BICOM

Today an initiative will be launched by a group of 47 left-wing Israeli intellectuals, including Israel Prize laureates, that welcomes the declaration of an independent Palestinians state in the 1967 borders. According to the organisers, the goal of the event is to present an alternative Israeli position. Sefi Rachlevsky, one of the initiators, explained yesterday that the initiative emanates from Zionist thought and is intended to roll back Israel’s international isolation. The declaration, which organisers are calling a “Declaration of Independence from the Occupation,” will take place on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, next to the site where Israel’s Declaration of Independence was made.

Organisers will call on Israelis to sign the declaration, and yesterday said that dozens of supporters have expressed their willingness to sign, including Shulamit Aloni, Sefi Rachlevsky, Prof. Yehuda Bauer, Prof. David Harel, Prof. Menahem Yaari, actress Hanna Meron, Prof. Gabi Salomon, Israel prize laureate Micha Ullman, Prof. Zeev Sternhell and others. 

The initiative was criticised by figures from the right including MK Danny Danon (Likud) and National Union Chairman, MK Yaakov Katz, who denounced the declaration.