Middle East Peace Literature Service Information Packet

Nyack, NY: CONAME, [ca 1972]. 5 manila envelopes (12"x9") with printed labels, containing a total of 29 reprinted articles and 6 introductory sheets. All housed within large manila envelope (13"x9.5"), labeled in manuscript. External envelope rubbed and worn, with some dustsoil: Good only. Internal manila envelopes slightly rubbed, with minor rust to metal closures; enclosed articles with mild foxing and browning, one or two bent corners, only gently rubbed: overall Very Good.

An information packet distributed by the Committee On New Alternatives in the Middle East (CONAME), a pacifist organization founded in 1969 by a group of Jewish-Americans (among them Noam Chomsky). Their aim was to pursue peace in the Middle East by promoting peaceful dialogue in the U.S. "Founding director Allan Solomonow described it as 'a forum and a resource for peace-seeking alternatives to the currently internecine status quo; we are the gadfly to the consciences of the resigned, of the apathetic, of those mired in propaganda and dogma.' To that end, the organization's principal work was educational: disseminating articles, touring speakers, and organizing Middle East delegations to mitigate "the pervasive polarization of opinion that has characterized the Middle East crisis'" (Jewschool.com).

This is one of the informational packets CONAME assembled and distributed, probably in 1972. It contains reprints of previously published articles (dating from 1969-1972), organized in envelopes labeled as follows:

1. Who Are the Palestinians? (6 articles)
2. The Israeli Peace Movement (4)
3. Israel's Arab Minority (5)
4. Alternatives for Middle East Peace (9)
5. In Search of Middle East Information (5)

Article authors include Edward Said, Alan Dershowitz, Ahmed Khalidi, Atallah Mansour, M. Cherif Bassiouni, Nora Levin, Edward Said, Shlomo Avineri, Amos Kenan, Siach, Amnon Rubinstein, Israel Shahak, and Sabri Jiryis. The packets also contain copies of a few periodicals, e.g. New Outlook and The Middle East News Review.

Though this example equivocates about possible resolutions to the conflict and prioritizes providing background information, CONAME eventually advocated for Israeli-Palestianian dialogue and a two-state solution. The organization collaborated with other American pacifist organizations, such as the Jewish Peace Fellowship, War Resisters League, Quaker Action Group, and Women Strike for Peace. However, after the founding of Breira and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, CONAME's Executive Director and Assistant Director departed and the organization dissolved in 1975. (See the article on CONAME on btvshalom.org, the website for the Jewish Alliance for Justice & Peace).

An ephemeral and uncommon survival; we have traced no similar examples. #61845.