Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: aspetti del pacifismo israeliano

http://jewschool.com/2011/01/03/25088/the-downside-of-peacebuilding/
Is the peace process heating up or slowing down? I’m an active Jewish
peacenik, and that’s the kind of question that gets attention in those
circles. But it leaves me cold. I’d rather rehash the past.
During the Oslo peace process, I worked briefly for an outfit called
the International Center for Peace in the Middle East. It was founded
by Abba Eban, and for a number of years was an institutional force for
peace that connected Zionists, non-Zionists, Palestinians, Arabs,
Europeans and North Americans seeking to advance peace. Good people
worked there for years. (It was the model for the Peres Center for
Peace btw.)
That said, my boss was OB, who was charged with corruption after his
tenure as executive director. (I think he was convicted - he
disappeared to Europe for years.) His successor, former Meretz MK
Zehava Galon, examined the books and called the police. The charges
were mostly around two issues: extensive billing for expenses, and
fudging the reports to donors regarding the use of funds. As someone
with a hand in writing fundraising reports and reporting on projects
to the funders, I can affirm that not everything was kosher.
Internally, folks sort of knew that OB was a shady character and the
very image of a seductive rogue. He was a very good diplomat.
At last year’s J Street conference, I saw OB for the first time in
nearly fifteen years. It came back to me: the reputation for
womanizing, the late night meetings with impressionable young (female)
journalists, the home in Jaffa as part of the wave of Arab-displacing
gentrification, the tortuous language used to report to funders how we
spent their money. These aren’t entirely separate activities, despite
what you may think.
When peacemaking was ‘in’ and respectable parts of Israeli society
where invested in it, this included cynical journalists, former army
officers and intelligence agents, and various capitalists with ‘new
middle east’ stars in their eyes. Not to mention offbeat Orthodox
rabbis, ‘peacenik’ settlers, Hamas reformists, and Palestinian
Authority returnees in fancy new cars. ICPME was squarely in the
center of all this peacemaking.
For the most part, these respectable parts of Israeli society withdrew
from supporting peace overly much. Their disengagement was part of a
general rightward, pessimistic, ‘realistic’ trend in Israeli politics.
But they are waiting in the wings - ready to resume their previous
role as professional intermediaries between the Israeli and
Palestinian societies. Waiting to fundraise for ‘People to People’
projects. Joint youth camps. International delegations to Scandinavian
conferences. Learning missions to Cyprus and the Balkans. ‘Competitive
Advantage’ seminars for future binational business initiatives. Water
saving cross border initiatives. And all the rest.
All these programs will cost money, and the money will flow to those
who best understand the ins and outs of embassy schmoozing and sweet
talking foundation executives. Lovable rogues like OB will resurface,
showing up in Washington DC to shake hands with whoever seems
important - Jeremy Ben Ami and his board of directors might be useful
someday. Maybe they can help steer some future USAID ‘peacebuilding’
grant towards whatever organization he ends up running.
It kind of makes me sick.
As a supporter of Israeli-Palestinian peace, I should want to see a
successful diplomatic breakthrough. Some compromise allowing the
mainstream in both societies to reach some sort of accommodation. But
it kills me to think of all the sleazy bastards - on both sides - who
will glad hand and smooth talk their way to fame and fortune. None of
these folks will migrate from the human rights organizations, or
Anarchists Against the Wall, or Sheikh Jarrah demonstrators, or Gush
Shalom.
The winners won’t be those who lost the most in the war. They’ll be
the ones best at exploiting the peace. Do we really want to help them?

 wrote:
che lezione veloce. O hai seguito il consiglio di Roger Waters? AHR
AHR AHR