Almost half a century after the open letter of 348 Israeli army reservist officers saved the peace negotiations between Egypt and Israel in 1978, the commitment to peace on the part of Israeli society has not wavered.
As a result of that 1978 letter, Peace Now emerged, an organization that since then has not stopped exerting pressure so that peaceful coexistence with the Palestinians remains on Israel’s political agenda. Over the years they have been joined by many other initiatives that promote solidarity with the Palestinians, such as Breaking the Silence, which documents military abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories, or Lighthouse for Gaza, which organizes dialogues between Palestinians and Israelis. and cultural activities in Gaza (they sent one of the only pianos in the Strip). The stories of activists kidnapped by Hamas, Vivian Silver, a prominent member of Women Wage Peace, and Yocheved Lifschitz, two women who helped their Palestinian neighbors access assistance, have also recently emerged. medical in Israel.
“October 7 will be forever recorded in the Israeli collective memory, it was something unprecedented due to the violence and the terribleness of the event,” said Mauricio Lapchik, director of development and external relations at Paz Ahora. At this time, the priority for the organization is the release of those kidnapped by Hamas. The majority of Israeli society only thinks about eliminating Hamas, explains Lapchik. But Paz Now insists on looking beyond. After the hostages, their second priority is the search for a diplomatic solution once hostilities cease.
“Israel cannot allow itself to extend military actions without thinking about a diplomatic solution, it cannot forget to consider what will be the starting point for a ground invasion,” says Mauricio Lapchik. According to him, to achieve lasting stability, the Government must prevent Hamas from emerging stronger from this conflict, because “as long as Hamas represents the Palestinian population it will not be possible to reach an agreement. Today the future seems very dark, but that does not diminish the importance of seeking solutions.” However, seeking a diplomatic solution is precisely what the Government of Israel has been avoiding doing for years and what according to Lapchik is “one of the factors that led to this explosion of violence.” During Netanyahu’s different mandates (1996-1999, 2009-2021 and the current one since December 2022) the Government has opted to strengthen the most radical organizations to divide the Palestinian cause, he affirms. “Whoever wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state must support Hamas,” declared Israeli Prime Minister Beniamin Netanyahu in 2019.
Another of Peace Now’s main missions is the monitoring and denunciation of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories, which they consider one of the main obstacles to achieving peace. From the 1993 Oslo Accords to 2023, Peace Now estimated that settlers in East Jerusalem increased from 140,000 to 230,000 and from 110,000 to 465,000 in the West Bank.
Expanding illegal colonies has been one of the primary commitments of the last Netanyahu government. So firm that, according to Peace Now, since October 7 the Jerusalem District Planning Committee has approved a new settlement and will present another plan today, Monday. In total it would involve the construction of more than 800 homes in East Jerusalem, occupied territory.
