To Prime Minister Menachem Begin

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To Prime Minister Menachem Begin
Dear Sir, Citizens that also serve as soldiers
and officers in the reserve forces are sending
this letter to you. The following words are not
written with a light heart. However at this time
when new horizons of peace and cooperation are
for the first time being proposed to the State of
Israel, we feel obliged to call upon you to
prevent taking any steps that could cause endless
problems to our people and our state. We are
writing this with deep anxiety, as a government
that prefers the existence of the State of Israel
within the borders of Greater Israel to its
existence in peace with good neighborliness, will
be difficult for us to accept. A government that
prefers existence of settlements beyond the Green
Line to elimination of this historic conflict
with creation of normalization of relationships
in our region will evoke questions regarding the
path we are taking. A government policy that will
cause a continuation of control over million
Arabs will hurt the Jewish-democratic character
of the state, and will make it difficult for us
to identify with the path of the State of
Israel. We are aware of the security needs of
the State of Israel and the difficulties facing
the path to peace. But we know that true security
will only be reached with the arrival of peace.
The power of the IDF is in the identification of
its soldiers with the path of the State of Israel.
348 signaturesMarch, 1978
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On March 7, 1978 during the Israeli-Egyptian
peace talks, at a moment when these talks
appeared to be collapsing, a group of 348 reserve
officers and soldiers from the Israeli armys
combat units, published an open letter to the
Prime Minister of Israel, calling upon the
government to make sure this opportunity not be
lost. Tens of thousands of Israelis sent in
support for the letter, and the movement was born
1978
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On April 7, 1978, less then one month after the
officers letter was published, the new movement
held its first ever demonstration in Kikar
Malchei Israel (later to be called Kikar Rabin).
The movements chosen name was The Peace
Movement, but the protest signs that night read
Peace Now and the new nickname already became
that very night the movements new name.
1978-1979
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Israeli artist David Tratakover is the one who
designed the Peace Now logo. The artist explains
that the use of two different fonts in one logo
was against all that he had been taught in design
school in London. The combination of the
traditional biblical font (SHALOM) with the
secular newspaper's headline font (NOW), together
with the use of the two colours, black and red,
this logo has become the recognizable symbol of
Peace Now
1979
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In the years 1979-1981 the movement widened its
support base throughout the country. Peace Now
began its protest activities as a contra to the
Gush Emunim attempts to settle in Sebastia and
Hebron, and their intention to build settlements
throughout the West Bank. Demonstrations were
held outside Prime Minister Begins residence in
Jerusalem and for the first time on the hilltops
in the territories
1979-1981
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By the 4th week of the First Lebanon War, the
Peace Now supporters decided to furiously oppose
the war. Soldiers that had participated in
battles began to contact Peace Now and take part
in the protests. Despite that Israel was
submerged in a fierce war, on July 6 over 100,000
persons participated in a mass demonstration and
called upon the government to call a ceasefire
and to open negotiations with the Palestinians.
Most of the demonstrators didnt know that the
largest protest against the war was yet to come
1982
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Following the massacre in the refugee camps of
Sabra and Shatilla, the willingness to protest
the Begin/Sharon government grew. It was one of
the few moments in the movements history that
organisational skills, adverts in the newspapers
or on-air calls to demonstrate were unnecessary.
The public just flooded the streets. In
September 1982 the movement organized the largest
demonstration ever held in Israel, some 400,000
people (of a population at the time of 5 ½
million) protested and called for a commission of
inquiry into the Sabra and Shatilla massacre. A
day later such a commission was established and
as a result, recommended that Ariel Sharon be
removed as Defence Minister
1982
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On February 10, 1983, in the midst of a
demonstration opposite the PMs office, calling
for the implementation of the conclusions made by
the commission of inquiry, a grenade was tossed
into the crowd. The explosion that followed
caused the death of Emil Grunzweig. This was the
first political assassination in the history of
the State of Israel
1983
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In the early 80s Peace Now began to focus much
of its activities against the widespread policy
of constructing settlements in the West Bank, and
the growing violence amongst right wing
supporters. Activities organised frequently
included demonstrations at construction sites
throughout the West Bank
1984-1987
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1988
With the outbreak of the First Intifada, Peace
Now worked to promote the idea of direct peace
talks with the Palestinian leadership, the PLO
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Throughout the years of the Intifada the voices
of the right wing extremist elements grew louder,
Peace Now spent these years calling upon the
public to protect democracy and to fight against
violence
1989
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Throughout the years Peace Now have always had a
close relationship with the Palestinian peace
camp. These efforts culminated with a human chain
formed by thousands of both Israelis and
Palestinians, around the old city walls of
Jerusalem, in a call for peace
1990
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The Madrid Conference in 1991 helped to
kick-start the activities of the peace camp in
Israel, who began to demand that the Shamir
government take the opportunity to create a
solution for the entire regional conflict. In
addition Peace Now began to work extensively
amongst the new wave of immigrants, from the
former USSR, with Peace Education activities
1991
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1992-1994
The split in the country between those for and
against the Oslo Accords turned into a real
street battle, as Peace Now led the protest
against the right wing elements attempting to
torpedo the peace process
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12 years after the murder of Emil Grunzweig, at a
mass peace demonstration, Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin was murdered. The shock waves that followed
the murder led to thousands of youngsters joining
the peace camp
1995
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1996-1999
In the period of Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu, the actions against the governments
policies, building in the territories and
attempts to stall implementing the Oslo Accords,
grew in pace. Peace Now focused on attempting to
save the peace process and to stop construction
in East Jerusalem
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Peace Nows flagship project Settlement Watch
continues throughout the years to expose the
construction of settlements, in particular
raising public awareness to the phenomena of the
outposts. Known for their credibility and
reliability, the data and maps produced in the
framework of this project have raised public
awareness of the terrible price the settlements
cost both the Israelis and Palestinians
2000-2004
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2000-2004
Actions against the settlement expansion include
tours to the territories demonstrations, and
legal appeals. One of the Peace Now petitions to
the Supreme Court forced the Government to remove
9 permanent housing units in the Amona Illegal
Outpost
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In 2005 Peace Now mobilized all its strength to
support the battle to implement the Disengagement
Plan. Despite the fact that the withdrawal from
Gaza was conducted unilaterally, the movement
supported the decision to remove 7,500 settlers
from the Gaza Strip
2005
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3 weeks after the outbreak of the second Lebanon
War, Peace Now supporters organized a mass
demonstration against the war. Following the end
of the war, and in light of the overtures from
the Syrian Government, Peace Now called upon the
Israeli Government to open direct Peace talks
with president Assad
2006-2007
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The Annapolis process and the commitment to reach
an agreement within a year, creates new
challenges for the Israeli peace camp, which has
to face the rise of Hamas and the continuing
battles in and around the Gaza Strip
2008
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Design Mira Glebfish Producer Noam
Dan Research Peace Now Staff Thankws to Boris
Dickerman Diego Grewer Eli Hershkowitz Erez
Hacker Flash 90 Havakuk Levinson Iris
Margulis Naftali Raz Natalie Shmueloff Ofra
Fux Rotem Amitay Shoshana Kerem Yadi
Manor Archives of Yad Yaari, Haaretz newspaper,
Maariv newspaper, Yedioth Aharonot newspaper,
National Archive