The Israeli Peace Camp

Abstract

75 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 43, No.3, Spring 2020 The Israeli Peace Camp Galia Golan* Israel has a very active civil society that includes quite a large array of peace organizations. In fact, the longer the occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip that began in 1967 lasts, the more such groups multiply. However, this is not a contradiction. Rather the growth of this sector of civil society is commensurate with the growing frustration and even despair of many in the Israeli public regarding the possibilities for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and an end to the occupation. Therefore, individuals and groups have sought new, untried methods to promote the cause of peace, created new frameworks and the possibility of addressing more and different audiences. This article will try to address the various types of groups, their distinctive features, and their roles over the years with regard to this intractable conflict. What will be more difficult to ascertain is the efficacy of these groups.1 Indeed it is often impossible to judge the impact of civil society and social movement groups, especially those with the amorphous goal of peace. It is also almost impossible to draw a direct line of causality between groups’ actions and governmental decisions. Leaders are hesitant to credit a movement, or anyone but themselves, with the success of achieving peace. Moreover, many factors are at play in reaching a successful conclusion such as a peace agreement and end to the conflict. These might include the *Galia Golan is Darwin Professor emerita of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she was chair of the Political Science Department. More recently, she was Head of the Program in Diplomacy and Conflict Studies at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya. Golan has published 10 single-authored books, most recently Israeli Peacemaking Since 1967: Factors for the Breakthroughs and Failures. She has co-authored Non-state Actors in the Middle East: Factors for Peace and Democracy and co-edited Spoilers and Coping with Spoilers in the Israeli-Arab Conflict. Golan is the recipient of many honors, including the Israel Political Science Association 2007 Award for “Lifetime Contribution,” the 2019 Scholar/Activist Award from the International Studies Association, the International Studies Association “Distinguished Scholar” Award 2016, and the 1995 New Israel Fund “Alice Shalvi Women in Leadership” Award. 1 See Galia Golan, “The Impact of Peace and Human Rights NGOs on Israeli Policy,” in Galia Golan and Walid Salim (eds.), Non-State Actors in the Middle East for Peace and Democracy, Routledge, 2013, pp. 28-41. 76 parties themselves; third parties; the domestic, regional, and global environments; public opinion and public discourse; the media; and more. All this makes it difficult, if not impossible, to determine the contribution of peace groups in Israel, as well as anywhere else, to the end product. There were always peace groups in Israel, even in the pre-state Jewish community in Palestine before the United Nations granted statehood in 1948. The pre-state group, Brit Shalom, for example, was not an activist organization but, rather, a collection mainly of intellectuals (most notably, Martin Buber) who believed that Jews and Arabs could and should live together peacefully in a joint state. Intellectual groups like this were not uncommon while more activist peace organizations were often sponsored by local Communists.2 However, all of these, including the Communist groups, remained relatively limited in numbers. A virtually one-man peace protest appeared in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War: a lone reserve officer, Mottie Ashkenazi, stood outside the Prime Minister’s residence, accusing the government of having failed to provide readiness in case of an attack such as that which occurred on October 6, 1973 when Egyptian and Syrian armies attacked Israel. Although this protest contributed, at least in part, to the resignations of Prime Minister Golda Meir and key players in her government some months later, no movement developed or ensued. (See Tamar Hermann for a detailed study of the history of the peace camp in Israel.3 ) In fact, the first, and only mass peace organization, Peace Now, was not created until some...