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Peace Now's Effectiveness Threatens the Right

Earlier this summer, I had a thorny exchange with Zalman Shoval, a political advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and formerly Israel's ambassador to Washington.

 


Shoval addressed a serious crowd at the US Institute for Peace (among those attending was former NSC director Stephen Hadley) shortly after Netanyahu publicly accepted the two-state approach. Shoval spoke skeptically about the establishment of a Palestinian state and rejected the Obama administration's effort to freeze settlement activity in the West Bank. Banning Jews from settling to the West Bank, Shoval said, would be akin to "ethnic cleansing." When time came to ask questions, I told Shoval that I found his address frustrating and disturbing. Frustrating, because he gave no hope for a reasonable diplomatic resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the foreseeable future. And particularly disturbing was his reference to "ethnic cleansing."

 

Shoval replied that the reference to ethnic cleansing was appropriate, and ranted that the cause for my frustration was Peace Now's ineffectiveness and "irrelevance." The movement has become marginalized and insignificant, Shoval said.

 

His reply was nasty but not unique. The argument he used is commonly made by Israeli hawks, who like to dismiss Peace Now as a movement that does little and resonates even less.

 

But then - sometimes in the same breath - hawkish Israeli politicians bitterly complain about Peace Now's actions and influence, about the positions it supports and the policies it advocates. They demonize it. They weave intricate conspiracy theories lacing the "leftist media" with the "leftist elites" and the "treacherous" Peace Now.

 

How is it possible for Peace Now to be both "irrelevant" and a trouble-maker? Well, the fact is that Peace Now is very relevant and very effective in powerfully fighting for its convictions and in its ability to remind Israelis that the status-quo is untenable.

 

Minister Moshe Ya'alon's reference to Peace Now and the "elites" as a virus that has to be dealt with, reflected the Right's frustration with Peace Now's efficacy and influence.   

 

It is Peace Now's ability to actively oppose settlement construction in the West Bank - both in the public arena and in the courts - that threatens the Right.

 

It is Peace Now's success in framing the settlements debate and in fueling it with accurate, updated data that bothers Israeli hawks.

 

It is Peace Now's ability to organize and mobilize masses to take action in support of peace and in opposition to the status quo that bothers them.

 

It's Peace Now's courage and determination to continue dialogue with peace-seeking Palestinians, to continue holding successive Israeli governments to their declared commitment to peace.

 

It is the unthankful task that Peace Now has taken upon itself of holding a mirror in the face of Israeli society to remind Israelis of the price they are paying for the ongoing occupation. It's the courage to remind Israelis that the occupation will turn Israel into a state that is neither Jewish nor democratic.

 

For the ultra-nationalists and the hawks, for the settlers and the champions of the status-quo, Peace Now is not just an annoyance but a threat.

 

And that's something for Peace Now to be proud of.