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Members of Rabbis for Human Rights, the Committee Against Home Demolitions and the Coalition of Women for a Just Peace attempt to remove a roadblock at Rantis on March 23. (Reuters)
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| By Ellis Shuman April 19, 2001 |
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According to Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc, "The peace process has collapsed - and has taken down with it a large part of the Israeli peace camp."
In days when the media is full of reports of shooting and mortar attacks, voices calling for a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are having a hard time getting heard. A recent Gallup opinion poll showed that 67% of the adult Israeli population does not believe that there is a partner for peace on the Palestinian side. A majority of Palestinians favor the continuation of the Intifada.
It is in this hostile climate that Israeli peace organizations are struggling to make their statements. Most of the efforts of groups like Rabbis for Human Rights, Gush Shalom and the Coalition of Women for a Just Peace are directed towards protesting security measures of the Israeli Defense Forces.
 Fifteen peace activists were arrested yesterday when they were attempting, along with Palestinians and international citizens, to dismantle a roadblock outside the Palestinian villages of Bidiya and Maskha. The arrest received minimal media coverage.
At the beginning of the week, Bat Shalom activists along with hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians demonstrated in Um Tuba against the house demolitions planned in Jerusalem. Eight houses in Um Tuba were scheduled to be destroyed, in what Bat Shalom describes as a "cynical use of law and planning for purely political purposes."
The Women in Black organization, which has been protesting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories since 1988, recently won a United Nations award in recognition for its activities.
Peace Now as a one-issue protest movement
Possibly the most well known Israeli peace organization is Peace Now. In existence for twenty-three years, "Peace Now has been careful to remain a "one-issue" protest movement, devoted to convincing the Israeli public that the continued occupation of the Palestinian territories is politically and culturally self-destructive and morally reprehensible," according to a report by Eetta Prince-Gibson published this week in The Jerusalem Post.
Peace Now activists veered from this central theme when they joined Israeli Arabs in Land Day demonstrations at the end of March. Janet Aviad, a founder and leader of the organization, said that she and her colleagues came "to call for equality for Israeli Arabs and to reinforce those who believe in genuine peace."
According to Judith Korin, a member of Peace Now's National Secretariat, the organization "does not represent the radical Left. We are a more central, moderate Left who believe that Israel should remain a Jewish state." Korin believes the movement's "messages represent the views of the majority of moderate Israelis."
The radical left made an overture to moderate Israelis last week, when Gush Shalom published a full-page advertisement in Ha'aretz. In a document entitled 80 Theses for a New Peace Camp, Gush Shalom, formed in 1992 by former Knesset Member Uri Avnery, presented its overview of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the steps it believes necessary to bring a just resolution and historical reconciliation between the two nations living in this land.
Would compromises bring peace?
Suggested territorial compromises by Gush Shalom and Peace Now, even if they would entail 100% of the territories, would still not bring peace, according to David Bedein, Media Research Analyst for Israel Resource Review. "Their position remains that the way to peace is to cede the West Bank and Gaza to the PLO, even though the PLO does not accept any such formula for peace." Bedein believes the PLO would then insist on the liberation of Palestinian cities like Ramla, Lod and Ashkelon.
Bedein concludes that the "Peace Camp has been transformed into an ideological dinosaur."
David Newman, chairman of the Department of Politics and Government at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, suggests forming a new peace movement. In an op-ed piece published recently in the Jerusalem Post, Newman writes that "without a new public pro-peace movement, making its voice heard on the streets, in the media and at public demonstrations, the present government will not return to the negotiating table."
The recent actions by organizations like Gush Shalom, Bat Shalom and others are raising voices, but these voices have yet to be heard on the streets.
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