October 10, 2007 (LPAC)--A petition, signed by more than 600,000 Israelis and Palestinians, calling for a peace agreement was presented to the public on October 9. Drafted by the OneVoice Movement, the petition calls on the Israeli and Palestinian governments to reach a peace agreement within the next year based on a two-state solution and an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders and the establishment of capitals for both states in Jerusalem. The organization will hold rallies in Tel Aviv and the West Bank city of Jericho next Thursday, Oct. 18, that will be broadcast around the world in an effort to garner support for the two-state solution.

"Every minute delayed in ending the conflict is a minute gained by forces of militant absolutism committed to erase the possibility of a two-state solution," Daniel Lubetzky, the Mexican-born founder of the OneVoice Movement told the Jerusalem Post. "If the Israeli and Palestinian heads of state demonstrate progress over the coming months, they will be able to eventually reverse the debacle in Gaza, by pointing to a positive alternative that will undermine extremism. But if they don't, the opposite will happen and fundamentalist extremist ideologies will spread to the West Bank...and the world."

"The voice of the people is the critical element in reaching a viable solution for the region that has been missing in the resolution process thus far," Dr. Fathi Darwish, General Director of OneVoice Palestine told the Jerusalem Post. "If the Palestinian people want to end the occupation, and if the Israeli people want to ensure security and normalization with the Arab world, then each individual must play a real role to bring that about."

Founded in 2001, the non-partisan group has an advisory board that includes Ben-Gurion University President Avishay Braverman; Interdisciplinary Center President Uriel Reichman; Rabbi David Rosen, International Director Inter-religious Affairs at the American Jewish Committee; Sir Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom; MK Ephraim Sneh (Labor); MK Colette Avital (Labor); MK Rabbi Nissim Dahan (Shas); Meimad leader Rabbi Michael Melchior (Meimad); and MK Gilad Erdan (Likud). Others include former US Deputy Secretary of Treasury Stuart Eizenstat; Ambassador Martin Indyk, Director, of the Washington, DC-based Saban Center for Mideast Policy; Ambassador Dennis Ross of The Washington Institute and Jim Zogby Executive Director, Arab American Institute. As well as Palestinian Deputy Minister Ahmad Majdalani; Imad Shakur Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council; and Sheikh Taysir al Tamimi, Chief Palestinian Islamic Justice.