Middle East Information Resource
Political Entities - Peace Now
Peace Now is an Israeli non-partisan, non-governmental peace movement. It was established in the spring of 1978, half a year before the Camp David Accords were signed. Some 350 reserve officers wrote a letter to Prime Minister Menahem Begin, demanding that he continue along the path to peace. Most of the movements` activities were in the form of public gatherings, demonstrations, letters and meetings.
After the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty, Peace Now demonstrated for the continuation of the peace process. From the beginning of its existence it argued that the continuation of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip contradicted the goal of peace, and offered five principles on the basis of which peace negotiations between Israel and its neighbors should be held: (1) territorial compromise, notwithstanding historical claims; (2) recognition of the right of the State of Israel to a sovereign existence within secure and recognized borders; (3) Israeli recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to national existence; (4) the need for arrangements that will ensure Israeli security requirements, including certain border changes; (5) Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel, thought other religious and national interests in the city must be acknowledged.
Peace Now was in the vanguard of the protest against the Lebanese War. It was the major organizing force behind the mass demonstration in Tel Aviv on September 25, 1982, following the massacre in Sabra and Shatilla. They called for the establishment of a national commission of inquiry into the massacre and demanded the resignation of Ariel Sharon as Defense Minister. Even though Peace Now was never a pacifist movement and was patriotic in its views, it rapidly became a target for right-wing hatred in Israel; it was accused of defeatism and even treason. The movement was always characterized by activists who were university graduates of Ashkenazi origin, and never broadened into a mass movement. During a Peace Now demonstration, held on February 10, 1983, the day on which the Kahan Commission of Inquiry published its report on the Sabra and Shatilla massacre, a Peace Now activist, Emil Grunzweig, was killed when a hand grenade was thrown at the demonstrators by a Jewish right winger.
Peace Now considered running in the elections to the eleventh Knesset (1984) but finally decided to remain extra-parliamentary and to continue to criticize from the sidelines. Until the end of the 1980`s, Peace Now avoided holding direct contacts with official PLO representatives, but relations were established with various Palestinian personalities in the territories, such as Feisal al-Husseini. In the course of the Intifada, the movement increased its activism and called for an end to the occupation. The movement supported all the peace moves of the government of Yitzhak Rabin established in July 1992, but protested against some of its actions, such as the expulsion of 415 Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists to Lebanon in December 1992. Peace Now became a major critic of the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, formed in June 1996. It was ambivalent about the Oslo process with the Palestinian Authority, and settlement activity in East Jerusalem, and called for the government`s resignation.