This MER FlashBack quite relevant as background to the
situation today:
THE REAL "PEACE
NOW"
Always a symantic twist and
trick
MER - WASHINGTON - 10/5/1998:
"Peace Now" has always been a semantic twist amd trick. Born in
the days when Israel's Labor Party had lost power to Likud around the
time of Camp David, "Peace Now" was from the start a Labor Party
creation with a number of purposes. In Israel "Peace Now" let the
Labor Party test the waters for various steps being contemplated
without the Party itself having to be on board. It also, most
importantly, allowed leaders of the Labor Party to control and
manipulate the left on their path to what became Oslo.
In the other country crucial to Israel, the U.S., "Peace Now" has
badly manipulated both the media and wealthy American Jews, co-opting
both into indirectly support the Labor Party and outmanuevering
indigenous American Jewish groups who lacked the resources to compete
with the "Peace Now" juggernaut. "Peace Now" has been used to
specifically target many liberal and wealthy American Jews,
especially in Hollywood, siphoning away their money and energy from
other organizations and concerns far more deserving and badly in need
of their resources.
Many good and unknowing people have gotten caught
up in this duplicity; persons such as Richard Dreyfus, Ed Asner,
Barbara Streisand, Jimmy Klutznick, and quite a host of others who
have never really understood how they were being used and
manipulated. Not only have they gotten tax exemptions all these years
by giving to "Peace Now", rather than directly to Israel's Labor
Party; but doing so has also been quite socially and politically
safe, easy, and non-controversial as well.
This insightful article by a contributor to MER from Israel helps
explain what is really going on in Israel these days with what is
termed the Israeli "left", the Israeli "Peace Movement".
ISRAELI ROCKERS HOLD BENEFIT CONCERT FOR
"DEMOLISHED" PALESTINIANS
While the Israeli "left" is mired in anxiety and
false hopes, punk rockers in Tel-Aviv show the way.
By CL*
[MER - Tel Aviv - 8/28]
Two days ago the Israeli media was full of analysis stemming from
Arafat's comment that he would agree to a 10 per cent withdrawal plus
some kind of nature reserve. The statement was made at an event in
Oslo to commemorate the signing of the accords. Netanyahu refused to
attend, even after the Norwegian foreign minister practically begged
him, so Peres took his place at the table. The irony was lost on most
Israelis; Arafat, Peres and the Norwegian host mugging for the
cameras, while Netanyahu remains in charge.
The media frenzy was symptomatic not of the news value of Arafat's
statement, but rather the incredible thirst for any positive news
regarding Oslo that exists among Israel's mostly pro-peace
journalists. The spectrum of opinion from Meretz to Labor clings
foolishly to the notion that if only the Accords are implemented,
then peace would again be at hand - as it was under Peres and Rabin.
To this end, Labor Party leader Ehud Barak is still willing to
discuss a national unity government. By today of course, both the
Israelis and the Palestinians are lowering everyone else's
expectations, and the make-believe peace process suffers yet another
blow.
However, if one peers closely at the small part of the Israeli
left that has kept its integrity, one can find younger and cooler
heads at work. To meet them, one must go past the array of parties
and political groups, over the heads of the professional NGO
meisters, and beyond the traditional human rights organizations.
There you can meet J.M., an activist with the 'IsraHell Collective'
and the 'Human Rights Defenders Team.'
J.M. calls himself an 'Anarchist' and has a part time job with a
Palestinian theater troupe. He and his friends visited the al-Atrash
family home six weeks ago for the first time, and came back burning
with the need to so something that will highlight the injustice of
house demolitions - and the occupation in general - to a hip young
Tel-Aviv milieu. Last night they held a benefit concert for the
al-Atrash family "and the victims of the Occupation in general" at
the Left Bank club in Tel-Aviv. The event included punk rock and
hardcore bands, a spoken word performance piece, videos of house
demolitions, and calls for action by human rights groups actually
doing something.
Worth mentioning is that the only band name that is printable in
polite company is 'Deir Yassin,' named after the massacre in 1948.
Lead singer F.G. explained to me that every time someone hears the
name and asks why it was chosen, he can explain the history of that
massacre, and similar ones known to have occurred. For the audience,
mostly aged 15-18, this is an important political lesson that can
counteract the lies usually told in high school history classes.
During the performance F.G., spoke about the recent killing of a
Rabbi in Hebron. "If that’s what it takes to get them to leave,
so be it."
The activists, audience, and connections made at yesterday’s
event won't be of much use to the usual crowd of pro-peace Israelis.
The message and the presentation can't be swallowed or digested by
those with an interest in promoting the "Netanyahu-bad, Oslo-good"
forces. Of the dozen or so organizers, only two have honorable
discharges from the Israeli army, with the rest carrying mental
health discharges, fictitious marriages, conscientious objector
status, and other get-out-of-army-free passes. Based on past
experience, a large part of the audience is likely to follow that
course of no-holds barred resistance.
The performance piece feature an actor who pretended to be a
consultant for the ‘Institute of Psychological Defense.’ In
his lecture, he counseled soldiers to hate Palestinians, who are
forcing sensitive youth to commit horrible acts, for the moral
difficulties they are causing by not simply going away. In reference
to Palestinian children, he explained: "they aren’t the victims.
We are! How dare they take that away from us!" After the show a 15
year old boy came up to the actor and congratulated him on his show:
"I wasn’t hot about joining the army before this evening….
But now, I realize I’d have to be crazy to let myself be
drafted!"
Interspersed between the bands were video clips of the destruction
of the al-Atrash family home, and the subsequent beating and arrest
of Mrs. Al-Atrash and her daughter. The effect of rock bands playing
protest music underneath a video collage of Israeli troops beating
un-armed Palestinians into a pulp, with Netanyahu’s voice in the
background stating over and over again that "the State of Israel is
opposed to the use of terror" had a strong effect, and was one of the
highlights of the evening.
Sadly, the energy and political wisdom of these activists has no
home able to provide leadership and support. The bankrupt and
wishy-washy left making most of the noise today has discredited
itself long ago. What remains is for followers of the
'do-it-yourself' strategy to trust themselves, and find ways to avoid
being co-opted by more powerful forces. Around 150 people attended
the show, listening to the music, talking about the issues, and in
some cases signing up to help the organizations who produced the
event. $400 were raised for the al-Atrash family, who are due to
receive a visit from some strange looking guests in a few days.
