On 29 September Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu presented a 20-point ‘peace plan’. Yesterday, on 30 September, Alon-Lee Green, one of the co-directors of Standing Together, posted a video comment on this, in which he urges other Israelis, in a speech in Hebrew, to think ahead and not stop at wanting to go back to how things were on 6 October. Standing Together’s position is that an agreement that ends the ongoing war and genocide is positive and necessary, but that it is not enough. He emphasises that what is ultimately needed is a sustainable and just peace.
Alon-Lee’s comment:
“We must welcome any deal that stops the killing in Gaza and brings the hostages back to Israel. Yes, we should welcome any deal that stops the daily killing of civilians in Gaza and brings the hostages back to their families. But that’s not enough. We can’t think that just stopping the violence in Gaza is all we need. No, we can’t go back to how things were before October 6th. We can’t think that just ending these terrible two years is all it takes to improve our lives. We are keeping an entire people under military control. As long as this continues, neither our lives, nor Palestinians’, will be good or safe. So we must insist on moving forward from October 6th, ending the occupation and apartheid and making Israeli-Palestinian peace. Yes peace, a peace where everyone in our land, Israeli or Palestinian, has equal rights, civil and human rights, equality, freedom and independence. We must insist on this peaceful reality or we’ll face another October 7th and more destruction. So we must keep pressuring for the hostages’ return and stopping the killing in Gaza but also insist on Israeli-Palestinian peace. That’s our message today. Yes peace, but that’s not enough.”