OneVoice Movement

OneVoice Israel introduces Laura Talinovsky as new executive director

Laura Talinovsky, left, and Roee Neuman, right, are the new faces of OneVoice Israel.

The OneVoice Movement warmly welcomes Laura Talinovsky as the new OneVoice Israel (OVI) executive director. Tal Harris, executive director for OVI the past four years, will continue working with OneVoice from Washington, D.C.

Laura said upon entering her new role that “Israeli society cannot sit by and hope that a peace agreement will be signed by itself. Official negotiations taking place right now are possibly the last chance for peacefully settling the conflict and achieving a better life for both peoples in the region. A vacuum of indifference and skepticism permeates Israeli society, making the voices of extremists disproportionately loud. We must amplify the sober, balanced voice of the moderate majority that seeks to end the conflict.”

Laura added that “I wish to thank Tal Harris, not only for the impressive achievements brought to the Movement in the last four years, but also for dedicatedly accompanying my entrance to the role. We are facing challenges which Harris shall be part of their fruition and success.”

Laura is well suited to take the reins of OVI. She joined OneVoice in 2006 as a volunteer, and has served as the advisor to Opposition Chair, Shelly Yechimovich (Labor), for the past three years. She holds her B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from Hebrew University, where she is about to complete her M.A. in Public Policy. Laura is also a graduate of the Leadership for Peace program at New York University, and has been a researcher in the Israel Democracy Institute.

Tal spoke of the need to keep pressure on the Israeli leadership during this critical time and confidently about Laura’s abilities to steer the Israeli office to further accomplishments.

“The last four years were paved with activities and successes of OV and the peace camp in general,” Tal said. “These were undoubtedly an important component in the strategic achievement of unfreezing the diplomatic channel between the Israeli government and the Palestinian leadership, which recently returned to the negotiations table. We are facing a real opportunity to ending the conflict and I am therefore excited and particularly proud of having Laura joining the leadership of the Movement in Israel.”

More new faces at OVI

In related staffing news, OVI would also like to introduce Roee Neuman as spokesman and government relations director, replacing Nadav Galon in that role. Roee was the spokesman for the #J14 social demonstrations in the summer of 2011, as well as for MK Michal Rozin, and formally a media consultant in the public relations company, Gaya.

OVI youth leader Elanit Green was also hired by OVI as a program assistant. Elanit is a recent graduate of Ben-Gurion University and is an accomplished International Engagement Program (IEP) and Outreach and Education Program (O&E) alumna, touring the U.S. and U.K. on several speaking tours.

Palestinian and Israeli Flags Fly in Knesset During Historic Meeting

Abdallah Abdallah (with microphone, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and head of the Parliamentary Committee of Political Affairs), MK Bar, and MK Dr. Ronen Hoffman (Yesh Atid).

A historic meeting took place in Jerusalem yesterday…and OneVoice was part of it!
 
For the first time ever, Members of Knesset (MKs) met with Palestinian officials in the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem. Nearly one-third of the Knesset – 35 MKs – took part, along with several prominent Palestinian businessmen, politicians, and experts from academia, including members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and PLO members of the Civil Dialogue Committee. The Israeli and Palestinian flags were proudly displayed together on stage.
 
The event, organized by OneVoice Israel (OVI) in partnership with the Knesset’s Caucus for Ending the Israeli-Arab Conflict and the Negev Institute, is part of OVI's efforts to support a sustained and successful direct negotiation process during the coming months.
 
The Palestinian party met with Caucus Chair MK Hilik Bar, Israeli opposition chair MK Shelly Yechimovich, and MKs Yaakov Perry, Dr. Ronen Hoffman, Zehava Galon, Isawi Fri,Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Meir Sheetrit, Afou Agbaria, Muhammad Baraka, Hana Sweid,Miki Rosenthal, and many others. Ministers Yael German and Amir Peretz, and Deputy Minister Mickey Levy participated, as well. 
 
International media picked up on the event. Click below for a sample of articles!
 
Sky News: Peace Talks: Palestinians Visit Israeli Knesset
The Daily Star: Palestinians visit Israel's parliament
The Times of Israel: In Knesset, an upbeat start for a shadow peace summit
Ynet News: Palestinian flag in Knesset: 'Abbas wants peace'
The Jerusalem Post: Palestinian flag out in honor as PA officials visit Knesset

This meeting follows Tuesday’s “Peace Tent” rally outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The event was led by former MK Yael Dayan, Israel Prize Winner David Harel, professors, and civil society leaders whom spoke to concerned citizens about why negotiations are essential.
 
OVI Executive Director Tal Harris, who addressed the event, said “this is a demonstration of the critical mass of both citizens and leaders that exists on both sides of the Green Line, and is committed to peace, security, and statehood for both the Israeli and Palestinian people. This is OneVoice’s role. We want to show the negotiators in Washington that they have our support to make the tough compromises necessary to reach a historic deal.”

Knesset Caucus Chair introduces bill for two-state solution

Months of hard work by OneVoice at the grassroots and political-elite levels have paved the way for a bold move in the Knesset.

Members of the Knesset (MKs), including Caucus for Ending the Israeli-Arab Conflict Chair MK Hilik Bar (Labor), submitted a bill yesterday that would, if adopted by a majority of the Knesset, for the first time in Israel’s history enshrine into law that it is the state’s policy to pursue a two-state solution, representing the true will of Israelis toward peace with their Palestinian neighbors.

Passage of the law would also signal to the international community that Israel is committed to a two-state solution, at a time when such an outcome is coming under threat.

WATCH: Israel’s Channel 2 News interview with MK Bar (Hebrew w/ English subtitles)

 

"The window of opportunity for a two-state peace agreement is shrinking; this bill is tantamount to giving a strong, new impetus to the government and the coalition to enter negotiations immediately, and promote the Two-State Solution,” MK Bar said in a press release Tuesday.

OneVoice Israel (OVI) Director Tal Harris echoed these sentiments: “We as citizens have a responsibility to ensure that the push for two states is top of the Knesset agenda. There is a majority out here on the streets who want it, and a majority in the Knesset who believe in it, too. It is OneVoice’s role to connect and energize these two constituencies, allowing each to strengthen the other.”

OneVoice, which supports a two-state solution that ends the occupation and conflict and is committed to the 1967 borders, was an integral founding partner of the Caucus for Ending the Israeli-Arab Conflict and the formation of the legislation. In support of the Caucus’ efforts, OVI launched a “Roundtable Peace Initiative” on June 23 to build support for the Caucus at the grassroots level. Nearly 2,000 people in 11 cities across Israel rallied to revive the Middle East peace process. Twenty leading Israeli peace organizations – including OVI – took part. A wide range of decision makers, issue experts, MKs, intellectuals, academics, former senior defense officials, and media attended. In Mattan Peretz’s eyes, the collaboration between the co-hosts and the engagement of the Israeli public made the event truly “unique.”

Highlights of the roundtable events are below.

There is no doubt that OneVoice’s grassroots work in Israel has found a foothold on the political level. But the backing of international supporters, too, will be vital to achieve a two-state solution and an end to the conflict.

Witnessing detachment: A Breaking the Silence experience in Hebron

A view of Hebron during OVI's Breaking the Silence tour.

Shiri Blumberg, a OneVoice Israel youth leader, took part in a tour to the West Bank town of Hebron on June 28 with OVI’s Tel Aviv University Chapter. Breaking the Silence, an organization that seeks to "expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories," guided the tour.

Below is Shiri’s account of her experience.

While I was walking up toward Tel Rumeida, the location of an Israeli settlement in Hebron, fellow activist Elad Laor joined me and together we puffed heavily up the steep road. He pointed at a small house gate we were passing by.

"One day, I saw this little settler kid hitting a Palestinian girl; she was older than him. He was just kicking her, over and over again, and she kept standing there. I yelled, 'kid what are you doing, enough!' And then I noticed his mother, standing behind me, watching the whole thing, doing nothing, and she tells me: 'don't yell at him.'"

I was appalled that this kind of violence is not only tolerated, but encouraged. It makes our work as peace activists all the harder. And unfortunately, this is just one of many stories I heard during the Breaking the Silence tour.

Later in the day, we heard from Issa, a local Palestinian activist. He explained to us how he "doesn't hate settlers, doesn't hate soldiers: they're just a screw in the system. Someone is allowing them to do all this. Somebody doesn't prevent them from being what they are. A Palestinian peace activist is probably something you don't see or hear about every day," he said. "A nonviolent Palestinian is kind of an oxymoron, isn't it?"

It’s not an oxymoron to me. I know that we have partners for peace, our counterparts in OVP, working in parallel in Palestine for the two-state solution, the same as we are doing in Israel.

Throughout the tour, Avner, our tour guide, gave us all sorts of data and bits of information. He told us that there is a 72% unemployment rate among the 162,000 Palestinian residents in Hebron, with hungry kids roaming abandoned streets, selling bracelets instead of playing ball games, people locked inside their own homes, shut down stores; two separate law systems govern Hebron, with thousands of soldiers protecting less than 700 settlers, who ignore the fallout their presence generates. But hey, if you ask the settlers (which we did), Hebron is an exemplary model for co-existence.   

On the way back home, I asked myself, how do I feel about what I saw today? I was trying to find words, and none of them fit. Interesting? That doesn't even begin to explain what's going on inside my head right now. Harsh? Not enough. Horrifying? Also not accurate. Complex? What is that, anyway? After a long search, the only word that came close to the essence of what I saw that day was detachment. I felt like I went into a situation that is detached from everything I knew until that moment. The bad are good, the good are bad, the city is empty, the soldiers are watching over the wrong guys, and who is watching all this unfold?

I saw what I should have seen a long time ago – an embodiment of the fact that we need to end the conflict. I knew there was a reason behind my feelings and beliefs, but all the time I felt something was missing. This previously undefinable feeling put me at an inferior position when debating people about the conflict and Israel’s part in perpetuating it, and made me question my beliefs from time to time. There is a lack of serious talk from people who live inside the bubble, not witnessing the impact the conflict has on those who live it daily.

From now on, I won’t feel weaker than my detractors – I saw at least a small part of some of the worst there is to see, and I intend on seeing more and telling others what’s really going on. And now I'm sure that I am not wrong, and sure that our work with OneVoice is even more necessary, and even more urgent.

OVI’s Roundtable Peace Initiative – A Youth Leader’s Perspective

Roundtable participants take part in discussions in Tel Aviv on Sunday, June 23.

By Mattan Peretz*

On Sunday, I attended a political event that was a bit different than what I was used to as a youth leader with OneVoice Israel.

It wasn’t a demonstration in a square or protest outside the prime minister’s office. It wasn’t a lecture on a university campus or debate with representatives from across the political spectrum.

It wasn’t a community tour or an information booth to collect some signatures.

I attended an intriguing event that stood out to me as unique. The mass event – the Roundtable Peace Initiative – was attended by Israelis gathered in 11 cities and seated at 70 roundtables to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

At the center of each table sat Knesset members, journalists, security personnel, and people who invested the best years of their lives working on this political issue. There were also leaders of various peace organizations – 20 total – that co-hosted with OneVoice. Although we have different modes of action, we work toward similar goals, and coming together for this was a great experience.

The politicians, peace groups, and other officials were not the real centers of the discussions, however. The most significant aspect of the event was the participation of the general public – close to 2,000 Israelis – who decided to come and speak their minds.

It was not the type of event where the audience sat passively by or a spectator from time to time asked a question, which may or may not be answered.

At this event, each and every person who stood or sat around a table had a chance to ask, to attack, to challenge, agree, and/or disagree.

Guest speakers could not satisfy the crowds with short answers, or try to escape the stage and divert the discussion to a subject more convenient and easy when talks became heated.

The participants remained seated at the tables until the streetlights went on around ​​Beit Ariela (a Tel Aviv library) in an attempt to continue to provide answers to an eager public as night approached, and the political issues remained the center of public debates around dozens of tables.

Not every table discussion was the same: some were comprised of young people talking quietly and others had more intense debates. Participants moved from table to table, jumping in for a moment to hear and exchange a few words with the speakers and the public, while others sat together for hours, waiting to reach a conclusive resolution and end the discussion.

Although a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not reached at these tables, we did agree that the best ways to get out of the political stalemate are through dialogue, discussion, and negotiation.

But one may ask in response, “Negotiate? With whom?”

The answer is, “At first…ourselves.”

*Mattan Peretz is a youth leader in the Jerusalem Chapter of OneVoice Israel.

Despite appearances, two-state solution makes headway in Israeli and British parliaments

Youth Leaders Ofek Arieli, left, and Maya Peretz, Jerusalem Regional Coordinator, collect Facebook "Wall" posts in Zion Square after the Caucus launch on May 20.

By Anthony Silkoff*

Back in February, I was in the lofty gallery of the House of Lords as members heaped praise on the activists of OneVoice Palestine and OneVoice Israel, who work tirelessly to revive a two-state solution. Three months later, I traveled to a very different parliament – the Israeli Knesset – to see OneVoice Israel doing just that. 

The Knesset is now in its 19^th session, and like most national parliaments, it has caucuses – or lobbies – made up of its members. Until OneVoice established a two-state solution caucus in the 18^th Knesset, there had never been one, and the largest caucus was advocating for "Greater Israel," pushing for the annexation of the West Bank. On May 20, OneVoice’s Caucus for Ending the Israeli-Arab Conflict launched, and this time it is the biggest caucus in the Knesset, demonstrating the growth of OneVoice’s parliamentary outreach and an increased support for two states in the Knesset.

The differences between the brash, modern Knesset, and the genteel, antique House of Lords couldn’t be starker, even from the outside. From certain angles, the concrete-pillared Knesset looks positively Soviet, while the neo-gothic spires of the Lords give it the whiff of a bygone era. 

On the inside, Knesset members have no time for the formal etiquette demonstrated by the House of Lords. Indeed, the heckling, name-calling, and general fracas of the Knesset got so bad a few years ago that incoming MKs were subject to a five-hour course on how to behave in the chamber.

So, as I joined 500 onlookers in a packed Knesset auditorium, there was plenty of cheering, booing, applause, and heckling at various points as MKs lined up one after the other to forcefully criticize their government’s response – or rather, lack of one – to the Arab Peace Initiative (API).  

Former police investigator Moshe Mizrahi, now a Labor MK, got the crowd cheering with his visionary statement that the API could, if seized, benefit the children of Israelis, and their children’s children. Zahava Galon (MK for Meretz) struck a chord too, as she told the audience that PM Benjamin Netanyahu was foolish for ignoring the API.

It wasn’t only MKs from the traditional ‘left’ who made this case. One of the most striking speeches of the day came from Yitzhak Cohen, of the ultra-orthodox Shas party. Cohen told those assembled that the API was good for Israel, and invoked an ancient Greek legend to compel Netanyahu to “turn every rock” to achieve peace.

However, booing followed the contribution of Ze’ev Elkin, who is not a member of OneVoice’s caucus, but the Deputy Foreign Minister. Elkin, of the Likud party, gave the government’s position and a list of excuses for why the API should be ignored, for example the “mentality of the Arabs.” The more he spoke, the more excuses poured out, the more he was heckled.

While booing and heckling don’t sound very polite, I believe they are – in Israel, at least – the sound of progress. Here in the UK, there is often talk of disconnect between voters (or non-voters) and the politicians who are supposed to represent them. In Israel, where there is no constituency system, this disconnect is even more obvious; there are few, if any, chances for citizens to hold their representatives to account. OneVoice Israel is bridging this gap with events like this, where the voters are able to question – and heckle, when necessary – their representatives. 

Back in Europe, the role of supporters of OneVoice should be to capitalize on this momentum. Finally, the two-state-willing majority of Israelis is represented in a strong Knesset lobby and the task now is to translate this will into real political action to end the conflict and end the occupation of Palestinian lands.

By uniting members of the Knesset with the Israeli grassroots, uniting Palestinian Authority members with the Palestinian grassroots – and uniting both with members of parliaments and publics across Europe – the call for two states will be even more powerful.

*Anthony Silkoff is OneVoice Europe’s Advocacy and Outreach Coordinator.

OneVoice Israel and MKs launch biggest caucus in Knesset

Deputy Foreign Minister Elkin (Likud-Beytenu), speaking, at the Caucus launch. Seated from right to left: Tal Harris (Executive Director of OVI), Israeli Peace Initiative co-founder Koby Huberman, Lord John Alderdice, Binyamin Ben Eliezer (Labor), Hilik Bar (Caucus Chair, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, and General Secretary of the Labor Party), and Itzik Moshe (President of Georgia-Israel Chamber of Commerce). Photo by Hadas Grinvald.

Click here to read OneVoice Israel Executive Director Tal Harris’ op-ed in The Daily Beast

Representatives of OneVoice Israel (OVI) and members of the Israeli Knesset convened in Jerusalem yesterday to launch the largest caucus in the 19^th Knesset: the Caucus to Promote Resolution of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, which calls for two states now.

Forty (40) Members of the Knesset (MKs) joined the Caucus, representing the Israeli political spectrum – drawn from both the governing parties as well as the opposition. The Caucus and representatives of Israel’s civil society assembled in the Knesset to debate the Arab Peace Initiative (API) and examine what opportunities might exist for restarting long-stalled talks with the Palestinians.

OVI helped attract an overflow crowd of over 500 people from all across Israel to the Caucus’ inauguration. Attendees were eager to ask the assembled MKs what they were actively doing to garner Israeli government support for the API.
 
Caucus Chair, MK Hilik Bar (Labor), opened the proceedings by declaring that ignoring the API was not an option.
 
“The Israeli government hasn't responded positively, nor has it responded negatively. The fact is that it hasn't responded at all. Every Arab and Muslim state supports this historic initiative, yet we remain silent for over a decade.”
 
[For a more fully fleshed out record of the various MKs remarks, please read the Jerusalem Post article here]
 
Addressing the hundreds of people who had assembled in the Knesset, Tal Harris, OVI's Executive Director said:
 
“What we assume is that there is a moderate majority in Israel and Palestine. Around 70% in both societies support a two-state solution, and this 70% ask themselves two questions: is it possible, and is it urgent? In Israel, unfortunately, many don’t feel the urgency. But they should. Time is running out. Regarding ‘is it possible?’ the re-affirmation of the API -- as well as 500 citizens here today calling for it to be engaged with -- should paint a very clear picture.”
 
Scores of OneVoice activists from around the country followed the event with a rally in Jerusalem’s Zion Square, calling on Netanyahu to engage with the API, and urging fellow Israelis to write on his Facebook Wall in order to ensure the message was received, loud and clear.

OneVoice Hosts Building Bridges for Peace

Dr. Patrick Magee and Jo Berry of Building Bridges for Peace met students at OneVoice Israel event at the University of Haifa. They travelled to Ramallah the next day to meet with OneVoice Palestine activists. 

On March 13, Dr. Patrick Magee, a former IRA member, and the daughter of one of Magee’s victims, Jo Berry, spoke about the role of forgiveness and conflict resolution at an event co-sponsored by OneVoice Israel and Haifa University.

The event enabled Pat and Jo, founders of Building Bridges for Peace, to share their unique story and relay back to the students the importance that understanding and dialogue played in their reconciliation. Indeed, a key theme throughout the talk was empathy, for it is only through understanding of where someone else comes from that we are able to learn of the circumstances which shaped the views and opinions of others. 

This point was emphasized by Jo when she said, given a change of circumstances, she could have easily grown up to be a member of the IRA. She stressed that actions are determined by circumstances, not by any innate characteristics within us. It was only through knowing Pat, and the struggles and injustices he faced growing up in the Northern Ireland conflict, that she could understand how and why he turned to violence, and in turn why her father lost his life. 

Pat and Jo have traveled to many countries to share their story, but this was their first visit to Israel and Palestine.

“Everybody wants peace, every conversation we’ve had here has been about that,” Pat observed. “There’s a solution already there, it’s just creating the conditions for people to come around the table and thrash it out. There’s so much fear. Fear drives people to apathy and drives people to extremes.”

Some students present in Haifa found the idea of Pat's and Jo’s reconciliation incomprehensible, even wrong, though many others wanted to better understand. As such, some frank exchanges between the students and the speakers took place.

Pat was also keen to emphasize that one must not lose hope.

“There’s a list of seemingly endless problems, no solutions in sight, and then this miracle happens,” Pat said after a question about seemingly intractable conflicts.

The students asked Pat and Jo a variety of questions, ranging from how their families received the partnership, to how their experiences and what they have learned could be applied to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In response, the message was clear, in that it emphasized the need to be open, patient, and to empathize – to imagine one’s self in the place of the other.

Jo also had some practical advice to end on: “I recommend you get involved with OneVoice, they do fantastic work.”

***

Pat and Jo with OVP activists in Ramallah.

The next day, OneVoice Palestine youth leaders met with Pat and Jo in Ramallah.

Pat and Jo had a chance to discuss the conflict, occupation, and suffering, as well as see the impact of the settlements and separation wall. They shared their stories with youth leaders in an event OVP’s activists described as “inspiring” and “a powerful example of reconciliation.”

Within the duration of this visit, Jo spoke of her commitment to peaceful resolution, mediation of conflict, and about Building Bridges for Peace. She was inspired by the youth leaders’ work in the West Bank and Gaza and their commitment to non-violent activism. Pat spoke about his journey, his 14 years in prison, and Jo’s efforts for achieving reconciliation with him.

OVP youth leaders shared observations about the need for justice, an end to the occupation, and solving all final status issues in line with international resolutions as pre-requisites to real reconciliation with Israel in a meaningful sense.

The youth leaders listened intently to Pat’s story, and then explained how there is another internal reconciliation that Palestinians are concerned about: the schism between the West Bank and Gaza, and how important healing this divide will be in order to achieve a sustainable peace agreement with the Israelis that will end the occupation, build the Palestinian state, and bring peace to the region.

Over the course of two hours, Pat and Jo shared with the youth leaders the concept of creating a legitimate partnership in times of conflict. They also answered questions by the youth on peace building and the obstacles generated by mistrust and frustration on both sides of the conflict.

“I can only imagine their journey for reconciliation,” said OVP activist and Project Manager Malaka Samara. “In times of conflict, it is important to hear the other side and give an opportunity to create a legitimate partner to end the conflict for the benefits of both sides.”

With Israel’s coalition government formed, Maya Peretz reflects on OVI campaign

Jerusalem Coordinator Maya Peretz hangs posters near the Knesset and the entrance to Jerusalem. The campaign called for Yair Lapid to keep his promise to promote the peace process and not go into a coalition with Habayit Hayehudi.

The Israeli government’s coalition formation period is over, leaving surprise winner Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid with Habayit Hayehudi’s Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud, and Tzipi Livni of HaTnua to officially lead Israel’s 33^rd government.

While the outcome is not what OneVoice Israel would have wanted, it is important to understand and acknowledge the effort OVI’s youth leaders dedicated to their campaign and how much work is still needed to bring the two-state solution and an end to the conflict to the forefront of Israeli policy.

Maya Peretz, the Jerusalem regional coordinator, was caught by surprise after the election and during the run-up to this announcement.

“[Yesh Atid] was supposed to be the biggest party representing the moderates in Israeli society and [Habayit Hayehudi] has very nationalistic views, which among other things calls for no compromises when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Maya explained. “I think that because of this surprising move it is also very difficult to predict what direction this government will go.”

For two months, OVI engaged in a vigorous social and traditional media campaign to keep the pressure on Lapid during the coalition process. They particularly targeted his promise to restart negotiations with the Palestinians as a condition for his joining a coalition, as well as his call to take the money from the settlements – putting a partial freeze on construction – and investing the money in Israel’s middle class.

OVI postered messages all over Israeli streets criticizing Lapid’s alliance with Bennett and submitted op-eds, letters to the editor, and ads to national media. Youth leaders canvassed outside the Knesset and Lapid’s house. They even danced the Harlem Shake in a satirical video aimed at the Lapid-Bennett alliance.

Key highlights included an opportunity to meet with Robert Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, to discuss the immediate need for a two-state solution, as well as Dr. Patrick Magee and Jo Berry, founders of Building Bridges for Peace.

During this campaign period, OVI also inspired a wider online conversation on several pages.

Maya believes that Lapid’s alliance with Bennett deserved every ounce of creativity emanated by OVI’s campaign.

“Sometimes it’s very hard to find activities that can really change reality and promote the two-state solution,” Maya said. “These actives felt like we were doing something with this issue and that we were responding to the current political reality. We wanted to make sure that he stood behind these statements, but we found that the bond with Bennett is causing him to betray exactly that.”

Maya suggests that the mood on the Israeli street is that Lapid’s coalition with Bennett resulted in support because its unexpected nature, as well as refusing to give in to initial pressures from Netanyahu.

Although the two claim they differ on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Lapid and Bennett share the same ideas in other areas of Israeli society, including drafting the Ultra-Orthodox into the military and the status of Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel.

This is yet another challenge for Maya. As the Jerusalem coordinator, she is a vocal advocate for the sharing of Jerusalem between Israel (West Jerusalem) and a future Palestinian state (East Jerusalem), something that isn’t an easy task sans election years.

“The fact that the Knesset is placed in Jerusalem makes it very relevant to these [unique] activities,” she said. “Jerusalem is one of the core issues of the conflict and has its own symbolic significance, which makes it a lot more important and meaningful to be active there in general.”

So what’s next for OVI in the coming months?

“I think we should focus on empowering the moderate voices in the government and reestablish our Two-State Solution Caucus,” Maya suggested. “We need to use it to pressure the policymakers of Yesh Atid from inside the government, all while ramping-up the pressure from outside the Knesset with our youth activists from all over Israel.”

Robert Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, speaks about the need to act now for the two-state solution with audience members at Tel Aviv University. Serry criticized the potential policy of the new coalition of enhancing settlement construction, thereby adding to OVI’s momentum toward combating the potential consequences of Bennett's party membership in the new government.

  

OVI Ballot Campaign: a Q&A with Ori Ben-Ner

With Israeli election campaigns winding down before the January 22 vote, OneVoice Israel just wrapped up its own non-partisan election campaign. Traveling around the country was a ballot – not to elect a politician – but to vote on what everyday Israelis believe to be the top issues. 

Youth leader and OVI’s coordinator for the region of central Israel, Ori Ben-Ner, talked about his experience at OneVoice, the ballot campaign, and what the elections mean for Israel’s future. 

OneVoice: Why did you join the Movement? 

Ori: I joined OneVoice for two reasons. First, I believe that this conflict is the main and most urgent problem that Israel is dealing with and that we need to solve it ASAP. The second reason is more personal – I don’t think that I can continue living in Israel, morally speaking. The conflict leaves me with no other choice because I like my home and country and wish to build my life here. The work at OneVoice gives me hope. 

OV: Why did you want to get involved in the ballot campaign? 

Ori: The main reason that I wanted to get involved in this specific campaign is its basic idea. This campaign symbolizes my main beliefs on the subject of the conflict: you simply can't maintain an ongoing and harmful conflict while expecting the economy to flourish and the citizens to feel secure. 

OV: What cities or campuses were you located, and what did you say to people as they approached the ballot?

Ori: We did this campaign at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan and at Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. We also put up the ballot at bars in Herzliya and again in Tel Aviv University and in crowded streets and markets in Tel Aviv, while other activists did the same in numerous towns and campuses across the country.  I mainly asked people about the issue that most concerns them in the upcoming elections. About 90 percent of the people answered something that fits one of our voting slips. After they voted for their issue, we explained why it has to do with the two-state solution and we give them a flyer that explains it as well. 

OV: What were the reactions of these people, and were there any confrontations or good discussions? Did they see the connection between the issues and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict right away? 

Ori: I think that the biggest advantage of this campaign is the fact that it is a great platform for discussion. Most people actually stayed listened to us, and read the information we gave them. I believe that it has to do with the fun and active platform with which we approached them. We had some great discussions at Bar-Ilan, a university with a large percentage of religious/right-wing voters. After they voted, we confronted them with our information and about the settlements, conflict, and occupation. Obviously, there were many students that started to argue or shout, but some religious and right wing students actually stayed for long discussions and were very open to hearing our views.  Regarding the connection between the issues and conflict, it definitely takes some convincing. Many people are aware of the connection, but most citizens here need some explanation. 

OV: What is the general feeling in Israeli society toward the elections?

Ori: I believe that people are mostly apathetic to the upcoming elections. Most people feel that the politicians aren’t dealing with their basic and daily problems. I believe that the politicians are trying to back away from the two-state solution because they feel that they can lose voters by promoting it. This is exactly what our campaign deals with. I do believe that any day that passes without negotiations and efforts to end the conflict brings us closer to deeper stagnation, violent acts and uprisings, and a dysfunctional future.