Alternative Action views justice as a prerequisite to peace as real peace between peoples can only exist when each side feels satisfied with its collective lot. And in addition to leaving both peoples unsatisfied, the diplomatic agreements of the last two decades have also imposed several new injustices. While Jews and Palestinians have been forcibly segregated, educated against one another and suffered thousands dead in the violence born out of the Oslo Accords, Palestinians have also been made to endure humiliating checkpoints, intrusive walls and wide-ranging restrictions on their freedom of movement. Jews have meanwhile been subjected to politically motivated house demolitions, mass expulsions of entire communities and a global negation of Jewish national rights.
In order for Jews and Palestinians to achieve genuine peace, both peoples need to recognize the legitimate rights of the other. The historic claims of the Jewish people to self-determination between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River cannot conflict with the basic civil rights of Palestinians within that territory.
Although a people cannot be accurately defined as an occupying power in its own native country, Israel often adopts the policies of an occupation force in regards to its policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians. In doing so, Israel’s government and military actually undermine the legitimate rights of the Jewish people to exercise political sovereignty in its historic heartland.
Alternative Action works to get beyond the narrow-minded “either/or” narratives currently dominant in the Middle East by exposing how all sides have legitimate grievances that can effectively be resolved without creating new injustices. We believe that it is only through seeking justice for all peoples that a genuine peace can be achieved for our region.