A GROUP of prominent left-wing Israelis have signed a “Declaration of Independence from the Occupation”, prompting scuffles with right- wing activists who termed them “traitors” and “fifth columnists”.
The event in Tel Aviv took place on Rothschild Boulevard, outside the hall where David Ben Gurion declared Israel’s independence in May 1948.
Yesterday’s declaration expressed support for the Palestinian move to declare a state in the West Bank and Gaza, which were captured by Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War.
The document was signed by 47 leading Israeli cultural figures and academics, including 21 recipients of the Israel prize, awarded annually to citizens judged to have made an outstanding contribution to the country. Israel prize laureate Hannah Maron, a leading Israeli actor who lost her leg in a terrorist attack on an El Al aircraft, read out the declaration to a crowd of left-wing activists.
“We call on everyone who seeks peace and freedom for all peoples to support the declaration of Palestinian statehood and to act in a way that encourages the citizens of the two states to maintain peaceful relations on the basis of the 1967 borders. The total end to the occupation is a fundamental precondition for the liberation of the two peoples.”
Organisers said Israelis would be asked to sign the document as a way of expressing support for Palestinian moves to seek United Nations support for a unilateral declaration of independence in September.
Right-wing activists held a rival protest and police were forced to separate the sides after tempers flared. The counter-protesters waved Israeli flags and some of them shouted “you forgot about the children who were slaughtered at Itamar” – a reference to the West Bank settlement where five members of the Fogel family, including three young children, were stabbed to death last month.
Israel arrested two Palestinians from a neighbouring village who confessed to the killings.
Deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon, a member of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, criticised the declaration. “Moves like these only lessen the chances of a truce and the establishment of a Palestinian state and create false hopes among the Palestinians that they can establish a state one-sidedly and without negotiating with Israel,” he said.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Israeli left could bring out tens of thousands on to the streets in protests against the occupation and in favour of territorial compromise.
Disillusionment set in, however, when the Oslo peace process resulted in diplomatic stagnation combined with a wave of terror inside Israel.
The right and religious parties gained in strength and the extra parliamentary left became increasingly marginalised.