(The Call appeared as an advertisement in the New York
Times October 4, 2006)

[At the initiative of the International Crisis Group,
135 global leaders issue a call for urgent
international action to resolve the Arab-Israeli
conflict]

Towards a Comprehensive Settlement of the Arab-Israeli
Conflict

With the Middle East immersed in its worst crisis for
years, we call for urgent international action towards
a comprehensive settlement of the Arab-Israeli
conflict.

Everyone has lost in this conflict except the
extremists throughout the world who prosper on the rage
that it continues to provoke. Every passing day
undermines prospects for a peaceful, enduring solution.
As long as the conflict lasts, it will generate
instability and violence in the region and beyond.

The outlines of what is needed are well known, based on
United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 of 1967
and 338 of 1973, the Camp David peace accords of 1978,
the Clinton Parameters of 2000, the Arab League
Initiative of 2002, and the Roadmap proposed in 2003 by
the Quartet (UN, US, EU and Russia). The goal must be
security and full recognition to the state of Israel
within internationally recognised borders, an end to
the occupation for the Palestinian people in a viable,
independent, sovereign state, and the return of lost
land to Syria.

We believe the time has come for a new international
conference, ideally held as soon as possible and
attended by all relevant players, at which all the
elements of a comprehensive peace agreement would be
mapped, and momentum generated for detailed
negotiations.

Whether or not such an early conference can be
convened, there are crucial steps that can and should
be taken by the key players, including:

* Support for a Palestinian national unity
government, with an end to the political and
financial boycott of the Palestinian Authority

* Talks between Israel and the Palestinian
leadership, mediated by the Quartet and reinforced
by the participation of the Arab League and key
regional countries, on rapidly enhancing mutual
security and allowing revival of the Palestinian
economy

* Talks between the Palestinian leadership
and the Israeli government, sponsored by a
reinforced Quartet, on the core political issues
that stand in the way of achieving a final status
agreement

* Parallel talks of the reinforced Quartet with
Israel, Syria and Lebanon, to discuss
the foundations on which Israeli-Syrian and
Israeli-Lebanese agreements can be reached.

Nobody underestimates the intractability of the
underlying issues or the intensity of feelings they
provoke. But if the Arab-Israeli conflict, with all its
terrible consequences, is ever to be resolved, there is
a desperate need for fresh thinking and the injection
of new political will. The times demand no less.

Morton Abramowitz, Former US Assistant Secretary of
State and Ambassador to Turkey and Thailand

Adnan Abu-Odeh, Former Political Adviser to King
Abdullah II and King Hussein, Jordan

Esko Aho, Former Prime Minister, Finland

Ali Alatas, Former Foreign Minister, Indonesia

Abdul-Kareem Al-Eryani, Former Prime Minister, Yemen

Raúl Alfonsín, Former President, Argentina

Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, Former UN High
Representative for Bosnia & Herzegovina

Lloyd Axworthy, Former Foreign Minister, Canada

Peter Barry, Former Foreign Minister, Ireland

Shlomo Ben-Ami, Former Foreign Minister, Israel

Alexander Bessmertnykh, Former Foreign Minister, Soviet
Union

Carl Bildt, Former Prime Minister, Sweden

Valdis Birkavs, Former Prime Minister, Latvia

James Bolger, Former Prime Minister, New Zealand

Kjell Magne Bondevik, Former Prime Minister, Norway

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Former Secretary-General, UN

Lakhdar Brahimi, Former Foreign Minister, Algeria, and
UN Special Representative

Gro Harlem Brundtland, Former Prime Minister, Norway

Zbigniew Brzezinski, Former National Security Advisor
to the President, United States

Kim Campbell, Former Prime Minister, Canada; Secretary
General, Club of Madrid

Ingvar Carlsson, Former Prime Minister, Sweden
Frank Carlucci, Former Secretary of Defense, United
States

Jimmy Carter, 39th President, United States; Nobel
Peace Prize 2002

Maria Livanos Cattaui, Former Secretary-General,
International Chamber of Commerce

Naresh Chandra, Former Indian Cabinet Secretary and
Ambassador to US

Claude Cheysson, Former Foreign Minister, France

Jean Chrétien, Former Prime Minister, Canada

Wesley Clark, Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander,
Europe

Gerard Collins, Former Foreign Minister, Ireland

Pat Cox, Former President, European Parliament

Jacques Delors, Former President, European Commission

Gianni De Michelis, Former Foreign Minister, Italy

Ruth Dreifuss, Former President, Switzerland

Roland Dumas, Former Foreign Minister, France

Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize 2003; Iran

Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, Former Foreign Minister, Denmark

Gareth Evans, President, International Crisis Group;
Former Foreign Minister, Australia

Mark Eyskens, Former Prime Minister, Belgium

José María Figueres, Former President, Costa Rica

Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Former President, Iceland

Joschka Fischer, Former Foreign Minister, Germany

Malcolm Fraser, Former Prime Minister, Australia

Anil K Gayan, Former Foreign Minister, Mauritius

Leslie H Gelb, President Emeritus, Council on Foreign
Relations, United States

Bronislaw Geremek, Former Foreign Minister, Poland

Kiro Gligorov, Former President, Macedonia

Richard Goldstone, Former Prosecutor, International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

Felipe González Márquez, Former Prime Minister, Spain

Mikhail S Gorbachev, Former President, Soviet Union;
Nobel Peace Prize 1990

I K Gujral, Former Prime Minister, India

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama; Nobel Peace Prize 1989

Vahit M Halefoglu, Former Foreign Minister, Turkey

Lee Hamilton, Former Congressman, United States;
Director, Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars

Bob Hawke, Former Prime Minister, Australia

Bill Hayden, Former Governor-General and Foreign
Minister, Australia

Carla Hills, Former Trade Representative, United States

Lena Hjelm-Wallén, Former Deputy Prime Minister and
Foreign Minister, Sweden

Raffi K Hovannisian, Former Foreign Minister, Armenia

Lord Howe of Aberavon, Former Foreign Secretary and
Deputy Prime Minister, UK

John Hume, Nobel Peace Prize 1998; Northern Ireland

Lord Hurd of Westwell, Former Foreign Secretary, UK

George Iacovou, Former Foreign Minister, Cyprus

Anwar Ibrahim, Former Deputy Prime Minister, Malaysia

James Ingram, Former Executive Director, UN World Food
Programme

Asma Jahangir, Chair, Pakistan Human Rights Commission;
UN Special Rapporteur

Max Jakobson, Former Ambassador of Finland to the UN

Lionel Jospin, Former Prime Minister, France

Marwan S Kasim, Former Foreign Minister, Jordan

Kim Dae-jung, Former President, Republic of Korea;
Nobel Peace Prize 2000

F W de Klerk, Former President, South Africa; Nobel
Peace Prize 1993

Wim Kok, Former Prime Minister, Netherlands

Bernard Kouchner, Founder, Médecins Sans Frontières;
Former Minister, France, and UN Special Representative

Milan Kucan, Former President, Slovenia

Aleksander Kwasniewski, Former President, Poland

Ricardo Lagos, Former President, Chile

Zlatko Lagumdžija, Former Prime Minister, Bosnia &
Herzegovina

Anthony Lake, Former National Security Advisor to the
President, United States

Lee Hong-Koo, Former Prime Minister, Republic of Korea

Ahmed Maher, Former Foreign Minister, Egypt

Abdul Salam Majali, Former Prime Minister, Jordan

John Major, Former Prime Minister, UK

Barbara McDougall, Former External Affairs Secretary,
Canada

Matthew F McHugh, Former US Congressman and World Bank
Counselor

Robert McNamara, Former Secretary of Defense, United
States

Rexhep Meidani, Former President, Albania

Najib Mikati, Former Prime Minister, Lebanon

Mike Moore, Former Prime Minister, New Zealand; Former
Director-General, WTO

Marwan Muasher, Former Foreign Minister and Deputy
Prime Minister, Jordan

Klaus Naumann, Former Chairman, North Atlantic Military
Committee of NATO, Germany

Boyko Noev, Former Minister of Defence, Bulgaria

Ayo Obe, Chair, World Movement for Democracy, Nigeria

Sadako Ogata, Former UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Lord Owen of the City of Plymouth, Former Foreign
Secretary, UK

Anand Panyarachun, Former Prime Minister, Thailand

Andrés Pastrana, Former President, Colombia

Lord Patten of Barnes, Co-Chair, International Crisis
Group; Former European Commissioner for External
Relations

Thomas Pickering, Co-Chair, International Crisis Group;
Former US Ambassador to the UN, Russia, India, Israel,
Jordan, El Salvador and Nigeria

Josep Piqué, Former Foreign Minister, Spain

Surin Pitsuwan, Former Foreign Minister, Thailand

Yevgeny Primakov, Former Prime Minister, Russia

Jorge Quiroga, Former President, Bolivia

Augusto Ramírez Ocampo, Former Foreign Minister,
Colombia

Fidel V Ramos, Former President, Philippines

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Former Prime Minister, Denmark

Abdur-ra'uf Rawabdeh, Former Prime Minister, Jordan

Malcolm Rifkind, Former Foreign Secretary, UK

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, Former Defence Secretary,
UK, and NATO Secretary-General

Mary Robinson, Former President, Ireland, and High
Commissioner for Human Rights

Michel Rocard, Former Prime Minister, France

Petre Roman, Former Prime Minister, Romania

Adam Daniel Rotfeld, Former Foreign Minister, Poland

Nafis Sadik, Former Executive Director, UN Population
Fund

Mohamed Sahnoun, Former Algerian Ambassador; UN Special
Adviser

Ghassan Salamé, Former Culture Minister, Lebanon

Salim Ahmed Salim, Former Secretary General, OAU, and
Prime Minister, Tanzania

Jorge Sampaio, Former President, Portugal

Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, Former President, Bolivia

Mario Soares, Former President, Portugal

Stephen Solarz, Former Chair, Africa & Asia
Subcommittees, US Congress

Cornelio Sommaruga, Former President, International
Committee of the Red Cross

George Soros, Chairman, Open Society Institute

Pär Stenbäck, Former Foreign Minister, Finland

Thorvald Stoltenberg, Former Foreign Minister, Norway
HRH El Hassan bin Talal, Founder, Arab Thought Forum,
Jordan

Leo Tindemans, Former Prime Minister, Belgium

Alex S Trigona, Former Foreign Minister, Malta

Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town; Nobel
Peace Prize 1984

Cassam Uteem, Former President, Mauritius

Hans van den Broek, Former Foreign Minister,
Netherlands, and European Commissioner for External
Relations

Ed van Thijn, Former Minister and Mayor of Amsterdam,
Netherlands

George Vassiliou, Former President, Cyprus

Hubert Védrine, Former Foreign Minister, France

Richard von Weizsäcker, Former President, Germany

Baroness Williams of Crosby, Former Cabinet Minister,
UK

Ernesto Zedillo, Former President, Mexico

____________________________________________

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