Israel A law to prevent the next war? Women Wage Peace launches Political Alternatives First legislation By Patricia Golan

HOW DO we make decisions? What drives Palestinians and Israel in decades. In 50 the decision-making process, and why is it days of near constant warfare, the combined so difficult to imagine alternatives? How Israeli airstrikes and ground bombardment, are life and death decisions made under and Palestinian rocket attacks, resulted in stress? It’s a question that has profound im- thousands of deaths, the vast majority of plications not only for individuals, but for which were Gazans. states, crucially when it comes to national The comptroller’s conclusions regarding security. the cabinet’s decision-making processes “A government which is functioning before and during the operation were ex- under great pressures needs some sort of tremely damning, charging that there had mechanism under which it must consider been no discussion before the fighting to alternatives,” declared Dan Ariely, address- determine Israel’s objectives and policy ing an Institute of National Security Studies vis-à-vis Gaza. Furthermore, “the complete (INSS) conference at Tel Aviv University. rejection of alternatives in the diplomat- Ariely, professor of psychology and be- ic realm, without their being presented to havioral economics at Duke University and the cabinet, prevented the cabinet members one of the world’s leading experts in deci- from considering these alternatives and dis- sion-making, was applying the question to cussing their chances and their risks,” the Israel’s political reality. report stated. The INSS event, which included several The grassroots movement Women Wage Israeli security experts, was organized by Peace was established shortly after Opera- the grassroots movement Women Wage tion Protective Edge in response to the feel- Peace to discuss and promote its proposed ing of profound despair over that most re- legislation called “Political Alternatives cent war. Its single guiding principle is the First – the Law to Prevent the Next War.” demand of achieving a political agreement a law that would solve these difficulties and The draft bill calls for the creation of a to end the decades-long conflict between failures,” Admi, a software engineer with legally binding decision-making process Israel and the Palestinians, with the active a PhD in philosophy, told The Jerusalem for the Israeli government. It would require participation of women at all stages of ne- Report. She and Yakira, a workers’ rights it to maintain a systematic examination of gotiations. attorney, researched the issue for nearly non-military political alternatives to resolv- When members of WWP read the comp- two years. ing security crises and challenges. troller’s report that political alternatives to Together with other WWP activists they Israel has been in a state of ongoing crisis the 2014 war had not even been discussed, met with some 50 experts in the fields of since its founding, under nearly permanent they were horrified. “In other words, we politics, security, diplomacy and the law, pressure to make tactical decisions. It may embarked on this battle, this confrontation including people who had been involved in seem obvious that there would be some that was in the making before our eyes for decision making, and organized two major sort of proper decision making process that five years, without first considering wheth- conferences. “We received a lot of support would involve measured deliberations on er it was possible to do something else. How from people who had been involved in ne- strategy, and not merely shooting from the could we ignore such conclusions?” Tami gotiations. Little by little we began to un- hip. Yakira and Yael Admi, the two women who derstand the method by which decisions In March 2017, Israel’s state comptroller drew up the proposed law, explained in an were made,” says Admi. They turned up published its report on the July 2014 mili- op-ed published last year. a list of serious diplomatic proposals that tary operation called Protective Edge. That “For so many years life and death deci- have not ever been debated by any cabinet. 2014 Gaza War, as it was also known, was sions have been made without a unifying, The result of the dogged research is a one of the deadliest conflicts between the thought-through process. We wanted to find 375-page summary, a “doctorate” which

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Women Representatives of Women Wage formed the basis of the proposed Political tions. Decide in the end what you believe Alternatives First legislation. “We felt that is right, but at least there’s been a way to Peace demonstrate in Tel Aviv against we simply cannot allow things to continue reach these conclusions,” states Tami Ya- the government’s annexation plans the way they have for so long,” she says, kira. then hastens to add that “it’s not that these Yakira and Admi have received a great decision makers are evil or have bad inten- deal of support and hands on guidance tions, but our children’s’ fate is in the hands from veteran negotiator and attorney, Gile- of these people. If there’s no orderly mech- ad Sher. Today a senior researcher at the Tel anism to decide, this is simply irresponsi- Aviv Institute for National Security Stud- ble.” ies, Sher was involved in negotiations at In brief, the proposed law requires that the highest levels in the 1990s under prime time be allocated for discussion of politi- minister Yitzhak Rabin, and again under cal alternatives, the allocation of resources prime minister Ehud Barak from 1999 to for examining and developing political op- 2001, as negotiator at the Camp David and tions. It also specifies that there be monitor- Taba summits. Photos from those sessions ing and reporting to the Knesset’s Foreign line his Tel Aviv office. Affairs and Defense Committee and the “Many states have a ‘war cabinet’ to en- public. “This proposal is a way to set up sure a proper decision making process at norms for the decision makers, to be sure a time of war,” says Sher. “What we pro- that no stone is left unturned to find solu- pose is to have a ‘peace cabinet’ to make

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sure that Israel does not go to war without looking into other alternatives to solve the conflict.” “The Women Wage Peace initiative is a very important venture,” Sher continues. “The purpose of the law is to improve the quality of the decision making process and produce optimal solutions and alternatives Gilead Sher (left), then director-general of Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s bureau, greets US to security and policy challenges. What we want to do is to exhaust and exploit the President Bill Clinton at the White House in 2000 opportunities for political arrangements to avoid wars.” Following the formation of a national admits. “We are mindful of different voic- Included in the proposed law is the inte- unity government after a year-long politi- es in the movement and not advocating one gration of women in the decision making cal struggle and three elections, Netanyahu political solution over another, but there is process. This means implementation of UN announced that as early as July 1 he would broad agreement that annexation is a uni- Security Council Resolution 1325, the year start the process to formally annex Jewish lateral step.” 2000 landmark resolution which “reaffirms settlements in the West Bank and the Jor- In late June, while WWP representatives the important role of women in the preven- dan Valley, as he had pledged to do in his were inside the Knesset to brief the State tion and resolution of conflicts”. (The 1325 campaign. Control Committee about the Political Al- resolution became part of Israeli law in Women Wage Peace immediately ternatives First bill, outside the Knesset 2005 but has yet to be implemented.) launched demonstrations across the coun- in the Wohl Rose Garden a mass open-air In the previous (20th) Knesset the bill try to protest the move. “This is a move that protest conference organized by WWP was gained wide support among Knesset mem- is being done unilaterally and it’s some- taking place. It included leaders of civic bers of nearly all parties, including mem- thing we cannot accept,” declared WWP organizations, military and diplomatic ex- bers of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya- activist Vered Eyal-Saldinger, demonstrat- perts and Knesset members. hu’s own Likud and the religious Shas ing at a Tel Aviv rally. “One of our prin- Addressing the rally, Gilead Sher point- party. Now, after three rounds of elections ciples is that we say what we are for, not ed to the annexation declaration as “proof which resulted in many new MKs, WWP what we are against. As a movement that again of the necessity of passing the Polit- activists are rebuilding the support of the has promoted from the beginning the de- ical Alternatives law. Imagine that before proposed legislation. “There’s really no clared goal of achieving a negotiated, po- this act the Israel public knew that there reason why anyone would not support this litical agreement, we see this unilateral step had been comprehensive teamwork and re- bill, since it only sets out the procedures in as something that will permanently block search regarding all the aspects of such a which decisions are made. There’s no one any chance of an agreement in the future.” move: political, social, intelligence, a thor- in the country that doesn’t understand how “If you look at the founding principles ough and transparent examination of the important this is,” says Yael Admi. of women wage peace it’s not all that sur- issues, and then reaching a decision. We’re The emphasis by Women Wage Peace prising that we decided to launch this an- not asking our elected officials to think out on a legislative tool to examine and pursue ti-annexation campaign; it was quite clear of the box, we’re simply asking to think in- diplomatic solutions is consistent with the almost from the beginning that we cannot side the box, but at least make an effort at organization’s single mission: to reach a be quiet about a unilateral step,” Hamutal consultation. Not even this is being done,” mutually agreed peaceful agreement to end Gouri, an organizational consultant and he charged. the conflict. But the founding principle that one of the founding members of WWP “Unfortunately, no women were included the movement be steadfastly non-partisan, tells the Report. “There was a long, lively in the planning nor in the formulating of the and not advocate any one political solution critical discussion among the activists of annexation program – neither on the Amer- over another, was profoundly tested in June. WWP on how to craft our message,” she ican nor on the Israeli side,” stated Prof.

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Tami Yakira and Yael Admi address the INSS conference Professor Dan Ariely

Gabriela Shalev, former Israeli ambassador to the UN. “It’s a pity that the only voice that is heard is that of politicians and gen- erals…. In the UN, I saw the benefits of the MOSENSON GAL work of women diplomats and leaders. I learned that women in senior positions and as negotiators behave differently and carry on a different type of discourse – inclusive, moderate and practical.”

IN ANY event, the coronavirus resurgence in Israel and divisions within Netanyahu’s own government has, for now, sidelined his annexation plans. For its part WWP members continue to promote the Political Alternatives First, hoping to get the bill in- troduced during this term. “There’s a connection between our view Representatives of Women Wage Peace protest in front of the Knesset to endorse the of why this bill is so urgently needed and the current situation. The coronavirus crisis Political Alternatives First legislation is an example of what we’re talking about,” says WWP co-director Yael Braudo-Bahat. “It’s happening again, the government isn’t exploring alternatives and the same mis- takes are being made.” “It’s not that we oppose annexation or applying sovereignty,” adds Braudo-Bahat. “We’re not taking a position on the issue. What we oppose is a unilateral decision, what we’re saying is that there must be an agreement. Had this law been enacted, it would have changed the entire political discourse now.” ■

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