As the Muslim Festival of Eid Al Adha or Hari Raya Haji approaches, I thought it would be time to pay tribute to a non-Muslim who dedicated his life to making peace between the Jewish and Islamic World’s. Mr. Uri Avnery, the veteran Israeli peace activist who died on 20 August 2018.
I never met Mr. Avnery, but writing for Arab News back in the early 2000s. We shared the same editor, Khaleed Al Maeena and I remember Mr. Almaeena was particularly proud that he had “Four Israeli’s” on his team.
Between Khaled Almaeena’s pride in having Israeli’s writing for him and Mr. Avnery’s writings, I learnt that contrary to popular myth, Jews and Muslims are not inclined to hate each other and the long almost unsolvable conflict in the Middle East was more about bad politics, supported by people in power who benefited from the conflict rather than any predisposed hatred that two peoples might have for each other. If there were two groups of people who were more alike in terms of custom, it would the world’s Jews and Muslims, who worshipped the same God (Yahweh and Allah being the same name but spoken in different languages), greeted the same way (Salaam Alaiku, Alaikum being the Arabic version of Shalom Aleichiem and Aleichiem Shalom), get their blokes circumcised and have the same dietary requirements (Kosher or Halal – or as a Muslim friend of mine once said, “You know when a Jew offers you food – it’s clean.”). Furthermore, the Jews of the “Holy Land” (as opposed to the European Migrants) and the Arabs are ethnically indistinguishable (the Semites).
What made Mr. Avnery so compelling in his criticisms of Israeli policies was the fact that he wasn’t some granola munching college kid safely tucked away in the American Mid-West. His life story was as Israeli as it gets – he was a family that fled Nazi Germany and found refuge in the Jewish homeland. He joined Irgun, the Zionist paramilitary organization (Call it a Zionist version of the IRA) and he fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War as a squad commander in the Givati Brigade and later in the Samson’s Foxes Commando Unit – this wasn’t some privileged kid whose father bought him out of his obligations during a state of war (we’re not talking about George Bush II who was safely tucked away in the “Air” National Guard or Donald Trump who mysteriously discovered bone spurs when he was supposed to fulfil draft obligations).
Mr. Avnery’s took risk by becoming a peace activist. When he famously crossed the line to meet Yasser Arafat in 1982, he was closely followed by Israeli intelligence, who were hopping to assassinate Mr. Arafat and risking Mr. Avnery in the process. He was also stabbed sometime in 1975, shortly after founding the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. Yet, despite these incidents, Mr. Avnery persisted to call for peace between Israel, the Palestinians and the wider Arab and Muslim World.
It’s such a shame that Mr. Avnery had to die in the era of Nethanyahu and Trump. If you look at things like the continued building of settlements and American inability to stop them or if you look at how the Gulf Arab states are looking like they may enlist Israel as a silent ally in their rivalry with Iran, it would seem that Mr. Avnery was on the wrong side of history.
However, Mr. Avnery would probably disagree and argue that now was the most important time to fight for peace. If you look at what Mr. Avnery was trying to achieve, you can only argue that he was fighting for the right thing.
Israel is a miraculous country. It has thrived and created marvelous innovations with next to no resources in a part of the world best known for autocratic stagnation. Yet, despite all of this, Israel has a black spot on its record – namely the active denial of humanity for the Palestinians it has displaced. This situation has benefited “nice” characters like the weapons manufacturers in Israel and the West, the Western Media, which needs a good story to bash the Muslim world (Plucky Israel against its Evil Arab Neighbours), Intelligence Agencies that need something to do, terrorist organizations claiming to fight for Palestinian Liberation and Arab Autocrats who need a Bogeyman.
Mr. Avnery was not just trying to give Israel long lasting peace with her Arab Neighbours. He was trying to ensure that powerful interest that had profited from suffering would lose their grip and for the betterment of mankind. It would be a shame if people stopped fighting for the very things that Mr. Avnery was trying to achieve.
I never met Mr. Avnery, but writing for Arab News back in the early 2000s. We shared the same editor, Khaleed Al Maeena and I remember Mr. Almaeena was particularly proud that he had “Four Israeli’s” on his team.
Between Khaled Almaeena’s pride in having Israeli’s writing for him and Mr. Avnery’s writings, I learnt that contrary to popular myth, Jews and Muslims are not inclined to hate each other and the long almost unsolvable conflict in the Middle East was more about bad politics, supported by people in power who benefited from the conflict rather than any predisposed hatred that two peoples might have for each other. If there were two groups of people who were more alike in terms of custom, it would the world’s Jews and Muslims, who worshipped the same God (Yahweh and Allah being the same name but spoken in different languages), greeted the same way (Salaam Alaiku, Alaikum being the Arabic version of Shalom Aleichiem and Aleichiem Shalom), get their blokes circumcised and have the same dietary requirements (Kosher or Halal – or as a Muslim friend of mine once said, “You know when a Jew offers you food – it’s clean.”). Furthermore, the Jews of the “Holy Land” (as opposed to the European Migrants) and the Arabs are ethnically indistinguishable (the Semites).
What made Mr. Avnery so compelling in his criticisms of Israeli policies was the fact that he wasn’t some granola munching college kid safely tucked away in the American Mid-West. His life story was as Israeli as it gets – he was a family that fled Nazi Germany and found refuge in the Jewish homeland. He joined Irgun, the Zionist paramilitary organization (Call it a Zionist version of the IRA) and he fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War as a squad commander in the Givati Brigade and later in the Samson’s Foxes Commando Unit – this wasn’t some privileged kid whose father bought him out of his obligations during a state of war (we’re not talking about George Bush II who was safely tucked away in the “Air” National Guard or Donald Trump who mysteriously discovered bone spurs when he was supposed to fulfil draft obligations).
Mr. Avnery’s took risk by becoming a peace activist. When he famously crossed the line to meet Yasser Arafat in 1982, he was closely followed by Israeli intelligence, who were hopping to assassinate Mr. Arafat and risking Mr. Avnery in the process. He was also stabbed sometime in 1975, shortly after founding the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. Yet, despite these incidents, Mr. Avnery persisted to call for peace between Israel, the Palestinians and the wider Arab and Muslim World.
It’s such a shame that Mr. Avnery had to die in the era of Nethanyahu and Trump. If you look at things like the continued building of settlements and American inability to stop them or if you look at how the Gulf Arab states are looking like they may enlist Israel as a silent ally in their rivalry with Iran, it would seem that Mr. Avnery was on the wrong side of history.
However, Mr. Avnery would probably disagree and argue that now was the most important time to fight for peace. If you look at what Mr. Avnery was trying to achieve, you can only argue that he was fighting for the right thing.
Israel is a miraculous country. It has thrived and created marvelous innovations with next to no resources in a part of the world best known for autocratic stagnation. Yet, despite all of this, Israel has a black spot on its record – namely the active denial of humanity for the Palestinians it has displaced. This situation has benefited “nice” characters like the weapons manufacturers in Israel and the West, the Western Media, which needs a good story to bash the Muslim world (Plucky Israel against its Evil Arab Neighbours), Intelligence Agencies that need something to do, terrorist organizations claiming to fight for Palestinian Liberation and Arab Autocrats who need a Bogeyman.
Mr. Avnery was not just trying to give Israel long lasting peace with her Arab Neighbours. He was trying to ensure that powerful interest that had profited from suffering would lose their grip and for the betterment of mankind. It would be a shame if people stopped fighting for the very things that Mr. Avnery was trying to achieve.
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