MIDEAST: New Message Across an Old Divide

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Fawzia Sheikh

JERUSALEM, Apr 12 2006 (IPS) - Israel’s security barrier designed to shut out terrorists cuts through the schoolyard of Anata Secondary School north of Jerusalem. Now the wall looks somewhat different.

For long, the towering, grey concrete wall was adorned with Arabic graffiti such as two eyes crying bloody tears. Today there is a new symbol – two men extending their arms while discarding their weapons.

The new sign was put up by Combatants for Peace, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) comprised of 120 former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters who have grown weary of the decades-long cycle of violence.

Combatants for Peace made its official public debut at the school grounds Apr. 10.

The former enemies aim to use peaceful means to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land in the West Bank, annexed during the 1967 six-day war Israel fought with Syria, Jordan and Egypt.

The group met in secrecy for a year, and discussed ways to shun their confrontational past and adopt activism towards peace.

Combatants for Peace, whose membership includes mainly men who were elite Israeli troops, and on the other side former Palestinian prisoners, faces a daunting task.

The NGO is operating amid the rise to power of Hamas in the Palestinian Authority. Hamas is widely considered to be a terrorist group, and it does not recognise the Israeli state.

There has been speculation this year of the launch of a possible third Intifadah or violent uprising against Israel. The first Intifadah came 1987-1993, and the second 2000-2005.

Repeated rocket attacks on nearby Jewish settlements launched from the Gaza Strip, which the Israeli government returned to Palestinians last year, have led to harsh reprisals by the Israeli military, and resulted in several Palestinian deaths.

The security barrier is meant to limit just such attacks. The barrier made up of concrete walls and chain-link fences that divides Jerusalem from the predominantly Palestinian West Bank is nearly complete.

But despite a climate of violence and despair, the peace group is determined to carry on.

“We are here, and we will not let these barriers stop us,” former Israeli soldier Avichay Sharon told IPS. “This is just a starting point.”

When Hamas won the elections in January, “it motivated us more,” said Sharon, a few steps away from a roundtable meeting of Palestinians and Israelis outside the school that was marked by speeches and peace songs. “It emphasised how this non-violent struggle is so critical at this point in time. It’s a totally new method.”

Although other groups in the past have represented both sides of the conflict, he said their members have never been in the thick of battle.

Combatants for Peace wants to debunk what it calls the myth that Israel has no peace partner in the Palestinian Authority. Sharon’s message to both governments: “We are finished playing your violent games.”

The 24-year-old said he served three years in the military, and many nights entered Palestinian homes. Towards the end of his service he said he was struck by the senselessness of the occupation.

While Sharon was fighting for his country, former Palestinian fighter Ryad Halees saw Israel stoking the anger and frustration of his people.

The pivotal moment that spurs a Palestinian to fight is when he sees “the first Israeli soldier in his house, in his village, in his city,” said Halees, 26.

As a 10-year-old growing up in the volatile West Bank city of Hebron, where Jewish settlers and Palestinian residents are often embroiled in attacks, Halees recalled throwing stones at an Israeli army vehicle about to enter the city.

On one occasion Israeli soldiers imprisoned his father and brother, and destroyed the furniture when they shoved their way into the family home.

Molotov cocktails became Halees’s weapon of choice during the first Intifadah, but his attacks inevitably spawned Israeli retaliation. He was shot in the right leg four years ago, leaving him with deep chasm-like scars, and difficulties walking.

A TV news story more than a year ago about Israeli soldiers refusing to serve in the occupied territories became a turning point for him. He saw the peaceful face of Israelis. “There is a way better than violence,” he told IPS.

Halees joined the Fatah political movement during the second uprising. He taught university students about the 1993 Oslo peace accord, which recognised the Palestinian Liberation Organisation as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, Israel’s right to exist, and the need to end terrorism. He has now taken up a new challenge.

The big hurdle the new group faces is that “in both societies there are many people who see each other as enemies” at personal and political levels, says Christiane Gerstetter of the German-based Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel. The group is a part of the World Council of Churches.

The fact that both Israeli and Palestinian governments have adopted a stance of “fighting each other or not talking to each other” also does not bode well for the group’s plans, she told IPS.

Combatants for Peace wants to be taken note of by both governments, and gain an audience with university students and anyone who will listen. But concerns over how tough it will be to preach a message of non-violence hit home following the meeting.

As the crowd dispersed from the schoolyard, Israeli military police gathered in the distance to watch – a common occurrence at left-wing assemblies. Some Palestinians not attending the meeting began throwing stones. The police threatened to unleash teargas.

The peace move itself faces the threat of violence.