The peace process: Where are the grassroots movements?

By +972 Magazine February 3, 2014 | Edit

The Israeli debate over the Kerry initiative has an unpleasant top-down feeling to it.

By Tal Schneider

Yesh Atid’s campaign for seperation from the Palestinians, displayed on a Tel Aviv billboard (photo: Tal Schneider)

Is it only me who feels that the debate regarding a possible peace agreement with the Palestinians exists mostly among PR companies (from both sides), copywriters and graphic designers? I feel that there is zero grassroots activity and a maximum amount of billboards.

The fight between different advertisers was featured prominently on the front page of Haaretz on Wednesday, January 29th. On the upper left corner one can see the new campaign by Breaking the Impasse, under the title “A strong state signs a deal,” which has been accompanied by its own billboard campaign. On the bottom, we have an advertisement by The Joint Headquarters, which supports coalition members who oppose a Palestinian state.

Haaretz’s front page on January 29 2014

The video war is also on its way. The following is a new video released by the Joint Headquarters, which targets Likud members and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Danny Dayan, chairman of the Yesha Council (an umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in the West Bank), was very unhappy with this one, by the way [Hebrew].

On the other hand, leftist think tank Molad – which prepared the investigation for Channel 2 news on the regional council of the settlement of Efrat, and the way Israeli taxpayer money is channeled to Yesha Council campaigns against government policies – is promoting the video, which features the Channel 2 report [Hebrew].

Molad has a graphic/new media/PR arm called 61, which accompanies news developments with Facebook banners and graphics.

Graphically, there is no doubt that these are polished materials. The latest word in graphic design and user experience – or whatever the latest name for triggering the reader’s raw nerves is. But how long can one conduct a public debate in this manner?

One can add a somewhat artificial move by the Yesh Atid party to the ongoing billboard war: sending their Knesset members and party activists into the streets, carrying signs which read “separating for peace.”

Yesh Atid’s campaign for seperation from the Palestinians, displayed on a Tel Aviv billboard (photo: Yesh Atid)

It is all photographed too well – it rhymes and and fits the message perfectly. It is all well-financed, well-orchestrated and well-organized. Yet it tastes like plastic, and I think I know why it doesn’t seem real: because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not communicate a real desire for change to the public. And Finance Minister Yair Lapid does not speak to his constituency at eye level on this issue. Even the screaming of Naftali Bennett doesn’t seem genuine, but rather a part of the usual game of spins.

Tal Schneider is a political reporter. This post appeared in Hebrew on Tal’s blog, the Plog, and was translated with the author’s permission.

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TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies. This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza. We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives. Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

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