Gush Shalom
Encyclopedia
Gush Shalom is an Israel
i peace activism
group founded and led by former Irgun
and Knesset
Member and journalist, Uri Avnery
, in 1993. The left-wing
organization has been involved in several Israeli controversies, such as sending a “Relief Convoy to Gaza” while it is under Hamas
administration, and has elicited the mainstream Israeli media to describe it, on occasion, as "radical" and "extreme". The American Friends Service Committee
has described the group as "one of Israel’s most influential peace organizations."
. Avnery stated that he started Gush Shalom because other Israeli peace groups did not take a strong stance against what he considered "the repressive measures" of the government of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin
. It has described itself as the "hard core" of the Israel
i peace movement.
Gush Shalom is an extra-parliamentary organization, independent of any party
or other political grouping although it has members who are associated with various political parties.
, and claims the occupation is illegal and that Israel is committing war crimes on a daily basis. It opposes Israel's policies of blockade and nonrecognition of the Gaza Strip
. It supports a two-state solution
to the Israel-Palestine question, with the 1967 border between Israel and Palestine
, and with Jerusalem as the capital of both states.
The movement supports soldiers' refusal to serve in the West Bank
or Gaza strip
, recognition in principle of Palestinian right of return
, and an Israeli withdrawal to the Green Line
. Gush Shalom activists regularly confront Israeli security forces at construction sites in settlements
in the West Bank and Gaza, and along the Separation Barrier
. Gush Shalom said that Israel's offer to Yasser Arafat in the Camp David negotiations of 2000 was not a "generous offer" but "a humiliating demand for surrender," publishing the maps from the proposal (seldom published in the US), and an animation from the maps showing how little would be left for a Palestinian state under the proposal Avnery was among the first to meet and negotiate with PLO leader Yasser Arafat
. In 2001 the organisation made a peace proposal on the basis of a two-state solution with the 1967 boundaries.
During the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
, Gush Shalom was a vigorous critic of the operation within Israel. Avnery described it as "the Election War" since he believed it was intended to increase the election chances of Defence Minister Ehud Barak
and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
in the planned February elections.
It has been described as left-wing in the Israeli and US media.
Avnery wrote:
, American Friends Service Committee, and others, have lauded Gush Shalom for promoting peace and understanding between Israelis and Palestinians. The AFSC awarded Avnery the "Profiles of Peace" honor for his work for peace. The Haaretz newspaper
subsidizes a weekly editorial statement by Gush Shalom in its weekend edition.
In 2001, Gush Shalom received the Right Livelihood Award
"for their unwavering conviction, in the midst of violence, that peace can only be achieved through justice and reconciliation".
magazine, described Gush Shalom in the Jerusalem Post as "lunatic fringe" due to the group's statement that they are monitoring Israeli soldiers activities and will consider submitting collected evidence to international courts. Dan described the announcement as "preparing to inform on their brother soldiers - who are defending them too."
Isi Leibler, a former head of the Australian Jewish community, criticized the group for techniques that mirror images of the Soviet models, "exploit[ing] emotions" by creating bodies associated with 'mothers' and 'children', such as "Women in Black" and "Mothers against War". He stated this was done in order to further their interests under the guise of promoting peace, and noted that, in a similar manner, communists also encouraged draft evasion in democratic countries as Gush Shalom are doing. Leibler criticized the group members for "[believing] they and they alone represent the true apostles of peace and those opposing them are fascists, racists, and warmongers", further describing the group as "[part of] the radical wings of Israel's contemporary peace movement".
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i peace activism
Peace movement
A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war , minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace...
group founded and led by former Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
and Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
Member and journalist, Uri Avnery
Uri Avnery
Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement.A member of the Irgun as a teenager, Avnery sat in the Knesset from 1965–74 and 1979–81...
, in 1993. The left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
organization has been involved in several Israeli controversies, such as sending a “Relief Convoy to Gaza” while it is under Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
administration, and has elicited the mainstream Israeli media to describe it, on occasion, as "radical" and "extreme". The American Friends Service Committee
American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee is a Religious Society of Friends affiliated organization which works for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world...
has described the group as "one of Israel’s most influential peace organizations."
Organisation
The movement was established in 1993, by Uri AvneryUri Avnery
Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement.A member of the Irgun as a teenager, Avnery sat in the Knesset from 1965–74 and 1979–81...
. Avnery stated that he started Gush Shalom because other Israeli peace groups did not take a strong stance against what he considered "the repressive measures" of the government of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin
' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....
. It has described itself as the "hard core" of the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i peace movement.
Gush Shalom is an extra-parliamentary organization, independent of any party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
or other political grouping although it has members who are associated with various political parties.
Stance
Gush Shalom objects to the Israeli occupation of the West BankWest Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, and claims the occupation is illegal and that Israel is committing war crimes on a daily basis. It opposes Israel's policies of blockade and nonrecognition of the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
. It supports a two-state solution
Two-state solution
The two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the consensus solution that is currently under discussion by the key parties to the conflict, most recently at the Annapolis Conference in November 2007...
to the Israel-Palestine question, with the 1967 border between Israel and Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, and with Jerusalem as the capital of both states.
The movement supports soldiers' refusal to serve in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
or Gaza strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
, recognition in principle of Palestinian right of return
Palestinian right of return
The Palestinian right of return is a political position or principle asserting that Palestinian refugees, both first-generation refugees and their descendants, have a right to return, and a right to the property they or their forebears left or which they were forced to leave in what is now Israel...
, and an Israeli withdrawal to the Green Line
Green Line (Israel)
Green Line refers to the demarcation lines set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and its neighbours after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War...
. Gush Shalom activists regularly confront Israeli security forces at construction sites in settlements
Israeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
in the West Bank and Gaza, and along the Separation Barrier
Israeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier is a separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier’s total length will be approximately...
. Gush Shalom said that Israel's offer to Yasser Arafat in the Camp David negotiations of 2000 was not a "generous offer" but "a humiliating demand for surrender," publishing the maps from the proposal (seldom published in the US), and an animation from the maps showing how little would be left for a Palestinian state under the proposal Avnery was among the first to meet and negotiate with PLO leader Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
. In 2001 the organisation made a peace proposal on the basis of a two-state solution with the 1967 boundaries.
During the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
The Gaza War, known as Operation Cast Lead in Israel and as the Gaza Massacre in the Arab world, was a three-week bombing and invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israel, and hundreds of rocket attacks on south of Israel which...
, Gush Shalom was a vigorous critic of the operation within Israel. Avnery described it as "the Election War" since he believed it was intended to increase the election chances of Defence Minister Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government....
and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
Tzipi Livni
Tzipporah Malkah "Tzipi" Livni is an Israeli lawyer and politician. She is the current Israeli Opposition Leader and leader of Kadima, the largest party in the Knesset. Raised an ardent nationalist, Livni has become one of her nation's leading voices for the two-state solution. In Israel she has...
in the planned February elections.
It has been described as left-wing in the Israeli and US media.
Avnery wrote:
Every left-wing body fears with terror the one who is on its left. The right-wing of the Avoda party is afraid from its left-wing. The left wing is afraid of Meretz. Meretz is afraid of Yossi BeilinYossi BeilinDr. Yosef "Yossi" Beilin is a left-wing Israeli politician and a former Knesset member, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and Justice Minister, representing both the Labor Party and Meretz-Yachad, of which he served as chairman between 2003 and 2006. He is best known for his involvement with the...
, who was pushed out of the Avoda by Amram MitznaAmram MitznaAmram Mitzna is an Israeli politician and former general. He is the acting mayor of Yeruham, the former mayor of Haifa and led the Labour Party from 2002 to 2003.-Youth, studies and military service:...
and his leftist friends and that Meretz also didn't give him a realist position on its list. Meretz is afraid of "Shalom Achshav". "Shalom Achshav" is afraid of "Gush Shalom" and the Arab parties.
Praise
International human rights groups, including Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, American Friends Service Committee, and others, have lauded Gush Shalom for promoting peace and understanding between Israelis and Palestinians. The AFSC awarded Avnery the "Profiles of Peace" honor for his work for peace. The Haaretz newspaper
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
subsidizes a weekly editorial statement by Gush Shalom in its weekend edition.
In 2001, Gush Shalom received the Right Livelihood Award
Right Livelihood Award
The Right Livelihood Award, also referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prize", is a prestigious international award to honour those "working on practical and exemplary solutions to the most urgent challenges facing the world today". The prize was established in 1980 by Jakob von Uexkull, and is...
"for their unwavering conviction, in the midst of violence, that peace can only be achieved through justice and reconciliation".
Criticism
Israeli journalist and political analyst Uri Dan, a former writer for Uri Avnery's HaOlam HaZehHaolam Hazeh
HaOlam HaZeh was a weekly news magazine published in Israel until 1993.The magazine was founded in 1937 under the name Tesha BaErev but was renamed HaOlam HaZeh in 1946...
magazine, described Gush Shalom in the Jerusalem Post as "lunatic fringe" due to the group's statement that they are monitoring Israeli soldiers activities and will consider submitting collected evidence to international courts. Dan described the announcement as "preparing to inform on their brother soldiers - who are defending them too."
Isi Leibler, a former head of the Australian Jewish community, criticized the group for techniques that mirror images of the Soviet models, "exploit[ing] emotions" by creating bodies associated with 'mothers' and 'children', such as "Women in Black" and "Mothers against War". He stated this was done in order to further their interests under the guise of promoting peace, and noted that, in a similar manner, communists also encouraged draft evasion in democratic countries as Gush Shalom are doing. Leibler criticized the group members for "[believing] they and they alone represent the true apostles of peace and those opposing them are fascists, racists, and warmongers", further describing the group as "[part of] the radical wings of Israel's contemporary peace movement".