For 22 weeks, hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens have been taking to the streets to fight for democracy. That is impressive and moving, evoking in me great respect. I have not been invited to say anything at these demonstrations. I’m not hurt or surprised, yet I know that these hundreds of thousands of demonstrators are my future partners in creating a better life for this country.
Perhaps my positions are difficult for some of them to accept, perhaps the organizers have elected to conceal some opinions, concerned that talking about the occupation and peace would push many of the demonstrators away.
I will therefore use this platform to turn to the dear demonstrators on Kaplan Street and ask them to devote a few minutes to thinking about the nexus between democracy and occupation.
We live in a tragic reality in this country, which has known so much bloodshed, that the word “peace” sounds almost foreign. This is paradoxical, given that we know that the issue of peace, or “the conflict,” as people like to call it, is the most important one.
The vast majority of Israelis and Palestinians wish to live in security, without war, without conflict. But even though there are many people working to bring about peace, the occupation is becoming harsher and peace is receding into the distance.
Some people believe the conflict can be managed, that it doesn’t need to be resolved. But in recent weeks, with another round of horrific violence, with the UN recognition of the Palestinian Nakba of 1948, with the racist March of Flags and the violence towards Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, we’ve received another reminder of how wrong such a conception is.
A policy of managing the conflict completely ignores the daily lives of millions of Palestinians who wake up every day to another day of oppressive control over their lives. For them, managing the conflict is not a strategy one can live with until the next round, but rather a reality of ongoing suffering which takes its toll on both sides.
There are also those who are not interested in managing or resolving the conflict, but in solving the Palestinian problem with the messianic fire of transfer, an exacerbation of violence and a quick adoption of an unimaginable abomination. I have no discourse with these people, obviously, but to my joy, they are still a minority, even if they currently hold positions of power in the government.
But our tragedy is more complex. It’s a tragedy consisting of a reality in which a majority of both peoples supports negotiations for a true peace, based on two states, but there are no talks taking place. This is tragic because most people, having despaired, aren’t dealing with the issue. Israelis know that the only long-term solution that is not reminiscent of dark regimes is a peace agreement between the two nations.
I believe that if we asked most Israelis, they would even know to spell out the major components of such peace, which are almost common-sense. But despite the simplicity, many believe that this is just not feasible at this point in time, if it ever was.
This is deeply tragic since we are not in stasis, in a situation in which waiting will leave things unchanged, in either direction. Our situation is more like that of a heating pressure cooker, which will blow up if we continue to wait without taking action. This could take the form of a third intifada, a war in Gaza or any other form of destructive bloodshed which will involve thousands of victims on both sides.
This is why it’s important to me to appeal to all dear demonstrators. The protest movement cannot continue to ignore the occupation. After all, the underlying reason for trying to shatter the justice system, civil society and the democratic boundaries is to give fascism a free hand in the territories, in order to perpetrate horrific crimes there without any interference.
In a deeper sense, the occupation is the umbilical cord of Israeli fascism. In every other place in the world, fascism grows either out of big capital or out of the ranks of army generals, but here, both the generals and big capital oppose the overhaul of the system of government. Here, the source of fascism is the occupation and the settlements, where Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich and Simcha Rothman come from, and where their main support lies.
Therefore, the demand to end the occupation must be an integral part of the protest, based on the understanding that there is no democracy along with an occupation, and that the occupation needs the judicial overhaul to feed this self-perpetuating cycle.
This week will mark 56 years to the start of the occupation. What began as the misnamed Six-Day War turned into a 56-year war. In order to mark it, we decided to hold a march on Saturday that started at Dizengoff Street and then joined the bigger demonstration on Kaplan Street. This march had one demand, calling for an end to the occupation and for peace based on two states for two peoples.
I hope from the bottom of my heart that many will see fit to join this cause: Jews and Arabs, anyone who still harbors hope, but also people who feel a deep despair, who will perhaps see that in marching with us, they are not alone. Maybe they’ll gain some hope in this dark period. We have a duty to jointly raise the banner of peace, otherwise the black banner of the occupation will continue to fly.
Some will say that these are futile hopes. That this is the reality and that one must simply accept it. But even if many have despaired of peace, we must remember that in 2001 and 2008 we were very close. And that all tyrants are destined to fall in the end, that every occupied people will continue to fight for its freedom and that peace is worth every effort. I am full of hope that after we vanquish despair we can, together, bring about peace.
Ayman Odeh is a member of Knesset and chairman of the Hadash-Ta’al party.
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