Israeli Intellectuals Urge Olmert to Negotiate with Abbas, Hamas

24 September 2007

Bethlehem – Ma'an – A group of prominent Israeli intellectuals delivered a petition to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Sunday, urging him to negotiate with both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas-run government of the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported

The signatories of the petition, titled "Deal with Abu Mazen (Abbas), negotiate for ceasefire with Hamas," included AB Yehoshua, Amoz Oz, David Grossman, Meir Shalev, Yehudit Katzir, Eli Amir, Yeshua Sobol, Esti G Chaim, Professor Alice Shalvi and Dorit Rabinyan, and Savion Librecht.

"We believe an opportunity to promote the peace process ahead of the international conference in November has been created. We urge the prime minister to make the greatest effort to reach substantial agreements with the PLO head and not miss this opportunity," the document said.

Calling on Olmert to negotiate a ceasefire with Hamas, the intellectuals pointed out that both Israel and the people of the Gaza Strip stood to gain: "These talks must include an attempt to reach a complete ceasefire, without preconditions. An end to the mutual attacks would give the residents of the western Negev a sense of security, would spare the Gaza vicinity residents any further suffering, and would increase the political process' chances of succeeding."