Arab-Israeli Conflict - Israeli Peace Camp
The Israeli peace
camp is a collection of political and non-political movements which
desire to promote peace, mainly with the Arab neighbours of Israel (the
Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon) and encourage co-existence with the
Arab citizens of Israel.
The leadership and hardcore activists of the peace camp are mostly
associated with the left wing, although the silent majority of
supporters are from the political center and moderate securitist-left.
In this article, the term peace camp will refer to the leadership, the
movements and hardcore activists (and not to the silent supporters).
This term should not be confused with the UK concept of peace camp which
refers to a different type of camp and political protest.
Political movements (but not parties)
The mainstream peace movement in Israel is Peace Now, whose supporters
tend to vote for the Israeli Labor party, Meretz and Shinui. Peace Now's
1982 "400,000 rally" led to the end of the 1982 Peace for Galilee war
and the establishment of the Kahan investigation committee which
impeached Ariel Sharon for indirect responsibility for the Sabra and
Shatila massacre committed by Christian Phalange Militia. Peace Now also
advocated a negotiated peace with the Palestinians. However, Peace Now's
current focus is a struggle against the Israeli settlements. Peace Now
hostility toward the settlers and its perceived lack of criticism of
Palestinian terrorism can be seen to have decreased its standing within
certain sections of the Israeli public. On March 19, 2005, a
pro-disengagement rally was not successful in attracting anything near
its planned attendance, after only 10,000 people attended the
demonstration. Critics assert that the failure is related to Yariv
Oppemheimer (Peace Now's leader) strong criticism of the settlers and
the radical left wing image which may have caused centerists and
mainstream public to refrain from supporting the rally. In contrast, the
group itself asserts that the public visibility of the issue in Ariel
Sharon's cabinet had lead the Israeli public to assume that
disengagement was a foregone conclusion and therefore view the rally as
of little importance.
The Geneva Initiative, which was launched on 2003, tried to promote
peace by showing both Israelis and Palestinians that peace accords could
be negotiated, and presented a draft Permanent Status Agreement, which
was negotiated by public figures from both sides. However, both Israelis
and Palestinian found the accord unacceptable and some even disputed the
legitimacy of such a move. As of 2004, the negotiators tried to convince
the people that the agreement provided hope of security for both parties
and that the new Palestinian leadership represents a "partner for
peace".
Gush Shalom is a radical leftist movement, and its classification as a
peace movement is disputed by the Israeli right. Uri Avneri, the Gush
Shalom leader and a former journalist, was among the first to meet and
negotiate with PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Although Gush Shalom earned
itself respect in Europe, it is regarded by some Israelis as a
pro-Palestinian movement whose leadership are equivocal towards violence
and terrorism against Israelis. Critic contend that the group has
published articles in support of Palestinian violence.
Non-political organizations
There are many Projects working for peace among Israelis and Arabs in
Israel. Most of the projects try to mediate between Jewish and Arab
citizens within Israel, after the fragile co-existence was shattered by
the violent October 2000 riots (13 Arabs, 1 Jew were killed) and the
increasing involvement of Israeli-Arabs in terrorism against Israelis.
There were also some projects of peace between Israelis and
Palestinians. The most notable are the "Peace Team" - a youth soccer
team of 8 Israelis and 8 Palestinians, who compete in international
youth football tournaments. This project is sponsored by Peres Center
For Peace.
Another project is the "National Census" - a peace initiative by former
Shin Bet head Ami Ayalon and Palestinian professor Sari Nusseibeh. The
current activity of the National Census is to sign as many Israelis and
Palestinian on a petition which outlines a two states solution without
right of return of Palestinians into Israel. Ayalon tries to be avoided
from being identified with the political left, because of the mutual
hatred between the left and the majority of the Israeli public.
Political parties
In Israel, the left wing parties are identified with the peace camp,
although that successful peace treaties were achieved only by right
wingers (Menachem Begin, with Egypt) and securitist-centerist (Itzhak
Rabin, with Jordan).
The traditional "peace lobby" in the Knesset is composed of the Israeli
Labor Party and Yachad (former Meretz). Hadash is self-proclaimed
Jewish-Arab communist co-existence party but recently shifted toward
Arab nationalism when it ran to Knesset with Ahmed Tibi's Taal (National
Arab Movement) under the religious campaign "Harram as-Sharif is in
danger".
Arab parties are not considered as part of the peace camp, mainly
because of their inflammatory rhetorics - which encourage hate and
violence rather than co-existence.
The center-liberal party Shinui is not considered as a part of the peace
camp, although it does support peace negotiation. The reason is Shinui's
hard-line approach toward Palestinian terrorism and Yasser Arafat. Also,
the fact that Shinui supports Ariel Sharon's policy, a long-time hated
figure by hardcore of the peace camp, prevents Shinui to join the peace
camp leadership - which opposes Sharon.
Political power in the Knesset
Results of 2003 election to the Knesset (Israel's parliament) of the
left wing parties and the Arab parties:
* Israeli Labor party : 19 mandates + 3 of Am Echad.
* Yachad - Meretz : 6 mandates.
* Hadash : 2 mandates + 1 of Taal.
* Balad : 3 mandates.
* Raam (Islamic Movement - Southern faction) : 2 mandates.
Totals: 36 mandates (out of 120). (28 Jewish, 8 Arab)
Criticism
The Israeli peace camp is highly criticized for lacking realism given
the absence of a corresponding movement on the Arab side of the
conflict. It is also accused for being forgiving toward Palestinian
terrorism and not being able to stand up for the rights of the Israelis
and the vital interests of Israel. The Israeli peace camp has poor
standings in the Israeli public, as regular surveys by the Tami
Steinmetz Center for Peace Research show (for example: May 2004). The
Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research is watching over the Israeli
public opinion toward the peace process and the peace camp for more than
a decade.
Ideological right wing
Criticism from the right is focused against the ideology of the peace
camp, claiming that the land for peace deal with the PLO terrorists is
endangering the existence of Israel and will not lead to true peace.
More over, they claim that that "land for peace" deal is morally
unacceptable as it involves the uprooting of people from their houses
(Israeli settlements). Right wingers suggested alternative peace plans
in which the Palestinian refugees are either establish themselves in the
Arab states ("transfer with agreement"), or remaining in their place,
but be given a Jordanian citizenship.
The right wing also have hard criticism over the left's "partner" for
"peace". They claim that "Arafat's terrorist Tunis gang" true intension
is the destruction of Israel, and that the Oslo accords were actually a
trojan horse. Following the al-Aqsa Intifada and the Fatah major
involvement in terrorism against Israelis, many in the Israeli public
agreed that the right were right in their criticism and warnings about
the PLO.
Political center and pragmatists
The Israeli political center is composed from the moderate right, the
liberals and the security-oriented left ( שמאל ביטחוני ). Their position
toward the Israeli-Palestinian is pragmatic and derived from security
and economy interests, rather than a dogmatic ideology.
Criticism from the center says that the right was right about the PLO
and currently Israel don't have a Palestinian partner for peace, at
least not until Yasser Arafat is gone. However, the peace camp was right
in the need to disengage from the Palestinians and need to give them a
state of their own so they won't be a demographic and political burden
over Israel. Many of this group are what the Israelis call "Oslo
disappointed" ( מאוכזבי אוסלו ) - people who used to support the peace
process and the peace camp, until the al-Aqsa Intifada. This group favor
unilateral actions to disengage from the Palestinians and widely support
the Israeli West Bank barrier and Israel's unilateral disengagement plan
of 2004.
Centerist usually refrain from voting to the left and support it
publicly, since many of them believe that the left wing politicians
(such as Yossi Beilin) are incapable of standing up for Israel's rights
and fear that they might endanger Israel by trying to appease the
Palestinians.
Zionist left wing
Criticism from the left is focused mainly on the "small details", since
they still believe that land for peace and negotiations with the
Palestinians is the right way for peace. "Small details" that are
criticized are:
* The marketing of the peace process and the failure to gain wide public
support.
* Their negative attitude toward the Israeli Defence Forces and toward
the settlers which creates them a "Jewish self-haters" reputation among
the general public.
* The lack of pro-Israeli rhetorics in the peace rallies.
* The focusing on political arrangements while leaving the social and
economic infrastructure for popular support at the hands of
fundamentalist groups on both sides
Ami Ayalon, former head of the Shin Bet and the initiator of the
National Census peace proposal (along with professor Sari Nusseibeh),
has criticized Peace Now for demonizing the Jewish settlers, often
treating them as "enemies", thus encouraging hate towards settlers, and
providing the general public reasons to dislike the peace camp. Ayalon
scorns Peace Now for failing to rally the masses in support of the
Israeli Peace movement, although surveys indicate that the Israeli
public supports a separation from the Palestinians and a peaceful
solution. Ayalon explains that this because Peace Now and the left wing
have shown alienation, hostility and a patronising attitude towards the
general Israeli public, and that this attitude combined with increased
terrorist activity over the past four years are to blame for Peace Now's
current poor standing within the Israeli public, which feels the peace
camp is not committed (enough) to stop Palestinian terrorism and protect
Israel's interests.
Ayalon concluded that many settlements should indeed be disbanded, but
the transferred settlers should be embraced and receive support - both
financial and moral - from the state and the public, and not being
treated as enemies.
Far left
Criticism from the far left criticized the adherence of the major
movements (such as the Israeli Labor party and Peace Now) for Zionism
and commitment toward Israel. They claim that the Oslo accords was a
capitalist-Zionist fraud in order to exploit the Palestinians and
deceive the world, while expanding the Israeli settlements and deepening
the occupation. As the Israeli far left is very pro-Palestinian and
anti-Israeli, they think that true peace can only be achieved by a
radical solution which include the elimination of Israel as a Jewish
state: many of them offer bi-national state or a two-states solution
with full or limited right of return for Palestinian refugees.
Example for such criticism, may found in Gush Shalom's review of the
National Census "Statement of Principles".
Moderate left wingers often blame the far left as a major reason for the
bad image the Israeli peace camp has in the eyes of the Israeli public.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_peace_camp
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