As an Israeli ground military intervention in Gaza appears imminent, the “peace camp,” a diverse movement of organizations that have historically advocated genuine Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, is more desperate than ever. However, if there is no time for negotiations, “we will have to relearn how to live with our neighbors,” these activists are already warning.
Hamas’s massacres of unprecedented scale and violence against 1,200 Israeli civilians are being met with retaliatory measures that are already deadly for the Palestinian population in Gaza – more than 1,400 dead as of October 14 – and are expected to become even deadlier. in view of the ongoing military preparations to release around 120 confirmed hostages and to dismantle the terrorist movement. Can the voice of peace still be heard in the face of such ongoing tragedy?
For Israelis, their families and the Jewish diaspora, “stunning” still dominates a week after the commando operation in Gaza. “Unimaginable things” happened on Saturday, October 7, breathes Alain Rozenkier, president of Peace Now in France, a French association that is independent of the famous Israeli movement but aims to spread its message . “Unimaginable given what has happened,” he continues: “So easy intrusion into kibbutzim,” “crossing the ultra-secure border.” “Unthinkable also in view of the heinousness of the acts committed, which are in no way political,” leading to “a humanitarian and political catastrophe for both Israelis and Palestinians, as the civilian population will pay the price for Hamas’ crimes.” . “Peace is a completely inappropriate word hic et nunc in this context, we are well aware of that,” admits the activist, because “non-reaction was unthinkable.” But this is only temporary, he warns: “This response alone will not be enough.” Then there will be a global approach with political measures. A war situation always ends with a more or less stable peace. It cannot be otherwise unless we admit that one of the two partners disappears completely, which is unimaginable. We must take the risk of peace. »
Kibbutz Beeri, near the Gaza border, seen here on October 11, 2023, was particularly damaged by the October 7 terrorist attack. AFP – MENAHEM KAHANA
Which camp for peace?
How far gone are the days when the word referred to a horizon that was achievable thanks to a broad social and political desire: the huge demonstrations of several hundred thousand people in the 1970s and 1980s – like those to which more will be found in 1978 when 378 officials gathered to make peace with Egypt; the birth in 1992 of Meretz, a historic party of the secular left and political translation of the pacifist social movement, which entered the Knesset; the Rabin-Arafat handshake – voluntary or involuntary – in front of the White House the following year. And during a huge gathering of Peace Now (Shalom Arshav), a historical reference movement, the assassination of Yitzak Rabin in November 1995 by a Jewish extremist shook the diplomatic dynamic. If hopes do not die with the Nobel Peace Prize, the second Intifada (2000-2005) will seal the end of the Oslo process.
At the same time, the influence of Hamas, an Islamist organization founded in 1987 that opposed the Oslo Accords, which were supposed to guarantee the recognition of Israel by a future Palestinian state, grew thanks to the goodwill of the governments of Sharon, then Netanyahu, and Fatah and the PLO and after weakened and discredited. “We have allowed a monster to emerge: Hamas has been fed like the golem of Jewish tradition that is now turning against us,” complains David Ben Ishay, co-founder of the Moderate Democrats Collective. Suitcase filled with Qatari banknotes The attacks directed at Hamas through Israel are now coming to the surface. “The movement continued to exist, but lost its reach after the failure of Oslo and the intifadas: the message of peace was more difficult to convey in Israeli society,” recalls Alain Ronzenkier.
It must be said that its meaning has never been clear. So if peace is linked to the Palestinian cause, it is “unpopular from the start.” remind Samy Cohen, researcher emeritus at Sciences Po and specialist on the peace movement. “The Palestinians are seen as a threat to Israel’s security. The PLO and Arafat, who were defeated in Lebanon in 1982, did not renounce the destruction of the State of Israel […]. The Palestinian Central will only speak of recognizing Israel from 1989.” Lior Amihai, head of the Shalom Arshav (Peace Now in Israel) movement, brushes aside the current theory of the movement’s decline after the second Intifada: “In truth, peace never came really tried. There have always been cycles of violence and actions by Hamas or Israeli governments designed to destroy any hope of a serious peace agreement in favor of a two-state solution. But we should choose peace because there are no other alternatives for our future here. »
Today “the peace camp is the one that continues to say that the occupation is the conflagration of Israeli society, for ethical reasons but also for the preservation of Israel as a democratic state,” defines David Ben Ishay. Specifically, it refers to a large number of associations that operate in a distributed order and pursue very specific goals: by breaking the silence, former soldiers testify to the abuses committed by the Israeli army that they have witnessed; B’Tselem or Yesh Din documents human rights violations in the areas and may take legal action; Human rights rabbis confront settlers in Palestinian olive fields… to name just a few of the hundreds of NGOs listed by Samy Cohen.
In addition to the fact that this mosaic provokes strong popular rejection, ranging from criticism to outright hatred, it also does not share the same sensibilities about the direction to take. But division was never the movement’s main problem, adds Arnon Dgani, historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and researcher at the Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy: “The main obstacle to the peace camp’s access to power is that the problem does not exist. on the political agenda. The fight for peace is viewed by the right and some parts of the left as useless and even dangerous. »
Because these NGOs lack strong political intermediaries, they find it difficult to translate their interests into action. For the first time since its creation, “the only party defending the peace process, Meretz, did not even exceed the electoral threshold of 140,000 votes in the last parliamentary elections,” protests David Ben Ishay. “The voice of pacifism has not been heard for several years, on the one hand because this movement made mistakes in terms of organization, because the political relays did not work. And on the other hand, because the Palestinian side has not managed to structure an alternative discourse to violence, to the discourse of Hamas,” adds Alain Rozenkier.
The vitality of Israeli civil society
“The issue of the peace process was dead and buried, it no longer enlivened the Friday meals. The Oslo Accords, whose 30th anniversary was celebrated this year, produced only three television broadcasts. Based on our experience, the situation is likely to become even more distant,” continues David Ben Ishay of the moderate Democrats group, founded in March 2020 to oppose the power of the impeached Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, who was the first to assume his duties.
The evolution of national politics in Israel has much to do with the waning influence of the pacifist movement. “As in Europe, Israeli society is also undergoing a democratic development towards illiberal and nationalist powers,” summarizes Alain Rozenkier. As Israeli politics and society become ideologically more right-wing – the figure of the national conservative Likud party, Benyamin Netanyahu, was head of government from 2009 to 2019 and then from 2021 – the peace camp is shifting towards internal concerns about “securing democracy”. .
The year 2023 will indeed mark the awakening of Israel’s civic vitality. On January 4, the far-right coalition, in power since November, will launch a judicial reform project aimed at limiting the powers of the Supreme Court, the only real countervailing power in a state without a constitution. Without it, the legislature and the government would have a free hand to carry out reforms at any cost and, in particular, to open a path for further colonization.
Mobilize civic organizations. At the forefront of the protest are Israel’s social elites, and the troops are reinforced by the middle classes. On the other hand, “those who are in the settlements, those who are very religious or right-wing, support the reform,” explain Denis Charbit, Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Humanities at the Open University of Israel. Quoted in a press release published in March 2023 by Releasewrite two diaspora Jewish associations (JCall, the European Jewish Network for Israel and for Peace, and CCLJ, the Jewish Secular Community Center): “In 2010, we launched an “Appeal to Reason” to express our concerns about this to express the stalling of the “peace process” and the threat it posed to Israel’s survival as a Jewish and democratic state. Thirteen years later, our worst predictions are becoming reality before our eyes and worry has turned to agony. The far-right coalition that emerged from the November 1st elections [2022] not only destroys any chance of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but also the foundations of the Israeli rule of law. What the saboteurs did not count on was the strength of the response from civil society. »
Large demonstration in Tel Aviv, June 24, 2023, against the reform of the justice system. Portal – Oren Alon
For 40 weeks, massive demonstrations challenged the government. “At the very beginning of the movement, we saw Palestinian flags at the demonstrations,” recalls David Ben Ishay, who took part in the protest as a “man of the left”. “It was very varied. But we received severe criticism on Israeli television and were seen as traitors. However, defending democratic foundations means defending institutions capable of resuming the peace process afterwards. But that wasn’t the heart of the protest movement because it would have been inaudible. »
A high point was reached on March 25, when Defense Minister Yoav Gallant advocated a mobilization of more than half a million people in the country that evening a suspension of the project. His dismissal was announced the next day (but is not ratified). Even the president of Israel – an honorary position – is calling on Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop the legislative process immediately.” This will not be the case even if he has taken a hit.
“We didn’t want to see the Palestinians”
“The peace camp is smaller than that of the struggle for democracy, but there are parallel lines,” notes Yuval Rahamim, former president of the NGO Forum for Peace, which brings together more than a hundred associations dealing with the Israeli-Israeli conflict. Palestinians. In other words, it is more a case of a change in the direction of the megaphone towards other priorities, other interlocutors, than an extinction of the voices of peace. Because “we always hear them, it depends on where you are,” he still says. On October 6, on the eve of Red Dawn, several hundred women from the Israeli movement “Women Wage Peace” and the Palestinian association “Women of the Sun” demonstrated for peace in Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. “This is the first time we have a real partnership between Israeli and Palestinian women on equal terms,” Houda Abu Arqoub, regional director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP), told AFP. ), which looks after the two associations. “I am very happy to be here and feel that we Palestinian women are not alone and that there are many other women who want to put an end to the killings,” confided Yasmine Soud, a Palestinian from Bethlehem.
“It is true that this camp is no longer as strong as before, but it is still alive. It is not the voice of peace that has disappeared or become weaker, but the population that has changed. Not many results can be achieved with this diet,” continues Yuval Rahamim. “In the 1960s and 70s, when I was little, we talked about peace all the time at school. “Have Peace” was the national motto. In twenty years the entire education system has changed and been captured by the right. There is no longer any talk of that. »
Today, on the Israeli side, he is director of the Israeli-Palestinian Forum of Grieving Families. Founded 30 years ago, the NGO, one of the most active in the peace movement, brings together 700 binational families who have lost loved ones in conflict and aims to bring them together “virtually and physically” to “emotionally tell personal stories.” , broken lives, making people listen and accept the pain experienced, to change the way we look at the enemy.” Interventions are regularly organized in middle and high schools. Yuval, who lost his father as a teenager, had “revenge like a dream” back then. “I understand the feeling of many Israelis just thinking about it. But revenge doesn’t help. The only way to protect our loved ones is to end this conflict. »
Abandoned by the international community, despised by the new generations of leaders of Arab countries, especially the Gulf states, and undermined by former American President Donald Trump, the Palestinian cause lies at the bottom of the pile. “For years, Israeli society was under the impression that it could have both: the territories, relative calm, development… We didn’t want to see the Palestinians, we could ignore the problem and manage the conflict instead of resolving it.” What just happened, very painfully, shows the opposite. It is the failure of a simple concept of conflict management,” analyzes Alain Rozenkier. “Israel managed to keep terrorism at a ‘manageable’ level, and there was an underlying message: ‘While it works, don’t fix it,'” adds researcher Arnon Dgani.
Which Palestinian interlocutor?
For now, the gun has replaced the branch in the pigeon’s beak: “Right now, people’s anger is focused on bringing down Hamas,” testified David Ben Ishay, contacted in Israel. We need to clarify this issue, which has been kept under wraps for too long. » The negotiations with the Islamist movement leader in Gaza have long been the subject of discord within the peace movement itself and should no longer be so. But the question of a “reasonable” Palestinian interlocutor will arise. For Alain Rozenkier: “We will not completely eradicate Hamas, it will continue to exist, but I hope that there will be a significant weakening and that it will not be the partner.” But what will come instead? A Palestinian Authority in decline that does not enjoy the respect and aura it should have among the population? Will Mahmoud Abbas come at the end of the race…? » The political field is also in ruins in the occupied areas of the West Bank.
Alain Rozenkier assures us that we will also “demand bills” at the national level. On Thursday, October 12, opposition leader Yaïr Lapid accused the government of “unforgivable failure.” 86% of Israelis (and 79% of coalition supporters) blame him for the murders. “There will be a commission of inquiry with a civil society that is waiting for results and is not ready to give gifts. » And as a result, this will “play a role”, believes the leader of La Paix Now, because the shortcomings show the legitimacy of his protest and the criticism that he had previously expressed and which brought him the accusation of high treason Being a collaborator with Hamas and Iran. »
Demonstration against the reform of the justice system in Tel Aviv, Saturday, May 20, 2023. AP – Tsafrir Abayov
Alain Rozenkier believes that civil resilience is already at work. After the massacres in the kibbutzim and the occupation of around twenty towns by Hamas elements, the state’s reaction time and the lack of harsh words from Benjamin Netanyahu were perceived as a second shock. “In the face of a failing government, all the associations that were created and consolidated in the last ten months were, within a few hours, transformed again into support structures for the civilian population, collecting materials, food and clothing for thousands of people left destitute South came to the middle of the country. »
For others, however, the ability to act is paralyzed at the moment: “It’s not the time to get to know people, it’s too early,” sighs Yuval Rahamim in a weak voice, but hopes to be able to pick it up again quickly. Given the impossibility of taking action, his club has to make do with messages on social networks and in newspapers. “We will have to undertake a very, very long healing journey to find the strength to put aside hurt, pain and anger. » Apart from the hope for mediation, Yuval Rahamim sees no concrete solution: “We don’t even know in what state we will end this war.” The damage will be enormous. » According to Samy Cohen“The real issue of peace has disappeared. Even the most moderate Israeli population no longer believes in the possibility of peace. »
For his part, Lior Amihai of Shalom Arshav sees “three immediate missions for peace”: “The first is to put pressure on the government to obtain the release of the numerous hostages in the hands of Hamas.” » Women, men and children, Israelis and foreigners: Around 120 people are officially held captive in hideouts across the Gaza Strip. “Then we must continue to spread the analysis – which I think is now shared by many – that the reason we are there is that Israel has preferred to pay Hamas to establish itself in Gaza, to the detriment of moderate voices in it the PLO because it wanted to destroy the idea of a Palestinian state. Finally, the military operation must be accompanied by a political agenda in favor of the Palestinians’ right to a state and self-determination. » Alain Rozenkier agrees: “We will not force two million Palestinians to leave the country. Israelis and Palestinians will find themselves side by side and a solution must be found to avoid a recurrence of such a situation ad vitam aeternam. » A wish formulated for 75 years.