![[Skip to Page Content]](/web/20060627212137im_/http://ameu.org/graphics/skip_sliver.jpg){kind=small}
|
       |
 
 |
Inside the Anti-Occupation Camp
During the first two weeks of the war, only the Committee Against the War in Lebanon strongly opposed the invasion, presenting it as it was: a brutal military aggression with mere political objectives. The great majority of Israelis still considered the war a preemptive operation limited to protecting the Galilee from a Palestinian mega-offensive. Two weeks after the invasion, CAWL called for a demonstration in Tel Aviv, hoping to mobilize its usual 3,000-5,000 supporters. I was in charge of the demonstration’s security and coordination with the police forces, and just an hour before the beginning of the demonstration I felt that something unexpected was happening. Hundreds of reserve soldiers, in uniform—who definitely did not belong to the radical anti-war movement—were joining the demonstration, some of them coming directly from the frontline in Beirut. Eventually, we numbered 15-20,000, the largest demonstration ever organized by forces from the left of the political spectrum. Most of the participants belonged to Peace Now, and they openly expressed their frustration over their movement’s silence. And, indeed, when we asked the Peace Now leaders to lead the mobilization against the war, their answer was: “When the cannons are shooting, the muses have to remain silent!” and while “their men” were risking their lives in the suburbs of Beirut, it would not be decent to demonstrate. They were wrong. Confronted with the horrors of the war, the organized war crimes and massacres, and with direct evidence of Ariel Sharon’s daily lies, including lies to the Knesset and to the government, “their men” were expecting that civilians would organize mass demonstrations in the streets in order to stop the war. Once again, however, the civilians were applauding the war government. The unexpected success of the CAWL demonstration convinced Peace Now’s leadership to change its position and, one week later, to organize its first demonstration against the war in Lebanon when, in Tel Aviv’s main square, 100,000 Israelis, including thousands of reserve soldiers back from Lebanon, came together under the Peace Now slogan “No more a war like that!” (sic). From that day on, Peace Now became the leading force of a mass anti-war movement, which filled the streets of Israel until the withdrawal of the Israeli army from most of Lebanon in 1985. The huge demonstration against Israel’s role in the Sabra and Shatilla massacres, in September 1982, will be remembered as the biggest demonstration in the history of Israel, even if today everyone agrees that the figure of 400,000 demonstrators was an exaggeration. It fell to the more radical organizations, however, and in particular to the Solidarity Committee with Bir-Zeit University, to lead the campaigns against the occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and for the recognition of the P.L.O. These campaigns were based on the recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to freedom and independence and the illegality of the occupation, which looked more and more like a colonial annexation. Such a position differed widely from Peace Now’s position that was based on national pragmatism, with arguments like “The occupation corrupts our boys” or “The occupation puts at risk the Jewish-democratic character of Israel.” While the more radical organizations had developed a real solidarity with the victims of the occupation and their struggle, Peace Now did its best to escape such a tendency. Yesh Gvul When Ariel Sharon ordered the invasion of Lebanon, several dozen reserve soldiers and officers signed a petition announcing they would not obey any order requiring them to participate in a war which, according to the government itself, was not intended to protect the Israeli people. The title of this petition was “Yesh Gvul” which means, “There is a border” but also “There is a limit” and also “Enough is enough.” While there have been several cases over the years of Israeli soldiers refusing to serve in the army, or refusing to serve in the occupied territories, this was the first attempt to organize a public and collective refusal. I must confess that when, in a group of reserve soldiers and officers belonging to various left organizations, we discussed the petition, I was among the more skeptical participants: “Who, except us, will dare confront the holy Israeli army?” I asked. “Who will challenge the security argument?” And I was dead wrong. The anti-war sentiment provoked by the invasion of Lebanon was extremely strong and grew very rapidly with the conduct of the war itself, the army’s lack of preparation, the many war crimes that characterized the invasion from its very first days, and, above all, the clear fact that this war was not a war of defense, but a planned operation to reach political goals that had nothing to do with Israel’s security. A few weeks after the invasion, dozens of soldiers were in military jail number 6 for refusing to join their unit in Lebanon, or, later on, for refusing to return to Lebanon after a traumatic experience there. Moreover, in the military units, the “refuseniks” as they were called, were not confronted with the hostility of their companions and officers, but, on the contrary, met with respect and sometimes even admiration. Political discussions were conducted in the battalions during “pre-Lebanon” training, and the popularity of Yesh Gvul was so high that the I.D.F. command was obliged to take it into consideration while planning new offensives. In one case, at least, the Israeli media reported that the army rejected a plan to attack Syria because of the risk of a mass refusal.
Next Page
|
 |
Special Reports:
|
Printer Friendly Version of this Article
Email this Article to a Friend