On Monday September 27, ATFP Advocacy Director Ghaith Al-Omari joined Lara
Friedman, Director of Policy and Government Relations at Americans for Peace Now, in
a briefing for congressional staffers entitled "The Day After the Settlement Moratorium:
Can the Peace Process outlive the Freeze?" The briefing was organized by 3D Security
and held at the Rayburn House Office Building.
Mr. Al-Omari explained the political and concrete challenges created by settlements in
the face of reaching an agreed two-state solution. He expressed the opinion that the issue
of settlements will remain a point of friction as long as the occupation continues, and
pointed out that the only way to bypass this problem is through reaching an agreed two-
state solution that defines the borders of a Palestinian state. In this spirit, he expressed
hope that the current crisis over the renewal of the settlement moratorium will be
overcome so that the parties can go back to negotiations.
He concluded his remarks be explaining ways in which settlements can be handled
in a permanent status solution. In this regard he expressed his belief that, despite the
settlement expansion witnessed since the Oslo Accords, there is still a chance, though
a dwindling one, for reaching a two-state solution. He cautioned that the collapse of a
two-state solution will not lead to a utopian bi-national state but rather to continued and
intensified conflict, along with the attendant inevitable human suffering.
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