

@amjadatallah wrapping up: If you visit a place like Bosnia, South Africa, Rwanda, you can see the way ethnic conflicts end. #jstconf09
11:52 AM

@amjadatallah: They quickly can live normally with each other following peace. #jstconf09
11:52 AM

@amjadatallah: Let's do everything we can to get them there. #jstconf09
11:53 AM

Lunchtime now. Next is the conference keynote with Jim Jones. #jstconf09
12:20 PM

Just did a great interview of @amjadatallah. #jstconf09