'Patriots' who disagree

By Nevine Khalil

During his three-year military service, Raz, now 27, served for 18 months in the Gaza Strip during the Intifada, which he described as "the most stupid war".

Although he says he didn't kill any Arabs, Raz soon realised that "the minute you become an occupying soldier, you lose your morality." "I understood that you either fight [the Palestinians] or leave them," he said. Upon his release from the military, Raz joined Israel's largest peace movement, Peace Now, and was recently promoted to director-general.

Last week, Peace Now and the Egyptian Peace Movement joined hands to increase support in their societies for a just peace in the region. They issued a joint statement detailing what they believe would be the most suitable solutions to ongoing disputes between Israel and the Arab countries.

Raz believes that presenting Peace Now to the Egyptian public during a three-and-a-half-hour news conference "helped the peace cause", because Egyptians were given a chance "to see that not all Israelis are Netanyahus".

However, the joint statement issued by the two groups was criticised by Arab writers, who said it contained a number of ambiguities. The critics mainly cited a proposal that the capital of a Palestinian state should be in 'Arab areas' rather than 'Arab East Jerusalem'. The Arab countries demand Israel's withdrawal from all Arab territory occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem.

But Raz asserted that there was "nothing holy about the 1967 line". What matters is the principle that wherever Palestinians live, they should rule themselves, he said. "We don't need to control their lives," Raz added. "Israelis understand that they have nothing to do with [Arab] neighbourhoods."

He also said that the term 'Arab Jerusalem' is "very clear and much more convincing" for Israelis, because it does not include holy places such as the Wailing Wall.

"Everybody knows what is Arab Jerusalem and what is Jewish Jerusalem," Raz said, adding that the terminology is accepted by the Palestinian leadership and the 15 Palestinian local peace movements with which Peace Now is in dialogue. "If you say East and West, we will argue about it forever," he said, "so let's be more creative and show people that this argument is [baseless]." Raz described the common belief among Israelis that Jerusalem will remain united forever under Israeli sovereignty as a mere "national slogan".

Another vague point in the joint statement concerns the call for both sides to refrain from any unilateral steps, especially the expropriation of Palestinian land and building of Jewish settlements. It did not specify whether the Egyptian and Israeli peace movements reject the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state by the Palestinian leadership slated for next year. "We meant mainly [unilateral] action by the Israeli government," Raz explained, adding that Peace Now would support Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat if he declared an independent state after 5 May 1999. "We are talking within the framework of the Oslo agreement, which ends on 5 May 1999," he said. "Whatever Arafat does after [that date] is his right."

Most of the principles in the joint statement, which took one year to prepare, are all previously declared positions of Peace Now, except for that concerning the refugee issue, which was not on their agenda. According to Raz, although the ideology remained the same, some compromise was made while drawing up the joint statement, over "wording and cultural symbols". This was necessary because the two movements in Egypt and Israel have "different needs", he said. "Since there is a cultural gap between these two societies, we needed to agree that the words used were good for both societies," Raz added.

Raz said Peace Now's activities in Israel had been hindered by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's popularity at home. While it is "very obvious" to a big part of the world that Netanyahu will not achieve peace with his current stance, "some Israelis really believe that he is achieving peace with security," Raz said.

Describing Netanyahu's promises as a "dangerous and an expensive illusion which will collapse, no doubt," he said that once Israelis realise this, "we will be able to switch the government."

According to Raz, the deciding factor in policy-making is the prime minister's partners in a coalition government. "In Israel it is not a one-man show," he said. "It is not only Netanyahu but [his coalition] government [that should be blamed]; for Barak, the pressure [from a coalition government] will be towards the left, not the right."

Raz vehemently denied that Peace Now simply played its part in a division of roles within Israel, with the ultimate aim of implementing an Israeli strategy of hegemony in the region. He described his colleagues and many other Israelis as "patriots" who disagree with their country's policies. "We understand that we did horrible things in the past, something we should regret," Raz said.

The young peace activist said that his organisation does not support or encourage outside pressure on Israel to move ahead on the peace process because this would be counter-productive. "Whenever you try to threaten Israeli society from outside, it becomes united against the enemy," he said. "It's the mentality of the Diaspora."

Peace Now recently sent letters to US President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, asking them not to pressure Israel, but rather to put it on the spot by "declaring who is responsible for the [deadlock] in the peace process."

Raz said that Israelis who still believe that Netanyahu is making peace, may change their position when they "hear a clear voice from Clinton, or the EU, saying that the Israeli government is responsible for blocking the peace process."

Peace Now also supports the call by another Israeli peace movement, Gush Shalom, for an EU boycott of products made in the settlements. "Not only do we ask the EU to boycott these products, we boycott them ourselves because settlements are illegal, immoral and the main obstacle to peace," Raz said, adding that such international pressure is against the settlements, not against Israel itself.

Since 1993, Peace Now has changed its methods from sporadic large demonstrations to more day-to-day action. "The youngsters can dedicate their time and are willing to be arrested or sleep for a week in a tent outside Bibi's house," Raz said.