The farce that is the One Voice Movement
A vibrant discussion followed Eliesheva’s previous post regarding the One Million Voices to End the Conflict concerts. Many people that responded to PACBI’s criticism of the concert thought that it was “cynical,” or that those who opposed it were “looking to the past.”
For some people, this street party symbolizes hope and peace. For others, namely one of the organizers, it symbolizes something else:
“Ours is not a message of peace and love and coexistence,” said Daniel Lubetzky, the 39-year-old Jewish businessman who’s behind the OneVoice concerts.
“It’s a message of let’s not let this get worse,” he said. “We are fed up. We don’t love each other. You leave us alone and we leave you alone and let’s just have a state and get that done before it gets ugly.”
That’s nice. In other words: we don’t really want to talk about the relevant political issues that actually matter, we just want you Palestinians to stop acting up, so that the Israeli military doesn’t need to act up in response.
Maybe that’s only one guy, maybe Palestinians and Israelis will really come together at this party:
But don’t expect many shots of Israelis and Palestinians holding hands and singing Lennon’s “Imagine.” Israelis will gather at a park in Tel Aviv to hear well-known Israeli artists; 60 miles away, Palestinians will converge in the West Bank town of Jericho to hear Arabic musicians, including a popular, fiery, political hip-hop group.
Huh? Wait, one voice, separated by 60 miles?
As I said in the comments to Eliesheva’s post, this is one voice that we should all shout down. Is a project of separation really what we want to support?
There are already real movements in Palestine and Israel and around the world with real cooperation between Palestinians and Israelis–look at Bil`in. This One Voice nonsense is superficial, and is getting all that international attention and the support of lousy politicians precisely because it doesn’t address any of the important political issues.
Violence in Palestine is not happening because Palestinians and Israelis won’t come together for a street party. It’s happening because some people would rather party in the streets, than come together to talk politics.
(I picked up the link to the quoted article from Jews Sans Frontieres)
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Hey there Yaman,
The dichotomy you correctly highlight, between the inspirational collective of smaller organizations who demonstrated at the proposed site of the Wall in Bil’in and a large, internationally-funded movement (OneVoice) that is putting on the One Million Voices People’s Summits in Jericho in Tel Aviv bears further attention.
As someone whose induction to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict came at the hands of Taayush, the Hadash party and other organizations run by both Palestinian and Jewish Israelis, I know how much integrity these people and what potential lies in their movements on the one hand, and how hard it is to work across the green line on the other. It is the few who are able to get the permit or take the risk to actually meet under the current travel restrictions imposed by the occupation; one of the reasons that Palestinians and Israelis could work effectively together (after a long, drawn-out struggle) in Bil’in is that it is at the border.
The People’s Summits in Tel Aviv and Jericho are taking place apart from each other, but they do offer a radically different solution, a push for change on the ground now with the hard and lengthy work of reconciliation coming afterwards. The idea is not constructed to appeal to only those who would engage in the work of Combatants for Peace or Wahat Al-Salam/Neve Shalom or Parents Circle Families Forum, but also to people who come from the political center; after all, they vote too and they are the collective force that can stand with a political leader at the negotiating table or pull the chair out from under him.
Many of us have had the experience of engaging in grassroots work that stretches us to come to terms with, and sometimes change, our own view of history, or ethics, or nationhood or belonging. And then we return from the field believers only to be dismissed by people who say we are on the margins, have no chance of making a difference, are preaching to the converted or have settled for feeling good about small victories while steadily losing the war. How do we put together the kind of influential international presence/funding and legitimacy on both sides of the conflict together with the kind of painstaking, risk-taking work you are highlighting is the real question. Because let’s be clear: this conflict about OneVoice now is taking place between people who would do better to figure out a way to have open debates and work things out together rather than undermine each other.
For most Israelis, PACBI’s criticism of the OneVoice event is at best misguided, and at worst, a call for an endless perpetuation of the conflict. Its support for granting Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes, which were destroyed about 50 years ago, will not correct any historical injustice but instead bring together 2 peoples who dislike one another into very close proximity where they can too easily kill one another. Do you really think that returning Palestinians will be welcomed on their return home? This idea is pure fantasy, frightingly similar to the neoconservative fantasy that Iraqis will welcome the Americans as liberators and shower them with rose petals.
Moreover, the Israelis who attend these events in general favor concessions to the Palestinians. When Palestinian and Arab groups respond by boycotting the event, it doesn’t makes the Palestinians look peaceful or moderate. Shunning the people in Israeli society who are trying to help create a Palestinian state is bad policy. And when you shun a moderate (i.e., Barak or Abbas) you get an extremist in return (i.e., Sharon or Hamas).
So you want the Palestinians to hug and kiss those who are holding a gun to their head? Get real!
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Just some random thoughts: I can’t believe I have to defend OneVoice. Again, I think Daniel Lubetzky runs his organization like the typical president’s-for-life and tyrants that we have running the Arab World. Maybe it’s his personal style that is defining the OneVoice movement, and thereby also tainting it at the same time.
However, that said, I don’t understand how people who support compromise would oppose any positive effort to bring people together. We, as individuals, do not make government policy, therefor we do not dictate to each other. But, we can break free from the hatred that feeds that anti-Israel movement and the hatred that feeds the anti-Palestine movement, and define ourselves.
I support the principles that OneVoice espouses because in the past 60 years, the Arabs have FAILED. That failure is reason enough for me to stop listening to the same old messages of rejectionism from Arabs who have an unquestioned love for Palestine and a belief in the principles of fairness and justice.
But we don’t live in a fair or just world. We live in a world we make the best out of.
I didn’t agree that Palestine should be partitioned in 1948, but I wasn’t alive back then. And, more importantly, the Arab campaign to stop the partition FAILED. So it became the reality.
I didn’t agree with Israel’s government’s justification to pre-emptively attack the three Arab countries in June 1967, but the truth is that the leadership in Syria and Egypt were pompous asses who practiced the art of selfishness over justice. Their bragging and empty threats made it possible for Israel to attack and win, and they FAILED. Jordan was the most duplicitous, in that it’s late King played both sides of the fence, poorly. Ironically, it was Jordan’s FAILURE as an Arab leader that really helped seal the fate of Palestinians.
Now we are here 60 years later arguing about things that have happened 60 years ago that we can’t change, and really saying that we hate each other and refuse to compromise with each other.
Those who refuse to compromise, Israeli or Palestinian, are extremists who are bringing down the house on all of us. Those of us who support compromise are the genuine lovers of peace who believe that compassion and understanding always wins over violence and hatred. We can compromise because we know that once old wounds are healed, everything else can fall in place.
But, some refuse to let go of the past because without, they have to accept their own failure. Thats what rejection of peace really is, an individual’s refusal to accept their responsibility for the failure to achieve justice and apply principle. Palestinians have lost and continue to lose to Israel, in part because Palestinians play the game of hate and rejection so much better than anyone else. We can’t get over our anger.
But the truth is, get over it! The more you reject compromise the more we condemn the Palestinian refugees to generations of squallor and false hope for a dream that is in reality a nightmare.
Just my two cents. I don’t like Lubetzky’s leadership style. But I do support OneVoice, and I do also know that MANY Palestinians living in the West Bank support it too. I can understand why some (I’m not saying everyone) who lives in the Diaspora would reject it. What do they have to lose?
Ray Hanania
http://www.ArabWritersGroup.com
Again, well said Ray. I think it’s a shame that some people who claim to be pro-peace are publicly trying to boycott this event. Loud public boycotts achieve nothing but antagonize the other side. Our people need to talk to one another, not ignore one another. And your point on leaders making promises to people that they cannot keep rings so true. I feel bad for the refugees who were promised to return to their homes which no longer exist. Arab leaders owe those refugees a long apology. The same goes for Isreali leaders and the settlers. For years the settlers were promised that they could keep the land they live on. The Israeli government lied to them and tried to use them as a bargaining chip. Ultimately, it is the refugees who will not be allowed to return to their homes, and the settlers who will be expelled from their homes, who will have to pay the largest price for peace. Our societies will need to build institutions to prepare them for this trauma. Sadly, nothing is being done.
this guy is absolutely right .. no great love is lost between the two sides… so lets be practical and create an effective separation that will allow both people to live without being in danger of getting dragged into another conflict by extremists …
israel is growing more religious by day .. the palis have voted hamas into power … half of the countries around are on the brink to get a civil war .. some have it already … yet i should believe that where the arabs failed to co-exist with one another, and the last civil war in gaza is a good example of it, they will succeed to co-exist with israelis … ha ha ha …
this yaman plainly lives on another planet … as all those who say that israelis and arabs can achieve something by talking to each other .. the arabs in iraq, darfur or lebanon had more than enough time to talk to each other but i just did not notice that it helps them… we ve been talking to palis for so long that we can barely suffer the sight of palis yet alone talking to them … there’s left nothing to talk about … the palis give up on the right of return, we compromise in jerusalem , fence and it’s done … preferably with israeli arabs joining the PA where their areas border on the west bank as lieberman offered … what else is there to talk about ???
the palestinians are like an annoying ex girlfriend that just refuses to go … if they dont chase you with bombs and suicide belts then they will be chasing you with kisses and hugs … you just never can get rid of them … nudnikim as we say in hebrew
Nobody,
They are called Palestinians, not “Palis,” and they are not your personal animals for you to treat them like house flies that you just want to shoo. This is their home and their lives and you damned right they are going to react if their human rights are abused by the Israeli government.
What a hatefully racist thing to say.
Ditto for this.
People like you are the reason why peace is far from being achieved.
You are forgetting that that annoying ex-girlfriend of yours was once free, until you came in and stole her home and raped her future.
you are right, tamar … they were free just as you are free in your syria … and actually, which is very clear from what i say, i dont object to them being free in their own state .. they can be free just as they are free now under hamas, or you under assad … or they can opt for the freedom of saudi arabia or any other of your lovely countries … all i say – free on their side of the fence because i and many other israelis dont want any part in their freedom …
What are you saying? Are you openly admitting that you don’t want to live peacefully with your Palestinian neighbors?
ezra’a
it is very clear what i am saying .. i am saying that i agree with the guy quoted by yaman who said that it should be about separation and not co-existence …
if i prefer to have it peaceful ?? of course …
I think everyone should hear this…
There was a boycott campaign against onevoice based on complete lies and misunderstandings that suggested OneVoice was negotiating on behalf of refugees. This is categorically untrue and misses the key point about the organization that it is specifically designed to empower the process to find answers not dictate them itself. Only the leaders can come to an agreement and then it is up to the people to ratify – that is what OneVoice is pushing for. Groups who want to see no agreement are attacking this with lies and conning the Palestinian population just using the refugees as a political pawn.
This is not about preventing any agreement from happening. It’s from making sure that well-intentioned people, if they are truly well-intentioned, don’t waste their time at a party, and instead do something that will actually have positive effects.
As for the leaders you love so much Danny, you should know that no leader ever has the right to sign away the rights of his or her followers.
Only the leaders can come to an agreement and then it is up to the people to ratify – that is what OneVoice is pushing for. OF COURSE THE PEOPLE HAVE TO RATIFY and to be involved. The leaders have to represent them and can’t sign away their rights – getting poeple involved in civil society movements is the best way to be sure of this.
The events are not ‘a party’ – yes, there is entertainment planned, but there is much more important political messages to go from the PEOPLE on each side so they actually get to hear from each other and to tell the world and each other that they want to find a way out. So long as everyone claims there is ‘no partner’ no progress will be made. So we have only 2 choices: 1 sit back and watch things just get worse for everyone in teh Region or 2. TRY TO SHOUT AND SCREAM FROM THE ROOFTOPS THAT SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE AND LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT THERE ARE NO EXCUSES FOR THE SITUATION TO CONTINUE.
Well, there is a difference between “Refugees” and “settlers.” Refugees are the victims of a conflict. Settlers are exploiters of a conflict. I don’t consider settlers to be victims of anything except their own hatred.
Aside from that, in any agreement, Jews should be allowed to live in palestine at some future date, and non-Jews should be allowed to live in Palestine at soime future point — and I mean in the context of being freer because Jews now live in Palestine and non-Jews now live in Israel, but under restrictive conditions.
Ray Hanania
http://www.ArabWritersGroup.com