Interesting, at the moment in Israel, the Peace Now NGO, which has been for the past three decades, one of the flagship institutions of the Israeli political & social Left is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary.
At the same time, the mainstay old time, old line foundation of the Israeli political Left, the Labor Party is all but disintegrating in an acid soup mix of personal ambition and expediency plus an abundance of ideological confusion. And, not to be left out, Meretz, the home of those for whom Labor was insufficiently committed to the ideological orthodoxy of a European style Left is also is appearing more and more superfluous and in deep trouble .
In many ways the situation that Peace Now finds itself in at this early adulthood of its existence is a useful example of the malaise that the Israeli community of Left and Progressive political sympathies find themselves in.
Peace Now was born thirty years ago when PM Menachem Begin was engaged in negotiations with the Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat, who had broken the Arab/Muslim taboo of recognizing the existence of the state of Israel and stimulated a tremendous outpouring of the long suppressed optimistic nature within the Jewish state.
There he was, Anwar Sadat, president of the most powerful and influential Arab state, smiling, descending the staircase from his Arab Republic of Egypt airliner. As most Israelis watched in blank & white TV, both Hatikva and the Egyptian national anthem were played by the Israel Defense Forces band. Then, still smiling broadly he could be seen shaking hands with the waiting Israeli government ministers, including, of course the leader of the Israeli political Right, Menachem Begin. The next day he was again on TV addressing the Israeli parliament, still smiling. The messiah must be on the next flight in. What could be a greater herald of a future of reconciliation and peace? “No more War, No more Bloodshed”, chanted Sadat and echoed Begin.
Then the nitty gritty down to earth negotiations and bargaining began. No, this was not going to be as easy as walking down the steps of an airliner or speaking to the enemies’ parliament for Sadat.
For Begen is was far more difficult than the initial greeting at the airport, or listening in the Knesset. Over the next months, Begin and various government officials traveled to Cairo for negotiations, which went on and on. An indication of the national anxiety that the opportunity for peace would be lost was expressed by 348 IDF reserve soldiers in an open letter to their PM. They spoke for a larger public in their concern, hopes and fears that Begin was not being forthcoming enough to bring about the Peace that just a few weeks before had seemed assured.
Here was the birth of Peace Now, in trepidation fear and concern that the negotiations would fail due to Begin’s reluctance to comply with all of Sadat’s conditions. Peace Now has continued for all these years to see in the reluctance of Israeli governments to agree to any and all demands by the Palestinians the main reason for the continued lack of PEACE, which they continue to believe, can and should be achieved NOW! While the majority of the Israeli population has learned the hard way that for some reason the Palestinians, the Arab states and the Muslim world has no real intention of cooperating with Peace Now, the Labor Party or the Meretz Party, these three entities can not seem to make the connections necessary to understand what to most Israelis is obvious. The issue blocking peace is not the settlements, nor is it the Israeli presence (“occupation”) of territories East or North of the old green line. It is simply the unwillingness of the Arab/Muslim world to accept a sovereign Jewish state on “their” land.
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The legacy of Peace Now formed at that time continues to this day and also expresses itself in the deteriorating condition of both the Labor Party and the Meretz party as well.
It is a world view in which Israel (and its 5,000,000 Jews) is seen as the strong and powerful entity upon which lies the responsibility for compromise towards the (300,000,000 strong) Palestinians/Arab world.
It was a questionable policy then; it gains practically no support now. Especially after all the concessions and the two withdrawals, from Lebanon & Gaza. Along with the disastrous results of the Oslo agreements have convinced most Israelis that withdrawal from territory and one sided concessions, do not lead to the Peace and quiet we all long for.
In this the Palestinian/Arab/Muslim world has succeeded greatly.
Although both political parties of the Left continue to put on a show of relevance, increasingly both Labor and Meretz persist in making irrelevant sounds of the dove
of Peace. Fewer and fewer people in this country, once so full of optimism and promise have much belief in that song now.
After concentrating for so many years on the need of the Palestinians for an independent state, Labor and Meretz have so little to say to the voters that all they can do is attempt to attract citizens interest via struggles over meaningless leadership contests.
The voice that is heard most clearly and with most sympathy in Israel today is that of the Religious Right, who are willing to sacrifice the state for the love of (some of ) the land, on which they live, but mostly do not work.
So while a majority of Israelis may not agree to the idea of continuing to support their fellow Jews living in Judea and Samara neither have they been offered an attractive, workable, sane alternative.
Is this stalemate the result or the cause of the profound lack of viable leadership we are being offered?
