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Saturday, 3 November, our friend Danny Amit passed away. I last met him, a couple of months ago in Bil’in, where we were celebrating the victory of the village residents and the solidarity movement at the Israeli Supreme Court.

On the way to the fence, we walked together and exchanged some thoughts on the situation of the anti-occupation movement compared to what it was in the beginning of the 1980s, a quarter of a century ago, when, together with few others, Danny established the first united movement against the occupation, the Israeli Committee for Solidarity with Bir Zeit University.

The Bir Zeit Committee, as we used to call him, was the organizational tool through which the issue of occupation and repression in the West Bank and Gaza stopped being the preoccupation of the non-Zionist Left only, and penetrated the mainstream of the Israeli society. I doubt very much that this Committee could have kept its existence and ability to unite thousands of Israelis in action without the central contribution of Danny Amit.

Armed with a thorough knowledge of Israeli society, Danny was among the first to understand that the defeat of the Labor Party, after many decades of absolute hegemony on the Israeli political arena, was paving the way for the emergence of a movement against occupation that could include new and less radical sectors than in the previous decade. The great challenge he was facing was: how to integrate into action three political sensibilities that had never really worked together politically: the Communists, who were the only ones to be able to mobilize substantial numbers of activists (due to their influence in the Palestinian community of Israel); the radical anti-Zionists, who were the most dedicated activists and had long-standing connections among the Palestinian activists; and the new radicalizing sectors among “Left-Zionists.” As Danny once said: “we need the Communists for the quantity, the anti-Zionists for their activism and the Zionist-Left for the legitimacy.” And no one but him could link them together, making good use of the deep respect and esteem he got from everyone.

While walking in Bil’in and chatting, Danny was not looking at the past with regret, as many previous-war veterans are sometimes tempted. On the contrary, he was expressing a strong satisfaction that a new generation of activists has taken the baton, and, in its own way, created a frame of struggle better adapted to the 21^st century’s needs. His premature death leaves this new generation without a valuable teacher, who never behaved as a teacher but as a respectful adviser and a comrade. As for the older generation, we lost not only a companion, but also a real friend.