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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, The Limitations of the Israeli Left - Article﻿</title>﻿

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﻿<b﻿>﻿The Limitations of the Israeli Left

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by Tikva Honig-Parnass﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, April - May 2002﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

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The term "Israeli Left" has come to designate the

Israeli "peace camp". Namely, those, who support a

political solution to the conflict which includes

withdrawal to the 1967 borders and the creation of a

Palestinian state - with different opinions regarding

the fate of the settlements and the extent of the

control that Israel will have on the Palestinian

entity. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

These positions however, are generally not couched

within an anti-imperialist perspective, an

understanding of Israel as a US client state, or

opposition to capitalist globalization and the

neo-liberal policies of Israel's economy. 


﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Nor does the " Israeli Left" challenge Zionism as a

colonialist project. The best organizations (for

exampleGush Shalom - The Peace Bloc headed by Uri

Avneri or the Women's Coalition) assume that the

conflict is between "two national movements which

compete over the same territory". Seeing the numerical

majority of Jews in Israel as a strategic condition

for its "Jewish identity", may encourage potential

followers to support policies aiming at keeping this

majority even through ethnic cleansing measures, as

has recently been concluded by several leading figures

of the "Peace Camp" (including novelist Amos Oz and

historian Benny Morris).

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The Peace Camp whole-heartedly accepted the Oslo

agreements, which were initiated and strongly

supported by Israeli capitalists, while ignoring the

Bantustan nature of the "two states" solution these

agreements offered. After the failure of the Camp

David talks in the summer of 2000, the bulk of the

Peace Camp (albeit not the leaders of Gush Shalom who

generally represent the official position of the PA

headed by Arafat) accepted former PM Barak's claim

that Arafat rejected his "generous proposal". The

Peace Camp then retreated from political negotiations

and closed ranks behind the unity government headed by

Sharon in which Labor has participated with the most

extreme right wing. The Intifada that came in the wake

of Camp David has been seen by most amongst the Peace

Camp as proof that the Palestinian strategic decision

was the path of violence.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

 It has taken more than a year for the Peace Camp to

awaken, and not before the oppression of the Intifada

through collective punishment, besiegement,

assassination of Palestinian activists and the

destruction of social and economic life reached

unprecedented levels. This sector has finally come out

to the streets, mainly in steady vigils organized in

the three big cities, as well as in two recent

demonstrations rallying thousands of people throughout

the country. The slogans calling for withdrawal from

the 1967 Occupied Territories and for a Palestinian

state refrain from the specifics of these demands. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Moreover, the Peace Camp disregards the new leadership

which has emerged from the Intifada. These leaders

enjoy popular support of the people and object to the

Oslo process, believing it to have reached a dead end.

The Peace Camp has little support for the Intifada as

a strategic choice for the fight against the

occupation. Furthermore, there is no attention made to

the Intifada's leaders who repeat the demand for an

unconditional withdrawal of the Israeli army from the

entire 1967 Occupied Territories. Even the most

progressive amongst the Peace Camp have signed

petitions calling for "cessation of violence on both

sides" and for "going back to the negotiation table"

(while the occupation which is the cause of the

violence continues). Giving equal weight to the

oppression of the occupier and the uprising of the

conquered while suggesting that resuming the talks

would achieve a just peace is misleading, to say the

least.  

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

In this regard the unequivocal call of Yesh Gvul - the

old reserve soldiers' movement who have refused to

serve in the Occupied Territories since Israel's 1982

invasion of Lebanon  - is more radical than any other

group within the Israeli Peace Camp. The call of the

Peace Camp for withdrawal of the Israeli army as part

of the political solutions they offer dilutes the

message of unconditional withdrawal put forth by the

Intifada's leaders. The recent petition, however, of

reserve officers whose numbers have increased to more

than 360, shows crack in the consensus on occupation

and shatters Israel's most sacred cow - the image of

its enlightened "defense" army.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The ideological limitations of the Israeli Left create

a situation in which those in Israeli society who want

to adopt a genuine democratic approach to Israel,

Palestine and the conflict, have no place within

Israeli social and political structures to turn to.

The Palestinian citizens of Israel are the only ones,

who by their daily democratic struggles and political

demands, constitute a genuine challenge to the

"Jewish-Zionist state" which is a condition for a just

solution here and in the entire region.          

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