An age and an era ago, before I even contemplated reporting as a career (It’s a career?) I was a member of Peace Now, at least to the degree to which it then counted membership — you turned up at meetings, you left your contact details, and presto, you were a member.
I soon dropped out, mostly because Avrum Burg never let anyone else get a word in edgewise, but not before joining one of their "settlement watch" excursions to assess illegal growth on settlements.
(This was more than 20 years ago. Yes, I was a "settler" — and monitored settlement growth! The sound you hear is Phil Weiss’ head exploding.)
It wasn’t pleasant: There were words exchanged, shoving, even dogs. IDF troops illegally kept our group from even reaching the area where the building was underway.
But what impressed me was that, on the bus ride back, no one complained, much less issued a press release: The organization was not the point, containing settlement was the point.
It was a little disheartening, then, seeing this fund-raising pitch, which makes the movement the point.
The assailant settler belongs behind bars, but it’s a little self-serving to make his attack the point of the exercise. The excerpted Channel Two news report more correctly emphasizes the growth as the issue — and notes also that other settlers (the majority I would suspect) are likelier to engage in spirited arguments, and not through channeling Bruce Lee.
This is fair enough:
Peace Now activists track settlement expansion because it harms Israel and the prospects for peace. Settlements burden Israel’s security services, create friction between Israelis and Palestinians, drain financial resources, and undermine the two-state solution which is so critical to bringing about real and lasting peace.
But this is silly:
Settlers assault our volunteers because they know that Peace Now’s work has an impact. They know that Peace Now is the best resource for information about settlements and has reinforced President Obama’s firm hand to bring a stop to settlements. Our volunteers risk their lives for peace, but they cannot work alone. We need your help so they can continue their work and to also give it even greater impact.
"Settlers" are not monolithic. And "risking lives for peace" … I’ve met volunteers who genuinely risked their lives, for instance, to teach little girls in Kabul to avoid mines. (The Taliban allowed the activists access to boys, but not girls.) They didn’t kvell. Neither should Peace Now.
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