Newsletter of the Israeli Council for
Israeli-Palestinian Peace

No 3 - September-October, 1983

Editor: Adam Keller
Editorial Board: Uri Avnery, Matti Peled, Yaakov Arnon, Haim Bar'am, Yael Lotan, Yossi Amitai

Index
Introduction
Chronicles of the peace struggle
The ICIPP delegation at the Geneva Conference
Other ICIPP activities
Is there freedom of the press in Jerusalem?
The abuse of law in the Occupied Territories
After Begin: The Big Questions
Lebanon: The Crumbling House of Cards



Introduction

In the last half-year, everybody in Israel knew that Menachem Begin was nearing the end of his career. Many articles in Israel's leading newspapers were devoted to speculations about Begin's health, as if he were a monarch rather than an elected official. Nevertheless, when he did go it came as a bit of a shock to his supporters and adversaries alike, and plunged Israel into a state of uncertainty.

The political and factional struggles that followed Begin's resignation, the complicated maneuvering of many parties and self-seeking politicians, seem almost ludicrous until one remembers that an Israeli prime-minister and cabinet - small, nondescript politicians as they may be - literally hold the power of life and death in their hands.

They can send the young men of Israel to kill and die; they control the most powerful military machine in the Middle East; they have a lot of matches with which they can ignite one of the world's most volatile powder-kegs.

Whichever government emerges from the present scramble - whether it is headed by the Likud, Labor or any combination thereof, whether the prime minister is named Shamir or Levy, Peres, Rabin or Navon - one thing is certain: a strong peace movement will still be necessary.

The composition of the present major political parties of Israel offers nothing better than a choice between a government of bold, outright chauvinist annexationists and a government of weak politicians holding, basically, a watered-down version of the same chauvinism. Thus, until new parties and political forces emerge, the Israeli peace movement must preserve its independence and integrity.

To struggle against annexationism and racism, to defend democratic rights and freedoms (for in Israel the enemies of peace are also the enemies of democracy), to win new hearts for the cause of peace - these are the big, hard tasks that we, in the Israeli peace movement, have taken upon ourselves to carry out. This newsletter is one of our instruments. We write it to make the world aware of our struggle, and call upon our friends to help us.

The Editor

Note: Because of the editor's being called up for reserve army service (within the borders of Israel) as well as because of several other difficulties, this issue was published a month late. The subscription period will be extended accordingly.


Chronicles of The Peace Struggle

This section chronicles the struggle for peace going on in Israel in all its forms: demonstrations, lawsuits, political art, etc. It includes the actions of both regular peace organizations and of non-political individuals and groups, as well as some positions taken by members of the political and military establishment.

The main Israeli peace organizations mentioned here:

Peace Now - Israel's largest protest movement, follows a moderate line and seeks to extend its influence into the political center.

CSBU/CAWL - The Committee For Solidarity With Bir·Zeit University / The Committee Against The War In Lebanon - a protest movement following a more radical line and ready to demonstrate even on very unpopular issues.

"Yesh Gvul" (there is a border /there is a limit) - A group of reserve soldiers who refuse to serve in Lebanon.

"Parents Against Silence" - an organization of parents whose sons serve in Lebanon.

ICIPP - The Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinlan Peace - our own organization, which specialiaes in legitimizing contacts with the PLO.

"Campus" - a Jewish-Arab student movement (see article in this issue).

For a detailed description of these organizations, see "The Other Israel" No. 1.

The following chronicle covers the period from August 1st to the end of September.

At the beginning of the period covered here, two vigils, started before, continued. One, in front of Mr. Begin's residence in Jerusalem, started on May 3rd. It was organized by a citizens' group which demanded that all Israeli soldiers be brought back from Lebanon. The second was organized by the CSBU, in front of the military government headquaters in Hebron, where Quiriat Arba settlers were holding a demonstration of their own, demanding stronger measures against the Arab population.

[page 2]

1/8 - Zvi Shuldiner, a founding member of the ICIPP, is jailed for 28 days for refusing to serve in Lebanon. Two other soldiers are also jailed on the same charge.

- Three "Campus" members from the Hebrew University are brought before the university's disciplinary court for their participation in a June 2nd demonstration against former Chief-of-Staff Gen. Rafael Eitan. If convicted, they faced expulsion from the university. However, the court finds them not-guilty. In the sentence, the court declares that the right-wing students and the university security guards were the ones who started using violence against the ''Campus'' demonstrators.

2/8 - An article in "Yediot Aharonot" says: There is an unprecedented freeze in the sales of land to private investors in the Judea and Samaria settlements. Many investors are trying to get rid of the plots of land they had "bought". This is a direct result of the discovery of fraud in these sales.

- A "Parents Against Silence" delegation meets with education minister Zvulun Hammer, Members of the delegation voice their concern, that continued occupation of Lebanon will lead to moral deterioration in IsraeI.

4/8 - The CSBU agrees to end its vigil in Hebron on the condition that the settlers stop their own provocative, anti-Arab demonstration. After some bitter arguments among various factions of the settlers, they agree. While leaving Hebron, the CSBU demonstrators distribute leaflets in Hebrew and Arabic, declaring they will continue the struggle against the settlers.

- A public meeting is held in Tel-Aviv, under the auspices of "Amnesty International", to discuss political murder in various countries, particularly in Latin America. Likud M.K Dror Zeigerman calls upon the government to stop selling arms to Argentine until its government stops violating human rights and reveals the fate of the "disappeared" persons, many of whom are Jews. (Zeigerman is one of few true liberals in the so-called "Liberal" party, most of whose members support discriminatory and racist laws and policies).

- A two-week voluntary work camp closes in Jaffa. The work-camp, whose participants included Jews and Arabs from Israel as well as volunteers from all over the world, was intended to help the Arab population of Jaffa, which is neglected by the municipality. Despite attempts by the municipality to obstruct it, the camp was a big success.

5/8 - Dozens of women demonstrate in front of the "Neve-Tirtza " women's prison, where Arab prisoners were severely punished after they refused to cook for the guards.

- Robert Benvelgi, a military police sergeant, is released fron a twenty-one day term in military prison and is immediately summoned again to serve in Lebanon, starting August 7th. This is a serious escalation in the army's treatment of soldiers who refuse to serve in Lebanon.

6/8 - "Parents Against Silence" hold a demonstration in Haifa to mark the fourteenth month of the Lebanon War.

- Members of several organizations that oppose the sale of Israeli arms to El-Salvador gather in front of the "King David" hotel in Jerusalem, where a high-level Salvadorian delegation is staying.

7/8 - Members of the CSBU demonstrate in front of the military court in Ramallah to protest the trials of students from Bir-Zeit University (the students were jailed for eighteen months for taking part in protests after the massacre at Hebron University). Soldiers disperse the demonstration brutally, breaking the finger of one woman demonstrator. Several are detained until the evening.

- "Parents Against Silence" demonstrate in front of the prime minister's office during the cabinet meeting. They denounce the government plan to build a new defence line on the Awaly River and demand complete withdrawal from Lebanon. The demonstration is joined by the members of a reserve infantry unit, who just finished a thirty-day tour of duty in Lebanon, during which three of their comrades were killed.

- Robert Benvelgi is again jailed, this time for thirty-five days. He had been singled out for particular harassment because his superiors regarded his double refusal to serve as a guard in Al-Ansar prison camp as a slur on the reputation of the military police. Another soldier is jailed on the same day. He is a military doctor, an invalid of the 1973 Yom-Kippur War.

11/8 - The father of a soldier killed the day before in Lebanon cries out: ''Why do they send our soldiers to act as policemen between Christians and Druse? Bring them home!" (This was reported in "Yediot Aharonot'"] 12/8 - The "Neve-Zedek" theatre features a new play about the Lebanon War. The play, called "Pilots", is about an Israeli pilot who commits suicide by throwing himself and his bomb-laden plane into the sea, rather than bomb Beirut.

14/8 - "Peace Now" puts up posters in all Israel's cities against Jewish settlement in Hebron. The poster shows the ruins of the Hebron market, burned by settlers on July 7th, with the text: "A Jewish quarter in the heart of Hebron means hatred, murder, pogrom, murder... stop it!"

14/8 - 17/8 - Members of ''Peace Now's" youth section hold three days of study on the Palestinian problem. Their program includes a meeting with Bethlehem mayor Elias Freij and other Palestinians.

15/8 - Uri Ram, a member of the ICIPP, is jailed for thirty-five days for refusing to serve in Lebanon. At his trial he declares: ''I have sworn to defend the State of Israel to the best of my ability, and I remain faithful to that oath. I never swore I would be a mercenary in Begin's empire or in Reagan's, and I don't intend to be one".

17/8 - 21/8 - A voluntary, Jewish-Arab work camp opens in Nazareth. This is the eighth year the camp has operated. From Nazareth the idea has spread to various other places. These work camps are a way of promoting Jewish-Arab understanding and cooperation. They are also a way of protesting the government's discriminatory policies in allocating insufficient resources to the Arab sector and of helping the victims of this policy.

[page 3]

18/8 - Ofer Bernzwein, a reserve soldier due to go to Lebanon on August 22ed, starts a four-day hunger strike in front of Mr. Begin's residence. He says he will continue his hunger strike in the army as well.

- At a meeting of mayors from the Negev towns, the participants - some of whom are known as "hawks" - voice sharp criticism of the government's policies. They claim that the allocation of funds to the West Bank settlements is virtually "starving" the Negev towns.

- Reserve paratroopers, due to go to Lebanon for the fourth time since the beginning of the war, demonstrate in front of the defense ministry in Tel-Aviv. They carry a banner reading: "In the past we volunteered - now we are mobilized under protest!"

19/8 - In a newspaper article, author Nathan Zach calls upon the Hebrew Writers' Association, which had already called for the return of the soldiers from Lebanon, to explicitly support soldiers who refuse to serve there.

- In another newspaper article, Avraham Ahituv, former director of the Shin-Bet (the Israeli secret service), charges that the Gush-Emunirn settlements are "hotbeds of anti-Arab terrorism". This article opens another round of public controversy about the settlements. (According to "Time" magazine, Ahituv had resigned after the government forced him to discontinue the investigation of the 1980 bomb attacks on the mayors of Nablus, Ramallah and Al-Bireh}.

- A group of high school students about to be drafted are interviewed on television. Many of them voice their unwillingness to go to Lebanon.

20/8 - Members of "Yesh Gvul" demonstrate in front of Mr. Begin's residence to protest the growing persecution of their comrades by the army authorities; as manifested in the case of Robert Benvelgi. Former prisoners proudly carry placards reading: "I went to prison for refusing to serve in Lebanon".

- Various personalities and organizations make strong protests and call upon Tel-Aviv mayor Shlorno Lahat to fire his campaign manager, Adi Halpern, immediately. Halpern made several extreme racist statements, praising South-Africa's Apartheid system, and adding: "I want to kill all the Arabs, unless they agree to live the way I want them to live".

21/8 - An infantry lieutenant is jailed for 35 days for refusing to serve in Lebanon.

22/8 - Mayor Shlomo Lahat gives in and sacks Adi Halpern.

- The "Kibbutz Theater" belonging to Mapam's kibbutzim, declares it will feature, starting in October, a new play based on the Eli Geva affair. (Col. Eli Geva became famous when he refused to lead his soldiers if given orders to conquer West Beirut).

23/8 - CAWL members hold a rally in Haifa demanding that the government pull out of Lebanon and stop building new settlements in the occupied territories, thus cutting its budget considerably. They denounce the finance minister's proposal to cut the welfare budget, while leaving the Lebanon and settlements budgets intact.

- A soldier is jailed for refusing to serve in the West Bank.

24/8 - The new student union of Haifa University plans a Jewish-Arab work camp in the Halisa-Tel Amal neighborhood. However, at the last moment the Haifa municipality retracts the permission it had granted for this project. The student leaders say they will begin a public campaign against the municipality's arbitrary action.

25/8 - Ofer Bernzwein is jailed for 35 days forr continuing his hunger strike (started on August 18th), contrary to army regulations.

26/8 - Another soldier is jailed for 28 days.

- "Campus" members from Tel-Aviv University visit Bir-Zeit University and meet with its student council.

28/8 - As Mr. Begin declares his intention to resign, Likud members try to organize "spontaneous" demonstrations calling him back. "Peace Now" organizes counter-demonstrations in Tel-Aviv and in front of Mr. Begin's residence, asking Begin why he didn't resign right after the Sabra and Shatila massacres.

29/8 - At 5.30 A.M., several hooligans from among Begin's supporters attack the members of the permanent vigil in front of his residence, and tear up their placards. The demonstrators claim that policemen present did nothing. Moreover - some policemen clearly expressed their sympathy with the attackers.

- In Geneva, the U.N. Conference on the Question of Palestine opens, with the participation of ICIPP, CAWL and Communist Party representatives (see separate article).

- Two paratrooper sergeants are jailed for 35 days for refusing to serve in Lebanon.

30/8 - An artilleryman is jailed for 28 days for refusing to serve in Lebanon.

31/8 - "Campus" members demonstrate in front of the defence ministry in TeI-Aviv, protesting further trials of Bir-Zeit students.

1/9 - In a television interview, several soldiers serving in the Lebanese city of Sidon voice their discontent. One of them says: "Every time I go on a patrol, I imagine a foreign army patrolling the streets neat my home in Ramat-Aviv [a suburb of Tel-Aviv]".

2/9 - In Geneva, Yassir Arafat meets with the representatives of the ICIPP and the Communist Party.

3/9 - Kibbutzniks from the kibbutzim Barkay and Shomrat demonstrate near the military prison where the soldiers who refused to serve in Lebanon are held. They climb on a mountain overlooking the prison, where the prisoners can see them.

4/9 - "Parents Against Silence" hold their usual monthly demonstration, in front of the prime minister's office, to mark the passing of another month since the start of the Lebanon War. Unexpectedly, the demonstration coincides with the start of the Israeli army's withdrawal to the Awaly River. They use the opportunity to denounce this move as insufficient and demand complete withdrawal from all Lebanon.

[page 4]

- "Yesh Gvul" members demonstrate in front of Mr. Begin's residence; protesting the tough measures the army had taken against their comrades.

- The organizers of the vigil in front of Mr. Begin's residence decide to terminate it after it had gone on for' exactly five months. They declare, however, that they expect the government to withdraw from the rest of Lebanon within the next few months. If the government takes no such steps, they will initiate new forms of.protest.

- In a television interview, an Israeli soldier, one of the last to leave the Shuf Mountains, is asked: "How do you feel when you lower the Israeli flag in this territory, which your unit had fought very hard to capture?" To the interviewer's surprise, the soldier answers: "I feel very good. I only hope the flag will soon be lowered in the rest of Lebanon as well".

-In the same television program, Likud .M.K. Eliyahu. Ben-Elisar, chairman of the Knesset defence and foreign affairs committe, charges that ''The government has been forced to give up the strategic Beirut-Damascus highway because of the internal pressure exerted by an irresponsible opposition".

5/9 - "Parents Against Silence" hold a demonstration in Tel-Aviv in front of the defence ministry.

- The Supreme Court hears a lawsuit started by a right-wing activist against the ICIPP (see separate article ).

- The leadership of the "Hashomer Hatzair" youth movement convenes a meeting of the movement's senior members, the eighteen-to-nineteen-year-olds who serve as instructors to the younger members, to discuss the question of the increasing incidence of refusal to serve in Lebarron. The leadership takes a vigorous position against refusal, offering to the youth the alternative of "striving to change society while serving meaningfully in the army". The youth themselves are strongly divided, and even those who oppose refusal declare their respect for the refusers, who "fight for their principles". In the end, the meeting breaks up without adopting the leadership's proposal or any other, exept for deciding to continue discussions on the subject.

9/9 - "Sifriat Poalim" ("Workers' Library"), the publishing house of Mapam, prints a new book of poems about the Lebanon War, the latest among several such books printed recently in Israel. Some of the poems in the book were written by Ra'aya Hernick, whose son, Guni Hernick, was killed in the battle of the Beaufort Castle, at the beginning of the war. Ra'aya Hernick had been involved in various anti-war activities.

11/9 - "The Israeli Committee for Solidarity with the Chilean People" holds a demonstration in front of the Chilean Embassy in Tel-Aviv to mark the 10th anniversary of the Chilean coup d'etat, which destroyed Chilean democracy. The demonstrators declare their solidarity with the struggle of the Chilean democratic opposition, and demand an end to Israeli arms shipments to the Pinochet regime. A few hours later, a public meeting takes place in Jerusalem on the same issues.

- In a newspaper interview, Itzhak Zamir, the attorney-general, reiterates his position that meetings between Israelis and the PLO do not constitute a criminal offence. He says it in response to some right-wing figures, who questioned the legality of the Geneva meeting between Arafat and the ICIPP representatives on September 2nd.

12/9 - During the night, vandals deface the memorial plaque to Emil Grunzweig, which was placed in front of the prime minister's office, the spot where he was murdered in the grenade attack on the '''Peace Now'' demonstration. The police, unable to find the murderers, were also unable to prevent this vandalism.

14/9 - "Yesh Gvul" holds a public meeting in Tel-Aviv to discuss the situation of the anti-war struggle after thewithdrawal to the Awaly.

15/9 - In the Jerusalem municipality elections, a list is presented whose program calles for a political division of the city, ending Israeli rule in its Arab part, while maintaining freedom of movement between its two sectors. The list, in which various political groups participate, is headed by Ya'akov Arnon, member of the ICIPP.

16/9 - In an article printed in Ha'aretz, Prof. Yeshayahu Leibovitz calls the soldiers who refuse to serve in Lebanon "the true heroes of the war - those who refuse to do evil". Like most of Prof. Leibovitz's articles and speeches, this article sparks a furious controversy in the press.

- A soldier is jailed for 35 days for refusing to go to Lebanon, Right afterwards, he is given a new order to go to Lebanon at the end of his prison term. This is a new manifestation or the army's new, tough policy.

- Elementary school students in Ramat-Aviv (a suburb of Tel-Aviv) compose a political paraphrase to the Jewish prayer book. In referance to the Yom-Kippur custom of asking forgiveness from anybody you wronged during the past year, they write "Sharon must ask all the parents of the soldiers who were killed in Lebanon to forgive him"; "The government should ask forgiveness of soldiers who have to spend Yom Kippur in Lebanon". In response, an extreme right-wing columnist writes: "The leftist traitors are poisoning the minds of our children".

18/9 - On the anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacres, there is a general strike in Israel's Arab villages and towns. A large rally, organized by the Communist Party, takes place in Nazareth, and demonstrations take place in several other places. In East Jerusalem, big police forces brutally break up a joint Jewish-Arab peaceful demonstration and arrest twenty-three of its participants.

19/9 - The CAWL organizes a memorial meeting in Tel-Aviv for the victims of Sabra and Shatila and the other victims of the Lebanon War. It takes place where the giant demonstration of 400,000 people was held a year ago. No speeces are delivered - the participants stand silently, holding burning candles. An attempt by the fascist Rabbi Kahane to disrupt the meeting is foiled by the police. On sale in the crowd is a new book, analyzing the Kahan Commision's report. The book reaches the conclusion that the commission did not go deep enough and let Sharon, Begin and the rest enjoy the benefit of doubt far too much.

[page 5]

- 20/9 - Judge Dov Eitan announces his resignation from the Jerusalem District Court. In 1979, after the Chief-of-Staff, Gen. Rafael Eitan pardoned several soldiers who had murdered Arabs, Judge Dov Eitan (the two Eitans are not relatives) asked the army to relive him of service as a judge in military courts during his reserve military service. He wrote that he is incapable of sending soldiers to prison for slight breaches of discipline while murderers go free. This did not become public knowledge, and thus his career at the District Court was not impaired. However, in 1983 Judge Eitan became a controversial figure after publicly joining the "Yesh Gvul" movement. He was criticized publicly by the justice minister and privately by fellow judges, and anonymous threats were made on his life. Finally, his position became untenable, and he had to resign.

- In a Jerusalem rally, Ariel Sharon attacks the communication media, calling them "traitors, servants of the PLO". A wave of protests follows this expression, which is clearly intended to pave the way to curtailing the freedom of speech. The Jerusalem Association of Journalists declares it will boycott Sharon's public appearances until he retracts his words. Meanwhile, it is revealed that an anti-Sharon demonstrator, who was present at the rally, was assulted and mistreated by policemen who claimed to be "protecting" him.

21/9 - The "Yesh Gvul" movement appeals to the Supreme Court against the National Parks Authority, which had banned a concert in the national park at Achziv, near the Lebanese border. The concert is planned for September 28th, and many of Israel's most popular singers have volunteered to take part in it without payment. A large part of them have never before taken a public position on political matters.

- The Jerusalem Association of Journalists decides to cancel its decision to boycott Sharon's public appearances, because Sharon and his supporters have used it to make him seem an innocent victim, whose right to speech is being denied. However, the Association's spokesman declares the journalists will seek other ways of responding to Sharon's incitement, which, he claimes; is making it dangerous for journalists to do their job.

23/9 - The Jerusalem police declares they have appointed an investigating officer to look into the behavior of policemen towards an anti-Sharon demonstrator during the inflammatory rally of September 20th.

24/9 - The National Parks Authority, after finding it has no chance of winning in the Supreme Court, removes its objection to the "Yesh Gvul" concert in Achziv national park, on condition that no political speeches are delivered. "Yesh Gvul" replies that the event's program did not include speeches in the first place, but that this does not imply any acceptance of the anti-democratic restriction imposed by the National Parks Authority.

- Five hundred refugees from Bir'am village in the Galilee, who where expelled in 1948, hold a rally at the ruins of the village. The occasion is the 30th anniversary of the destruction of the village houses to prevent the return of their inhabitants.

25/9 - Among the productions featured in the Acre theatre festival (a festival devoted to young authors and new theatre groups) is a new play about the Lebanon War. The heroes are members of a tank crew who capture an Arab woman in Lebanon, and their arguments reflect the internal conflict of Israeli society as a whole. The author, Igal Ezrati, has been active in various anti-war protest actions.

25-27/9 - In preparation for the concert, "Yesh Gvul" members conduct wide-spread activities on the streets of Israeli cities, distributing leaflets and selling tickets.

- "Netivot Shalom" ("Peace Roads") - a moderate religious group opposed to "Gush Ernunim " - builds a "Peace Tabernacle" in Jerusalem. There they hold several symposiums and other peace activities.

26/9 - Six of the "Peace Now" leaders meet with defence minister Arens and voice their concern over the continued Israeli presence in South Lebanon, which might turn into a permanent occupation. They also call upon him to stop Jewish settlement within Hebron, and protest the actions of the Israeli official acting as "mayor" of Hebron, who cancelled an appeal agains the settlers presented to the Supreme Court by the dissolved Arab municipality. They present him with new evidence about the July 7th burning of the Hebron market by the settlers, evidence which was not acted upon by the Hebron police and military government.

- Pliah Albeck, the justice ministry's senior legal expert in charge of finding new land for settlements in the West Bank, presents a report showing that confiscating enough land for a Jewish quarter in the middle of Hebron is impossible on legal grounds. It should, however, be noted that in similar cases in the past the Israeli government changed the law to make the-confiscation legal.

- In Amsterdam, a meeting takes place between the "Peace Now" support organizations of ten European countries to coordinate and increase their activities.

26 - 28/9 - Some right-wing elements attempt to sabotage the "Yesh Gvu1" concert, using several methods. In an article printed in the right-wing daily "Ma'ariv", columnist Yosef Ahimeir calls upon popular singer Hava Alberstein to cancel her participation. In a direct and brutal threat, the Likud youth section sends a telegram to the director-general of the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, demanding that he ban the "Yesh Gvul" artists from appearing in radio or television programs. There are also rumors of various economic pressures being brought to bear on some of the artists.

- In reply, singer Shlomo Artzy writes an article of his own in "Ma'ariv". Artzy, who holds centrist, middle-of-the-road political views, declares he himself does not support "Yesh Gvul" and has refused' to participate in the concert, but he vigorously defends the democratic right of his fellow artists to act according to their convictions.

[page 6]

28/9 - Several families of Argentinian "disappeared" apply to the Supreme Court for an order nisi against the government, demanding that it take action to find out the fate of their relatives. This is the first time that the government policy of supporting third world dictatorships is challenged in this way.

- At the Achziv national park, a crowd estimated at 20,000 turns out for the "Yesh Gvul" concert - far more than the organizers expected. A moment of silence, in memory of the Lebanon War victims and of Emil Grunzweig who died for peace, is followed by many hours of performance by Israel's foremost singers and groups, all of thern appearing without payment. Singer Hava Alberstein gets particularly strong cheers, for appearing despite many threats and pressures. A sum of about three million Israeli shekels (roughly $ 50,000) is collected in admittance fees, as well as from the sale of "Yesh Gvu1" posters, buttons, etc. The money will go to finance a special fund that will support the families of imprisoned soldiers who have refused to serve in Lebanon.

It should be noted that not all those who attended the concert were "Yesh Gvu1" supporters. Many of them came from the nearby Galilee towns of Nahariya and Shlomi. Many of these, predominantly Oriental Jews, are long-time Likud supporters and, because they have suffered PLO raids and bombardments, are particularly susceptible to government propaganda about ''Operation Peace for Galilee". Of course, nobody expected that they would be converted to "Yesh Gvul" views in one night. Nevertheless, '''Yesh Gvul" regards the fact that it got a hearing from thousands of people who were previously· utterly hostile to the peace movement as one of the concert's most important achievements.

30/9 - The police officially ask ''Peace Now" to help in the investigation of the July 7th burning of the Hebron market. The evidence collected by "Peace Now" includes the names of settlers who used their weapons (issued by the army) to intimidate soldiers who tried to stop them; who obstructed the Hebron municipality's fire squad to prevent it from putting out the fire; and who came later .the same night to Hebron military headquarters, trying to intimidate the police and army into stopping the investigation. ''Peace Now" brought this evidence, backed by several eyewitness reports, directly to the defence minister, and also published it widely, making it difficult for the authorities to quietly terminate the investigation, as they usually do in such cases. .


The ICIPP delegation at the Geneva Conference

Like the other organizations of the Israeli peace movement, the ICIPP received an invitation to the U.N. Conference on the Question of Palestine, which opened in Geneva on August 29th.

The ICIPP has held several long discussions concerning this invitation. It was known that the present situation within the PLO is complex and difficult, and that the conference might turn into a political trap. Nevertheless, the ICIPP decided to take the risk, which was considered outweighed by the chance to resume the contacts between the ICIPP and PLO - leadership, disrupted by the assassination of Dr. Sartawi and by the Fatah "mutiny" and other forms of Syrian pressure on the PLO.

The ICIPP delegation consisted of Dr. Matti Peled, Uri Avnery, Amnon Zichroni and Dr. Naomi Kies. Besides the invitation to the ICIPP as an organization, Avnery and Peled were invited individually as ''eminent personalities". The only other Israeli organizations who participated in the conference were the CAWL and the Communist Party (through its front organizations). Several other organizations and personalities, notably "Peace Now" and M.K. Yossi Sarid, turned the invitation down. Thus, unfortunately, a whole section of the Israeli peace camp was not represented in Geneva. This undoubtedly reduced the impact that the Israeli peace movement could have had in the conference, had all its sections participated.

From the start, the Israeli and U.S. governments used ail possible means to sabotage the conference. American pressure on the French government succeded in removing the conference from Paris to Geneva.

The Swiss government did its best to discredit the conference, surrounding it with large armed forces and taking "security measures" far beyond those necessary to counter any possible threat. This was done, apparently, to create the image of a "conference of terrorists". The media in many western countries either strongly attacked the conference or simply failed to report it's existence.

Despite this, the conference was impressive. Although under American pressure some West European nations reduced their delegations to observer status, all U.N. members were present exept Israel and the United States. In addition to the 157 governments represented, there were present more than a hundred non-governmental organizations, whose representatives delivered some of the most interesting and original speeches.

The ten days of the conference revealed, clearly and unmistakeably, the existece of a virtually world-wide consensus in favor of Israeli-Palestinian peace and in favor of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, side-by-side with Israel. The only exceptions to this concensus are the Israeli and American governments on one side, and a handful of extremist states, such as Libya and Iran, on the other.

[page 7]

The existence of this consensus was appearent not only in the positions taken by West European delegations, but also by those of the Third World delegations as well. For example, the foreign minister of Malaysia, a Muslim country with an anti-Israeli reputation, delivered a pointedly moderate speech, and took various discreet measures to make his position widely known.

Moreover, even many apparently extremist speeches were, in fact, not so extreme. An important example is the speech by Syrian foreign minister Abd Al-Halim Hadam. Though Hadam's message was couched in most extreme terms, the kernel of it implied Syrian acceptance of Israel in its pre-'67 borders, and showed that Syria does not share the positions of its allies, Iran and Libya, who demand the destruction of Israel.

(States who have no common border with Israel can afford the luxury of such declarations. In any case, while the Iranian delegate heatedly rejected "any form of negotiations with the Zionist entity" everybody in his audience knew that Iran is one of the major customers of the Israeli arms industry.)

The ICIPP delegation used the conference to renew many old ties and create new ones, with both governmental and non-governmental delegates. However, it was most concerned about relations with the PLO delegation. These had gone through several complex ups and downs, which confused those in Israel who tried to follow the reports from Geneva.

One of the main difficulties arose from the composition of the PLO delegation. It was headed by Faruk Kadumi, the PLO "foreign minister", and Yasir Abd-Rabo. Both belong to the pro-Syrian wing of the PLO. Though the Syrian attempt to depose Arafat through the Fatah "mutiny" failed, some measure of cooperation with Syria is vital to the PLO. Kadumi and Abd-Rabo regard the achievement of raprochement between the PLO and Syria as their first priority. Thus, they pointedly ignored the ICIPP delegation.

Other members of the PLO delegation did meet with the ICIPP - but only privately. In these meetings, some of. them frankly voiced their fear of meeting Sartawi's fate.

On the first day of the conference, Abd-Rabo read a "message of greetings" from Arafat (later it turned out that Kadumi and Abd-Rabo had written the document on the spot, without consulting Arafat.) The positions presented in it were extreme: it did not mention peace at all, calling for "the use of force to regain what was taken by force". It also accused· Israel of bearing sole responsibility for the Sabra and Shatila massacres, without mentionirig the large demonstrations in Israel after these massacres.

As a patriotic Israeli delegation, the ICIPP members decided to immediately publish a communique expressing "deep disappointment" This communique became an immediate sensation.

Two days later, the ICIPP members were agreeably surprised to hear Kadumi's speech, in which he took a clear pro-peace position. In the speech, Kadumi declared that the PLO originally supported the creation of a "democratic-secular state" in all Palestine, but after the Jews rejected this idea, the PLO decided to support a national Palestinian state in a part of Palestine. Kadumi also mentioned the PLO's support for the American-Soviet joint statement of October '77, and for the Brezhnev peace plan of March '81, which explicitly mentioned Israel's right to peace and security.

Kadurni also mentioned that\ "even in the Zionist camp there are voices critical of Begin's policies". This distinction between different kinds of Zionism is unprecedented for Kadumi, who has until now stuck to the position that Zionism of any kind is racism. The whole speech was very moderate. Had Sartawi been alive, he couldn't have said more.

The discrepancy between the two speeches stems, apparently, from the fact the "message of greetings" was written on the spot by Kadumi and Abd-Rabo, while Kadumi's speech was carefully planned several weeks in advance with the participation of many PLO leaders. Despite his praise for the Zionist peace camp, Kadumi continued to ignore the ICIPP Zionists present in Geneva. This led to the "cocktail party incident".

Like many other delegations, the PLO delegation held a cocktail party, sending official invitations, with the PLO emblem in gold at the top. No such invitation was sent to the ICIPP delegation. When it turned out that Arafat, who came unexpectadly to Geneva, would be present at the party, it became doubly important.

Nevertheless, the ICIPP, as an official representative of the Israeli peace camp, decided it would not attend the party without receiving an official invitation, and rejected an offer, passed through a third party, to come without an invitation. Later, it turned out that Arafat had demanded that an invitation be issued to the ICIPP, but his order was not carried out. Later the same night, Imad Shakur, Arafat's aide, called Avnery at his hotel room, and a series of meetings took place at once, between midnight and 4.00 A.M, making arrangements for the morning.

In the morning, Arafat delivered his speech to the conference. It was a moderate speech, reiterating the PLO's support for the Fez peace plan and for the American-Soviet joint statement of '77, as well as for the Egyptian-French 1982 draft resolution to the U.N. security council. This resolution, blocked by the threat of an American veto, called for a mutual and simultaneous recognition between Israel and the PLO. Arafat also called for an international peace-conference, under U.N. auspices, with the participation of all the interested Middle-Eastern parties as well as both superpowers.

The most moving part of the speech was near its end. Suddenly Arafat turned directly towards Avnery and Peled, who were in the audience, and said: "I am taking this opportunity to point out the Jewish progressive democratic forces, inside and outside Israel, who rejected the war, who rejected the invasion, who rejected Sabra and Shatila, who rejected the expansionist policy, who support the rights of our people. Let us fulfill, together, the vision of peace in the Land of Peace, and give it as a present to the whole world!"

[page 8]

After the speech, Arafat met with Uri Avnery and Matti Peled. Tufik Tuby and Felicia Langer of the Communist Party also took part. Due to the public character of the meeting (many delegates and diplomats from various countries were present), it was impossible to hold a serious discussion, aside from a brief mention of the Israeli POW's held by the PLO and the missing Israeli soldiers. However, the meeting's importance lay in the very fact that it took place.

Arafat undoubtedly knew, when he decided to attend this meeting, that the Fatah "rebels" would accuse him of "treason" - as their leader, Abu-Saleh, did within hours, in Libya. The meeting was a demonstration by Arafat; a statement that he is not afraid, that he will continue on the road to peace.

This meeting was the ICIPP's most outstanding achievement in Geneva. The presence of the ICIPP delegation had other effects, some of them less visible: dozens of ministers and diplomats from all over the world came to know more about the Israeli peace movement and its problems. The ICIPP members gave dozens of interviews to the world media. After Amnon Zichroni circulated among the delegates a memorandum on the legal situation in the occupied territories, he was invited to lecture on the same subject before the International Society of International Law in Boston.

Also, the notes prepared by the ICIPP and distributed to the various delegations (see below) had some effect on the final resolutions of the conference. These were moderate in tone, completely confounding the Israeli ambassador, Ovadia Sofer, who had conducted a vigorous campaign against the conference, predicting it would call for the destruction of Israel. (It should be noted that in the committee which prepared the resolutions, Faruk Kadumi supported the moderate position.)

In the final balance it seems that, despite several "incidents", the ICIPP's participation in Geneva was justified.

The following are excepts from the speeches delivered by Uri Avnery and Matti Peled, and from the notes presented by the ICIPP to the various delegations towards the close of the conference. The full text of these documents is available at P.O.B. ___, Tel·Aviv.



Address of Major General (Res) Mattiyahu Peled, Chairman of the Israeli Council For Israeli-Palestinian Peace, 2 September, 1983.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen.

(...) I need 'hardly tell you that your conference is probably one of the most .controversial ever convened by the UN. The Israeli government considers it as an affront to itself and denounced it as soon as it was proposed, and was supported in this, as in many other issues, by the USA.( ... ) Even important groups of the peace forces in Israel took exception to it.

(...) My own evaluation of this conference was quite different. (...) The ICIPP decided to send a delegation to participate in the conference. (...) One of our reasons was that for a long time we have been maintaining that the problems of the Middle East, and especially the Palestinian problem, have to be dealt with by the United Nations.

(...) I consider it as one of the most unfortunate developments in the recent history of the Middle East that due to narrow-minded considerations, the United States brought an end to the Geneva Peace Conference and has assumed sole responsibility for the peace process. Since then the situation in the Middle East is constantly deteriorating. Rather than search for a comprenhensive peace, in cooperation with the Soviet Union and with the active participation of all the parties involved, the USA preferred a series of bilateral negotiations conducted under its supervision.

Apart from leading the Middle East from one crisis into another, this procedure enabled both Israel and the USA to ignore the Palestinian problem, in an effort to work out a pax americana in which the Palestinian people would have no place. The futility of this effort is now all too obvious. (...) This conference certainly cannot revive the Geneva Peace Conference, but I believe that it can help in drawing the attention of the world to the need of handing over the responsibility for the peace process in the Middle East to the UN.

(Here a major portion of Dr. Peled's address had been ommitted, as it is essentially parallel to the other material presented).

(... ) What I found distubing in the course of the conference was the lack of explicit realization that the struggle for peace is indivisible, and is being carried out on all sides simultaneously.

Many addressed themselves to the atrocious massacres in Sabra and Shatila, I do not deny that Israel is directly responsible for this crime. But there are two facts which come to mind the moment this crime is mentioned and which were ignored until this morning. The one is that the Lebanese Falange participated in the killing and the other is that the largest demonstration protesting against the Israeli government on account of this crime was held in Israel.

I am deeply grateful to Chairman Arafat for having acknowledged in such an open-hearted manner the role of the peace forces in Israel on that occassion, but I cannot help wondering what the silence over these two important fact during the conference up to this point has signified.

(...) Let me bring another example. A great deal has been said here about "Israel's presence in Lebanon. I believe that Israel should pull out of Lebanon immmediately and unconditionally. Many other Israelis take the same position. Young Israelis, in increasing numbers, prefer to go to jail rather than participate in an unjust war and fight the Palestinians, whose rights we so haughtily deny.

But the Israeli army is not the only one that is fighting the Palestinians, yet we do not hear of soldiers serving in other armies choosing to go to prison rather than fight the Palestinians.(...) We could see many more Israeli soldiers refusing service in Lebanon, if only they could be persuaded that peace with a Palestinian state was possible.

(...) I am convinced that the future well-being of Israel is tied to the future well-being of the Palestinian people, and this is the reason, one of the reasons, I came here.


[page 9]

Statement by Mr. Uri Avnery, former Member of the Knesset, Co-Chairman of the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, 5 September 1983

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen.

(...) Let me first submit my identity card: I am an Israeli. I consider myself a patriotic Israeli.

(...) As an Israeli patriot, I believe that the future and security of my country depends on peace. I believe that there can be no peace in our region without the Palestinians. I believe that there can be no peace with the Palestinians without recongnizing the PLO. I therefore believe that Israel and the PLO must recognize each other, and that direct contact between our two peoples is a pre-condition to any peace.

(...) I want to live in the national state of my people with our own flag, our own passport and the right to choose our own government, good, bad or very bad. I believe the Palestinians have the right to live in a national state of their own, under their own flag and with their own passport, and have the right to choose their own government, hopefully good.

(... ) Mr. Chairman, Where do we stand now? (...) while we are sitting here in this meeting on this sunny September afternoon in Geneva, the bulldozers are working in the West Bank, new settlements spring up.

(... ) I am addressing you with a desparate sense of urgency. (...) What can be done? Economic sanctions? They won't help, they will only make the Israelis rally behind an even more extreme government. Military action? Israel has unquestioned military superiority. A change in the attitude of the USA? One has to be a very optimistic optimist to believe in that. Condemn? Protest?

(...) I do believe that there is one point, and one point only, where this vicious circle can be broken, and that is Israeli public opinion.

(...) Israel is a democracy. He who changes public opinion in Israel changes government policy, indeed, changes the government itself.(...) What is Israeli public opinion? Let me try to describe it in very schematic, even simplistic, terms.

(...) There is one minority in Israel which believes that the West Bank and Gaza should remain forever in Israeli hands, even if the price is eternal war. (...) Nothing will change this outlook of the people who govern Israel today.

(...) On the other side, you have another minority, smaller and less powerful, but important and significant, which sincerely believes in peace. This is the part of Israel which demonstrated after the terrible massacre in Sabra' and Shatila.

(...) Between these two minorities, there is the great majority of the Israeli people, who waver between the two extremes. Why do they rally behind the Government of Begin/Shamir? (...) For a very simple reason. They have been brought to believe that peace is impossible. That even if you give back the West Bank and Gaza, and even if the Palestinian state comes into being, there will be no peace, no solution, no security. Rather, the new.Palestinian state will become a base for attack on Israel, 25 km from my home on the seashore of Tel-Aviv.

(...) Unfortunately, there is no lack of Palestinian and Arab statements which can be used to strengthen these fears, such as the Palestinian Charter; statements saying that the creation of a Palestinian State is only a first step towards another, altogether different solution, etc.

(...) We have to convince the Israeli public that this solution - namely the creation of a Palestinian national state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with its capital in East Jerusalem, living side by side with the state of Israel in its pre-1967 borders, with its capital in West Jerusalem - is the final settlement of the problem, the basis for a permanent peace, a peace for generations.(...) What we need are deeds, gestures, that ordinary people can see and hear and be impressed· by.

(...) One week before the visit of President Sadat to the Knesset, 110 out of 120 members objected to giving back the Sinai. One dramatic gesture, which shook Israeli public opinion to its very depths, was enough to change an impossibility to a political fact.

' This then is the value of the dialogue. An open and public dialogue between patriotic Israeli peace forces and the PLO is an absolute necessity, because it will show people that Israelis and Palestinians can talk with each other, that enemies can become friends, that there is a real possibility for co-existence in our country.

(...) Of course, courage is needed. Indeed, there is no more dangerous profession in the Middle East than the profession of peacemaking. Let me remember here the great Palestinian patriot and peacemaker, Said Hamami, with whom I opened the dialogue in 1974. He was assassinated by Arab extremists. Let me remember that most remarkable human being and Palestinian leader, Issam Sartawi, my friend, my brother, murdered by Arab gunmen this year. Let me also mention Emil Grunzweig, an Israeli peace activist, murdered in Jerusalem by a hand grenade thrown by Jewish terrorists at a peace demonstration.

(...) In the battle for peace we, the peace forces in Israel and the Palestinian peace forcest are the frontline soldiers. Like Winston Churchill we say: Give us the tools and we shall do the job.

(...) Nearly a hundred years ago, the founder of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl,.wrote in his diary, after the first Zionist Congress, which was held not far from here, in Basle, Switzerland: "In Basle I founded the Jewish State.". Let this great conference conduct its business and draft its resolutions in such a manner that it will be said in the future: "In Geneva there was founded the Palestinian State".


[page 10]

The Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace - Notes Relating to the Proposed Resolutions of the Conference on the Question of Palestine

(...) As the conference is preparing its final resolutions we, the ICIPP, would like to submit to the delegates the following remarks:

(...) We feel that it is qf the highest importance to formulate the resolutions in a language that will enhance the efforts made by us in Israel to win over public opinion.

(...) The decision of the ICIPP to participate in this conference was met with strong opposition by the government, mass media, the major political parties, and even by some groups inside the peace camp in Israel. A carefully balanced formulation of the resolutions will prove all the fears reflected in this oppostion wrong and justify the participation of the ICIPP in the Conference.

(...) The ICIPP was formed in December 1975 with the purpose, among others, to encourage the dialogue between Israel and the PLO and thus educate public opinion to accept a just solution to the Palestinian problem.

(...) Since its inception, the ICIPP has conducted a continuous dialogue with authorized representatives of the PLO.(...) The continuation of the dialogue is vital in order to persuade Israeli public opinion that a just solution of the conflict is possible and that the withdrawal from the occupied territories does not constitute a danger to Israel's existence, Such a dialogue constitutes negotiations betweeri peoples, which pave the way to an eventual negotiation between governments.

(...) We strongly urge the delegates to bear in mind that a great many Israelis who are supporting the cause of peace and who have participated in the struggle for peace in Israel consider themselves Zionists. Their brand of Zionism is diametrically opposed to that professed by the Israeli government and many chauvinistic circles in Israel. The fact that being a Zionist is not in itself an indication of blind nationalism has been recognized by distinguished speakers in this conference.

(...) In the light of all this we would like to urge the delegates to consider incorporating in the final resolutions the following ideas:

A. That the principle of the right of the Palestinian people for self determination and to a state of its own and the principle that Israel is entitled to a secure and peaceful existence should be considered inseparable.

B. That the settlement of the conflict, once achieved on the basis of these two principles, should be final and irrevocable except by mutual consent.

C. That the borders between the' two states will correspond to those which were in effect prior to June 5th, 1967.

D. That this solution should reflect the principles of international legality and morality. Therefore, no such evasive formulas as "the rights of all states" should be used. The states aimed at should be named specifically, just as the late president Brezhnev did in his proposals regarding peace in the Middle East.

E. That the status of Jerusalem be recognized not as proposed in the draft, but in accordance with the principles that West Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and. East Jerusalem will be the capital of the Palestinian state; that the two capitals will constitute one city, under a commom municipal organization; and that the Holy Places will be administered by their respective religious institutions.

F. That the mutual recognition of Israel and the Palestinian state will be be announced simultanously.

G. That until that historic event takes place, the UN should provide the framework for the "negotiations between the peoples" as explained in this document.