Peace Now

Peace Now is an Israeli liberal advocacy organization with the aim of promoting a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Early activism

In an official document from 1982 Peace Now advocated for an undivided Jerusalem as Israel's capital. It has since shifted its position to two capitals for two states – a solution based on demographic breakdowns with a special agreement for the Old City.
Peace Now again came to prominence following Israel's 1982 Invasion of Lebanon, and in particular the massacre of Palestinian refugees by Christian Lebanese Phalangists at the Israeli controlled Sabra and the Shatila refugee camp. On 25 September 1982 Peace Now held a mass protest in Tel Aviv in order to pressure the government to establish a national inquiry commission to investigate the massacres, as well as calling for the resignation of the defence minister Ariel Sharon. Peace Now's 1982 demonstration was attended by 400,000 people, approximately 10% of Israel's population at the time.

Emil Grunzweig

In the wake of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, Peace Now led a march from Zion Square and moved towards the Prime Ministers' Office in Jerusalem on 10 February 1983. During the march Peace Now demonstrators encountered a group of right-wing activists. In the ensuing confrontation, Yona Avrushmi tossed a hand-grenade into the crowd, killing Emil Grunzweig, a prominent Peace Now activist, and injuring several others.
Yona Avrushmi was duly arrested, convicted of murder and given a mandatory life sentence, which was commuted to 27 years by President Ezer Weizman in 1995. Avrushmi was released on 26 January 2011.
As a result of mounting public pressure on Menachem Begin to adopt the Kahan Commission's recommendations Ariel Sharon agreed to step down as Defence Minister. However, he remained in the government as a minister without portfolio.

Peace Now and the First Intifada (1987–1993)

In 1988 Yasser Arafat publicly accepted United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 at the PNC in Algiers. For the first time, Yasser Arafat accepted Israel's existence according to its borders set out in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, and rejected and condemned the use of terrorism in all its forms. In reaction Peace Now led a demonstration of more than 100,000 people, calling for immediate Israeli-Palestinian negotiations for the purposes of attaining peace between the two parties. Following this, Peace Now led the Hands Around Jerusalem event, in which 25,000 Israelis and Palestinians linked hands to encircle the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem in a chain of peace.
In part due to the Israeli-Palestinian discourse engendered by Peace Now and its activists, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin and Yasser Arafat succeeded in signing the Declaration of Principles/Oslo Accords on the lawn of the White House on 13 September 1993. Peace Now was the first Israeli organisation to meet with the PLO, at a time when such an undertaking was deemed illegal by the Israeli government.
Peace Now supported the Oslo Accords, and since then it has called upon all Israeli administrations to date to adhere to the terms of interim agreements which were agreed upon as part of the Oslo Peace Process.

Peace Now and the Second Intifada (2000–2005)

Since the outbreak of the violent Second Intifada in December 2000, Peace Now has arguably lost a certain degree of the Israeli public's support. While the First Intifada was largely a popular movement on the part of the Palestinian public, the Second Intifada consisted of far more violent confrontations between Palestinian militants and the IDF, Israeli settlers within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and Israeli civilians. According to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 132 Israeli individuals were killed by Palestinian militant bomb/suicide attacks within Israel proper between 2000 and 2004.
Despite the arguable decline in the Israeli public's support for the Oslo Peace Process, Peace Now succeeded in leading a demonstration of between 60,000 to 100,000 in May 2002, after Israeli military forces began on 29 March a large-scale military Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank and as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was mobilizing reserve forces for a possible military invasion of Gaza. The demonstration was held under the banner "Get Out of The Territories". According to "Peace Now" itself, shortly after the outbreak of the Second Intifada, it was instrumental in creating the Israeli Peace Coalition, which later evolved into the Israeli-Palestine Peace Coalition. Its main objective is to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, and to achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace based on a two-state solution.

Israel's unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip

Peace Now was a key advocate of Israel's 2004 Disengagement Plan. Peace Now led the 'Mate ha-Rov' demonstration on 14 May 2004 in Tel Aviv, in order to pressure the Israeli government to adopt the Disengagement Plan. However, support for the Disengagement Plan faced contention within the Peace Now camp over its unilateral nature. Peace Now decided it was most important for Israel to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, regardless of how this withdrawal was to take place.

Settlement Watch

Settlement activity

Peace Now's Settlement Watch project monitors and protests against the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Dror Etkes headed this committee until 2007, when he was replaced by Hagit Ofran. The project focuses on the following issues with regards to the settlements:-
Peace Now's Settlement Watch project has resulted in the following developments:-

Amona – Peace Now motioned to the Supreme Court demanding the evacuation of the settlement in Amona. Their motion was accepted and the settlement was evacuated by security forces several months later.
A decision, never implemented, to remove of all illegal West Bank settlements – Following a petition submitted by Peace Now to the Israeli Supreme Court, Benyamin Netanyahu's government ordered that the state dismantle all illegal West Bank outposts built on private Palestinian land by the end of 2011.
Migron - Following a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court by Peace Now, the state was ordered to dismantle Migron, the largest illegal settlement outpost in the West Bank, by April 2012. This was key as this was the first time the Supreme Court had ordered the Israeli state to dismantle an outpost in the West Bank.

Similarly, the movement continues activity on the ground in support of evacuation through demonstrations, vigils and other campaign activity. Activities include:

Updates on settlement expansion by means of aerial photography/ground surveys
Publication of figures to the public and decision makers in Israel as well as around the world
Leaked diplomatic cables

According to diplomatic cables leaked in April 2011, Peace Now has regularly updated both the U.S. government and the Israeli Ministry of Defense on ongoing settlement construction in the West Bank. The documents indicate that the Defence Ministry used Peace Now's services to monitor West Bank settlement construction. In 2006, Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheimer reportedly urged the U.S. to pressure Israel into evacuating West Bank outposts, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable. Oppenheimer was quoted as saying that Israel might "evacuate a few outposts to show the U.S. that it is doing something, but in exchange it is trying to co-opt the settlers by retroactively approving some outposts and giving them a freer hand in building in the West Bank."

2006 settlement report

In a report issued in November 2006, Peace Now wrote that 38.8 percent of the land set aside for Israeli settlements, outposts and industrial land in the West Bank was privately owned by Palestinians. This included 86.4 percent of the land set aside for Ma'ale Adumim and 35.1 percent of Ariel's land. After successfully appealing to a court for access to a government database operated by the Israeli Civil Administration, Peace Now reduced its overall estimate to 32.4 percent and the estimate for Ma'ale Adumim to 0.5 percent. A spokesman for the Civil Administration replied that the new report was still "inaccurate in many places".

Internet campaigns

Peace Now seeks to promote its various causes via an active presence on such social networking sites as Facebook. Against the background of the 'Boycott Laws' which were being passed through the Knesset in July 2011, the popular Israeli internet site 'Horim B’reshet' made a survey of the most popular Israeli protest Facebook pages, of which Peace Now's page ranked 5th.

West Bank tours for opinion-makers

Peace Now aims to educate leading decision makers on the perceived counterproductive effects the settlements have on the attainment of the two-state solution.
One such tour was conducted by Peace Now in August 2009 and attended by such figures as
MKs Ophir Pines-Paz, Daniel Ben-Simon and Chaim Oron.

Demonstrations/rallies

Peace Now organises demonstrations and rallies in support of peace and human rights:-

Rally Against Racism – Peace Now joined 1,500 other activists at Zion Square, Jerusalem, to protest against the spate of government policies dealing with the nature of the citizenship of Arab-Israelis living within the Israeli state; especially those forwarded by Israel's outspoken Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
In support of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – Peace Now joined 5000 other activists in a march in Tel Aviv, to support the Palestinian bid for United Nations membership as an independent state.
Against the 'Boycott Law' – Peace Now held a protest in Jerusalem in response to proposed Knesset legislation stating that any boycott against Israel or any group located within territory it controls, including the West Bank, would be labeled a civil offense. This law made boycotters subject to litigation and financial penalties. Following the passing of the boycott legislation into law, Peace Now led a campaign calling for the boycott of settlement produce.
'Glenn Beck go home' – In response to Glenn Beck's 'Restoring Courage' tour in Israel, Peace Now activists protested outside the Jerusalem rally held by the conservative American broadcaster, claiming that his ultra-conservative values inflamed the already tense situation with regards to the Israel and Palestine situation.
Yitzchak Rabin Memorial Rally – Every year since former Israel Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin's assassination, Peace Now activists take part in an annual rally in Rabin Square to commemorate the statesman's life, and to issue calls in support for the re-invigoration of the Middle East Peace Process.
In support of 'Freedom of Speech' – In response to a proposed government amendment to Israel's 'Defamation Law', which would increase the maximum compensation paid for libel violations sixfold to NIS 300,000, regardless of proof of damages, Peace Now led a 2000-strong rally in Tel Aviv.