|
Commemorating the 40th anniversary
of the 1967 war and four full decades of occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip
and the Golan Heights was a difficult challenge if one takes into consideration
the present high level of de-politicization in Israel, as well as in the occupied Palestinian
territories. Moreover, what we are expressing in our demonstrations is our own
failure, the failure to end this occupation and put a stop to the process of
colonization of the de jure as well as de facto annexed
territories.
The main
activity was the demonstration, held in Tel Aviv, Saturday, 9 June in the
evening, and not a few among us were quite worried about the level of participation
at the event.
1.
Altogether, it was a good demonstration. In real figures some 4,000 demonstrators
attended, which is a quite respectable level of participation; the march was
well “staged,” colorful and combative and the rally not too boring (As you may
know, I am in general against rallies, precisely because it is a succession of
identical speeches for a public which is already convinced.)
2. Typology of the participants: a
significant majority of young demonstrators (interesting to note that quite
many veterans didn’t even come), which obviously is a good thing. Palestinian
participation was extremely low compared to previous years. Among other
reasons, it reflects the growing weakness of the Israeli Communist
Party/Hadash, which, in previous years used to bring dozens of buses from the Galilee and the Triangle. That low Palestinian
participation should worry us, especially if we take into account the fact that
the demonstrations in the Arab localities were quite small.
3. The demonstration was under the
sponsorship of a coalition composed of around fifteen Israeli-Jewish and Arab
organizations. One should notice the good level of cooperation, in a spirit of
trust, respect and mutual support.
4. For the first time after 40 years, Peace
Now and Meretz were part of the coalition. Though the Peace Now and Meretz
contingents participating in the demonstration were very modest, and reflect
the extreme weakness of what used to be, by far, the main part of the “peace
movement”—their participation was, at least symbolically, important. I don’t
share the position of a few of us that due to Peace Now/Meretz limited forces,
the more radical organizations should not have to make the political
compromises which were necessary to guarantee the presence of Peace Now/Meretz
in the coalition. On the contrary: we shall hope that this experience will be a
first step in a lasting integration of the organized Zionist Left in the
coalition against occupation and war.
5. It is important to notice that the
participation of Peace Now was debated inside the leadership of the movement,
and part of that leadership was definitely not in favor of such participation.
Let’s hope that the good spirit of cooperation and the success of the
demonstration will have a positive impact in the internal discussion in Peace
Now.
|
Contact the AIC 
