Over 80,000 of us signed Avaaz's campaign for Real Middle East Peace Talks, and the diplomatic buzz is growing. We put up member-designed billboards in Jerusalem, and they got national media coverage -- then a couple of extremists vandalised the billboards.
This is good news -- it shows we're making a real impact. Let's put the billboards back up with even more signatures, and put them in Tel Aviv as well as Jerusalem! Can you help grow the campaign to more than 100,000 voices for peace before the end of the week? Click here to sign the petition:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/real_middle_east_talks/That'll show the vandals: every time they deface our message we'll put it back up with more support. Most Israelis and Palestinians say they want proper negotiations: we refuse to be silenced by a small minority. You can see the billboards via the link above. At this moment of upheaval in Middle East politics, these mock travel adverts are challenging and disarming the Israeli public -- here's some of what the Jerusalem Post said:
While enticing Israelis to travel by featuring attractive women and scenery are nothing new, these billboards were created to stop Israelis in their tracks. These ads feature "enemy states" such as Saudi Arabia and Syria in a whole new way, with only the fine print noting that the price is for one room and a double bed - dependent on the Saudi peace plan.
"Israelis visiting Damascus, Dubai, even Jericho is inconceivable today – unless they're in uniform," said Hilder. "We wanted to help Israelis look and think again about the Arab Peace Initiative."
We've had a great response to the ads, though Israel's politicians are still dancing around the idea of real peace talks based on 1967 borders. So don't let the extremists silence us - spread the word, get us to 100,000 and we'll put up even more billboards!
http://www.avaaz.org/en/real_middle_east_talks/With hope,
Paul, Galit, Ricken, Ben, Graziela, Iain and all at Avaaz
Ps: our Stop the Clash video (part of this campaign) got an amazing response from people all round the world, won a non-profit video competition (
http://www.nten.org/blog/2007/04/25/things-we-like) and has been chosen by YouTube to feature on its new political vlog. See "Stop the Clash" here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWyJJQbFagoSome of the billboards media coverage -
Jerusalem Post article:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...ticle%2FPrinterIce News (a big Israeli news site, in Hebrew):
http://www.ice.co.il/article.asp?catId=1&pgId=105568Avaaz is a community of global citizens who take action on the major issues facing the world today. Its aim is to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people -- and not just political elites and unaccountable corporations -- shape global decisions. Avaaz members are taking action for a more just and peaceful world and a vision of globalization with a human face. Avaaz means voice in a variety of Asian, Middle Eastern and European languages. Avaaz already has almost 1 million participants from over 180 countries.
