Israel Palestine Infos
Uri Avnery
April 20, 2013
In Praise of Emotion
IT WAS a moving experience. Moments that spoke not only to the mind, but also –
and foremost – to the heart.
Last Sunday, on the eve of Israel’s Remembrance Day for the fallen in our wars,
I was invited to an event organized by the activist group Combatants for Peace
and the Forum of Israeli and Palestinian Bereaved Parents.
The first surprise was that it took place at all. In the general atmosphere of
discouragement of the Israeli peace camp after the recent elections, when almost
no one dared even to mention the word peace, such an event was heartening.
The second surprise was its size. It took place in one of the biggest halls in
the country, Hangar
The third surprise was the composition of the audience. There were quite a lot
of white-haired old-timers, including myself, but the great majority was
composed of young people, at least half of them young women. Energetic,
matter-of-fact youngsters, very Israeli.
I felt as if I was in a relay race. My generation passing the baton on to the
next. The race continues.
BUT THE outstanding feature of the event was, of course, its content. Israelis
and Palestinians were mourning together for their dead sons and daughters,
brothers and sisters, victims of the conflict and wars, occupation and
resistance (a.k.a. terror.)
An Arab villager spoke quietly of his daughter, killed by a soldier on her way
to school. A Jewish mother spoke of her soldier son, killed in one of the wars.
All in a subdued voice. Without pathos. Some spoke Hebrew, some Arabic.
They spoke of their first reaction after their loss, the feelings of hatred, the
thirst for revenge. And then the slow change of heart. The understanding that
the parents on the other side, the Enemy, felt
exactly like them, that their loss, their mourning, their bereavement was
exactly as their own.
For years now, bereaved parents of both sides have been meeting regularly to
find solace in each other's company. Among all the peace groups acting in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they are, perhaps, the most heart-lifting.
IT WAS not easy for the Arab partners to get to this meeting. At first, they
were denied permission by the army to enter
(It is a routine measure of the occupation: before every Jewish holiday the West
Bank is completely cut off from
What was so special about the event was that the Israeli-Arab fraternization
took place on a purely human level, without political speeches, without the
slogans which have become, frankly, a bit stale.
For two hours, we were all engulfed by human emotions, by a profound feeling for
each other. And it felt good.
I AM writing this to make a point that I feel very strongly about: the
importance of emotions in the struggle for peace.
I am not a very emotional person myself. But I am acutely conscious of the place
of emotions in the political struggle. I am proud of having coined the phrase
“In politics, it is irrational to ignore the irrational.” Or, if you prefer, “in
politics, it is rational to accept the irrational.”
This is a major weakness of the Israeli peace movement. It is exceedingly
rational – indeed, perhaps too rational. We can easily prove that
All over the world, leftists are more sober than rightists. When the leftists
are propounding a logical argument for peace, reconciliation with former
enemies, social equality and help for the disadvantaged, the rightists answer
with a volley of emotional and irrational slogans.
But masses of people are not moved by logic. They are moved by their feelings.
One expression of feelings – and a generator of feelings – is the language of
songs. One can gauge the intensity of a movement by its melodies. Who can
imagine the marches of Martin Luther King without “We shall overcome”? Who can
think about the Irish struggle without its many beautiful songs? Or the October
revolution without its host of rousing melodies?
The Israeli peace movement has produced one single song: a sad appeal of the
dead to the living. Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated within minutes of singing it,
its blood-stained text found on his body. But all the many writers and composers
of the peace movement have not produced one single rousing anthem – while the
hate-mongers can draw on a wealth of religious and nationalist hymns.
IT IS said that one does not have to like one's adversary in order to make peace
with them. One makes peace with the enemy, as we all have declaimed hundreds of
times. The enemy is the person you hate.
I have never quite believed in that, and the older I get, the less I do.
True, one cannot expect millions of people on both sides to love each other. But
the core of peace-makers, the pioneers, cannot fulfill their tasks if there is
not an element of mutual sympathy between them.
A certain type of Israeli peace activist does not accept this truism. Sometimes
one has the feeling that they truly want peace – but not really with the Arabs.
They love peace, because they love themselves. They stand before a mirror and
tell themselves: Look how wonderful I am! How humane! How moral!
I remember how much animosity I aroused in certain progressive circles when I
created our peace symbol: the crossed flags of
To give an impetus to a real peace movement, you have to imbue it with the
spirit of empathy for the other side. You must have a feeling for their
humanity, their culture, their narrative, their aspirations, their fears, their
hopes. And that applies, of course, to both sides.
Nothing can be more damaging to the chances of peace than the activity of
fanatical pro-Israelis and pro-Palestinians abroad, who think that they are
helping their preferred side by demonizing the other. You don’t make peace with
demons.
FRATERNIZATION BETWEEN Palestinians and Israelis is a must. No peace movement
can succeed without it.
And here we came to a painful paradox: the more this fraternization is needed,
the less there is.
During the last few years, there has been a growing estrangement between the two
sides. Yasser Arafat was very conscious of the need for contact, and did much to
further it. (I constantly urged him to do more.) Since his death, this effort
has receded.
On the Israeli side, peace efforts have become less and less popular.
Fraternization takes place every week in Bil’in and on many other battlefields,
but the major peace organizations are not too eager to meet.
On the Palestinian side there is a lot of resentment, a (justified) feeling that
the Israeli peace movement has not delivered. Worse, that joint public meetings
could be considered by the Palestinian masses as a form of “normalization” with
This must be changed. Only large-scale, public and heart-felt cooperation
between the peace movements of the two sides can convince the public – on both
sides – that peace is possible.
THESE THOUGHTS were running through my head as
I listened to the simple words of Palestinians and Israelis in that big
remembrance meeting.
It was all there: the spirit, the emotion, the empathy, the cooperation.
It was a human moment. That's how it all starts.