The Day After… Peace as the only struggle !

Over the last years the Tulip Tree which was planted in memory of Itzhak Rabbin in the « Jardin des Plantes » only gathered a very small number of people for his assassination anniversary. This year an awful turmoil has risen and threatens to carry away everything, but the tree is still standing up and we are more and more to gather.

Since the Bernard Lazare association and Grenoble city have included “The School for Peace” to this event, let me insist on the meaning that we intend to give to our presence. In the middle of the chaos, we must assert that if Peace is the only struggle that matters, without forgetting why Itzhak Rabbin received the Nobel Peace Prize, we can only grieve that we have allowed the Near East file to deteriorate. Actually, the Oslo Agreements were an attempt of settlement, even if not perfect, we are now said that it should not have been unresolved, and new terms and conditions must be defined. Shortly after his death, Jean Halpérin, who had taught at Grenoble University, claimed: “To reach Peace it is not enough to talk about it, we must act to build it firmly.”

What right do we have to teach lessons? What I show you here are not the Tables of the Law, but the traces of numerous actions, meetings, conferences and several varied drafted or accomplished projects that have led to partnerships over those thirty years! We have not worked miracles, and could we have? Obviously, there should have been much more will, intelligence, imagination, investment and many more proposals of actions!

What can we do now on our territory in this war without any clear prospects between Israel and the Hamas if there is no implementation of a political solution? Nothing, on an immediate political level. Much in a warning role while organizing a dialogue between citizens of good will who do not have the same interpretation of the conflict nor the same cultural references.

• To question among discussion groups the conditions under which the Israelis and the Palestinians can have a timeframe of expectations .
• To reinitiate the dialogue between people and associations in order to avoid this conflict between these two peoples on the same territory spreading to our country which is already weakened by antisemitism on one side and on the other part by a confusion between Islam and Islamism.

Care must be taken not to promote a religious reading of the stand-off between Israel and Palestine in a complex conflict which has lasted for 75 years: otherwise, we would adopt the fundamentalist point of view. We must look further and bigger because Peace between Israelis and Palestinians are part of a challenge which is far larger than the one to build up a world in which we yearn to live together!

herefore, through an educational process to reach Peace we wish to take an initiative with the cooperation of Edith Aberdam, President of the Bernard Lazare association in Grenoble and civil society organisations on our territory.

Moreover, we ask for the support of the Mayor of Grenoble, the President of the Metro (Agglomeration of Grenoble) and the President of the Department Council so that a global network of « schools for peace » of which both Israeli and Palestinian organizations will be the first partners and beneficiaries, will develop and reach other ongoing conflicts in the world. Grenoble and the whole Isere territory thanks to their history and their experiences can be the basis of this struggle for Peace which is the only worth struggling!

Richard Pétris, President of the School for Peace