“Peace Now” As seen by three Israeli historians Table of Contents Introduction P. 3 - 5 Methodology P. 6 - 9 Israel: Historic Background P. 10 - 14 - Ottoman / British Mandate period - Political Zionism - Establishment of Israel - Israeli society Israel: Historiography P. 15 - 18 - Zionist historiography - New Historians - Peace movement historiography - Peace Now historiography The Israeli Peace Movement and Peace Now P. 19 - 25 Biographies authors P. 26 - 29 - Reuven Kaminer - Tamar Hermann - Atalia Omer 1978: The Israeli-Egyptian Peace Negotiations and Camp David Accords P. 30 - 39 - Reuven Kaminer - Tamar Hermann - Atalia Omer - Tarrow and Van Zoomeren, Postmes and Spears - Conclusion 1 1982: The First Lebanon War P. 40 - 45 - Reuven Kaminer - Tamar S. Hermann - Atalia Omer - Tarrow and Van Zoomeren, Postmes and Spears - Conclusion The First and Second Intifada P. 46 - 52 - Reuven Kaminer - Tamar Hermann - Atalia Omer - Tarrow and Van Zoomeren, Postmes and Spears - Conclusion Conclusion P. 53 - 56 Bibliography P. 57 - 59 2 Introduction “Peace Now? I don’t think their office is around here…”, said a man on the balcony of an apartment building in a residential neighborhood in Tel Aviv. I had made my way from Jerusalem to visit the office of Israel’s most well-known peace organization, Peace Now (or in Hebrew: Shalom Achshav), though finding the office proved to be more difficult. I was on my way to interview a staff-member, it was mid-summer 2014, Operation Protective Edge was taking place, and the atmosphere was tense. Eventually I found the unmarked office of Peace Now in the basement of the same building where I had asked directions earlier. The man I had spoken to just before had unknowingly been living above the office of Israel’s most well-known peace organization. During a prolonged stay in Jerusalem in 2014 my interest in Israeli peace organizations was sparked by Haaretz newspaper. Haaretz, Israel’s most politically left newspaper, featured a noticeable amount of articles and advertisements that expressed severe criticism of, and opposition to, Israeli policies regarding the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Israeli treatment of Palestinians in these territories. Frequent mention was made of peace organizations such as Peace Now. When contrasting this with the Jerusalem Post, a right-leaning Israeli newspaper, there was a noticeable difference in articles that were published and views expressed. Considering their diverging ideological foundations these differences in tone and content is understandable, yet it showed a schism in Israeli society that I, as a foreigner with relatively little previous insight into Israeli society, had not seen before. The existence of an array of Israeli organizations that diametrically opposed Israeli policies in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip led my perception of Israel as a monolithic entity to crumble, and rightly so. The existence of peace organizations in Israel raise the question as to how and why certain individuals are critical of Israeli policies regarding the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where others are not. Also, it raises the question as to how and why peace organizations were formed and what they have achieved. Of these organizations that voice opposition to Israeli policies, Peace Now is the most well-known and the largest, which is why it has my specific interest. Peace Now is part of the Israeli peace movement, an umbrella term for a group of Israeli organizations that are ideologically diverse but have one thing in common: the aim to increase rapprochement between Israelis and Palestinians and end the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. A broad-based Israeli peace movement emerged in the late 1970’s. The few Israeli peace initiatives before the late 1970s were based on the view that only the emergence of democratic, non- hostile governments in neighboring countries could bring a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict: ‘since Israel is surrounded by non-democratic, hostile, states which wish to destroy it … — the argument 3 went—, there was not much Israel could do to advance peace; rather, it had to mobilize most of its resources to ensure its survival.’ 1 When Israel’s largest, most powerful neighbor Egypt revealed itself to be a potential partner for peace and negotiations commenced between the two countries, the Israeli public realized the viable and potentially historic opportunity for peace. After a hopeful start in 1977, the negotiations stalled. It was in the wake of these difficulties that Peace Now emerged and played a leading role in mobilizing large parts of the Israeli public to encourage the government not to miss a chance at peace. Through organizing mass demonstrations Peace Now consolidated its name as a major player in the newly developed broad-based peace movement. It was Peace Now’s ability to mobilize the Israeli public to attend demonstrations that characterized its presence on the protest scene. After I had found the Peace Now office, I learned from a staff member that the biggest demonstration in Israel’s history had not been in opposition to one of Israel’s many wars or in support of peace, but had been a demonstration in 2011 against the rising cost of living. After expressing surprise that, in a country where security issues and impending dangers are featured in the news daily, this was the issue that most people would demonstrate against, I was informed that ‘people in Israel don’t necessarily feel the occupation of the West Bank, what they do feel is their rent increasing.’ At present, a waning of public support is characteristic for most Israeli peace organizations, as their credibility has been systematically undermined and damaged by themselves and by, most significantly, the failing of the Oslo Accords, which destroyed the hope many Israelis had for peace with the Palestinians. This is also reflected in the relatively low level of political influence which Peace Now boasts nowadays. Considering Peace Now is widely credited as being the largest Israeli peace movement, and the organization boasting impressive achievements such as organizing rallies in 1978 and 1982 that hundreds of thousands of people flocked to, the organization has relatively little influence nowadays. It has redirected its policies towards watchdog tactics and monitoring rather than mass-demonstrations. Oddly, relatively little has been written about Peace Now, which is remarkable considering Peace Now is widely credited as being the largest Israeli peace organization with impressive achievements such as organizing rallies in 1978 and 1982 that hundreds of thousands of people flocked to. Equally remarkable is the contrast between Peace Now’s initial surge of support from the general public in the late 1970’s and the widespread disregard with which the organization is treated today. It is against this background that this thesis aims to investigate the treatment of Peace Now in the works 1 S.Helman. "Peace Movements in Israel." Jewish Women’s Archive. Web. 4 of three Israeli historians, namely Reuven Kaminer, Tamar S. Hermann and Atalia Omer (hereafter Kaminer, Hermann and Omer). In doing so, this thesis will subsequently draw conclusions on the Israeli scholarly perception of Peace Now’s appeal, its activities and its impact. The research question at the heart of this thesis is: ‘What has been written about Peace Now since its emergence? To focus the research, the historians’ treatment of Peace Now will be analyzed in the context of three specific watershed moments in the recent history of the state of Israel. These moments are: the 1978 peace negotiations with Egypt and subsequent Camp David Accords, the First Lebanon War in 1982 and the First and Second Intifada. The thesis is, accordingly, divided into 3 chapters, preceded by a chapter on the historical background to the state of Israel, a chapter on the historical background to the Israeli peace movement and Peace Now, and a chapter on the historiographies of both the state of Israel and the Israeli peace movement and Peace Now. Lasty, the thesis is finalized with an overall conclusion. 5 Methodology Focus and scope This thesis is focused on answering the following question: ‘What has been written about Peace Now since its emergence?’ In answering this question this thesis shall conduct historiographic research by focusing on how Peace Now has been portrayed in three works written by Israeli historians. By investigating these works this thesis will gain insight into how Peace Now is portrayed by these historians. Specifically, the historians’ portrayal of the origin, dynamics and outcome Peace Now’s activities will be investigated. The three works which shall be form the basis of this thesis are: - Reuven Kaminer: ‘The Politics of Protest: The Israeli Peace Movement and the Palestinian Intifada’ (1996). - Tamar S. Hermann: ‘The Israeli Peace Movement: A Shattered Dream’ (2009). - Atalia Omer: ‘When Peace Is Not Enough: How the Israeli Peace Camp Thinks about Religion, Nationalism and Justice’ (2013). The works of Kaminer et al. were selected firstly because each of them is a professional historian and published by well-established academic presses. Secondly, the works focus solely on the Israeli peace movement and not on the broader history of Israel or general overviews on conflict resolution, in which Peace Now is sporadically mentioned but not elaborated upon. Therefore these works address the Israeli peace movement specifically and as a result Peace Now receives significant attention. Thirdly, the similar focus of the work provides an opportunity to draw comparisons and reveal contrasts between the respective approaches and analyses of these three historians. To focus this thesis, Peace Now’s activities during three specific events in Israel’s history will be researched. These events have been selected because they constitute major political events in described by Kaminer et al.