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Barak is feeling Peace Now's pressure

MK Settlement Tour 186x140.jpgPeace Now is generating pressure on Israel's government to make real progress towards peace. That pressure is clearly being felt by Labor leader Ehud Barak, who is slowly losing control of his party.

(MK Daniel Ben-Simon, pictured in the middle, resigned as Labor Party Whip in protest shortly after participating in this Peace Now settlements tour)


Knesset Member Daniel Ben-Simon just resigned his post as Labor Party Whip over Barak's failure to freeze settlements or to remove settlement outposts.

Here's Ben-Simon's account of the meeting he held with Barak shortly before resigning:

"I reminded him that we had yet to remove even a single outpost. What message does that send to the Palestinians? Why should they believe us while the hammers at the settlements and outposts don't stop pounding for a minute? Is this the way to help a U.S. president full of good intentions advance a genuine peace effort?"

"I was left without any comforting answers," Ben-Simon added.

Ben-Simon's resignation was prompted by Peace Now's work. In August, Peace Now hosted Ben-Simon and other Knesset Members for a tour of West Bank settlements. The Peace Now activists showed these officials the construction that is taking place. They demonstrated the ways in which settlements undermine Israel and the prospects for peace.

At the end of the tour Ben-Simon told reporters that Ehud Barak had promised him to remove the outposts. He then announced that "if 23 outposts are not removed by the end of the Knesset's summer recess [which ended in October], we will reconsider our path in the coalition."

Ben-Simon's resignation is a clear demonstration of Peace Now's impact and it is a clear validation of your support. Peace Now is rebuilding the Israeli peace camp and pressuring the Israeli government to make good on its promise to pursue peace.

Ben-Simon's resignation is a milestone. It means that more than a third of the Labor Party Knesset members no longer support Barak. It shows that the Israel's governing coalition will deteriorate without real progress towards peace.