Peace Now at Hillel House

ALLEGRA LEVY

Peace is possible in the Middle East. That was the message that ran through Hillel House at the University of British Columbia on Feb. 14. Yariv Oppenheimer, general secretary of Peace Now, came to speak to a small but attentive audience as a part of a tour of Canada.

The heart of Peace Now's mission, as stated by Oppenheimer, is "about achieving the Zionist dream." According to the group's promotional material, members of Peace Now aim to facilitate a practical political solution that will improve the quality of life for Israelis and Palestinians. Oppenheimer identified the need for groups like Peace Now as a response to extremism and he said that Jewish religious extremism was a roadblock to peace just as large as Islamic extremism, citing the biblical claim to the holy land in Jerusalem and the unwillingness to reinterpret these ideas.

"The Palestinians made terrible mistakes and the Israelis also made terrible mistakes," he said. "Both sides made a lot of terrible mistakes together."

The solution, said Oppenheimer, is reliant on both parties agreeing to accept the possibility of a two-state option. He said that Peace Now's loyalty to Zionism makes the possibility of a one-state solution, meaning an eventual Jewish minority in the Knesset, a serious concern, one that prompts the organization to oppose and block progress towards it. If a one-state solution is chosen, he said, the Israeli government would have no choice but to deny suffrage to the new Palestinian citizens of Israel.

"It's a problematic solution, it's not going to be the Zionist dream because it's not going to be democratic," he said. "Today, there is leadership that has committed itself to the progress. You can hear all the leaders, in all the languages, talking about a two-state solution. The major question is whether that leader has the courage to bring it to the public."

Once finished with his presentation, Oppenheimer fielded questions on several issues, including the security wall, the settlements in the West Bank and the issue of Israeli occupation. He established Peace Now's position as pro-security wall, acknowledging that it causes inconvenience and anger for Palestinians living in the West Bank, but that it has, in fact, lowered incidences of suicide bombings, thus giving Israel less reason to attack the West Bank and Gaza. Addressing the settlements, Oppenheimer expressed the wish that all activity in those places be frozen and that they be evacuated. The settlements, he said, are a direct undermining of any opportunity for peace and they are, furthermore, a tangible function of the controversial Israeli occupation.

Allegra Levy is a Vancouver freelance writer.

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