URI AVNERY, 94, who died Aug. 20 in Tel Aviv, was a German
emigré to Palestine as a child; a teenaged member of the notori-
ous Jewish terrorist militia Irgun; an Israeli commando wounded in
1948, when Israel declared its “independence”; an alternative jour-
nalist and bestselling author; a member of the Knesset; one of Is-
rael’s foremost peace activists; and founder of Gush Shalom, one
of Israel’s largest peace activist groups. Even a quick perusal of his
obituaries will show that, whether loved or loathed, Avnery was un-
doubtedly a venerable figure in Israeli-Palestinian politics. Not only
was he very good at talking the talk, Avnery walked the walk.
I never met Avnery in person, but corresponded with him often
while compiling some of his articles—which frequently appeared
in the Washington Report—into a book (Israel’s Vicious Circle:
Ten Years of Writings on Israel and Palestine, Pluto Press, 2008,
available from Middle East Books & More).
Avnery didn’t like all I had to say in my introduction to the book.
I called him a Zionist, while he claimed to be a post-Zionist, a term
he used to describe his own position supporting the self-pro-
claimed Jewish state as part of a regional Semitic alliance. We
also disagreed about a one-state versus a two-state solution. Avn-ery firmly believed in a two-state solution,
and so was an early and long-time advo-
cate for Israeli recognition of a Palestinian
state. Despite our differences, I found much
to admire about this man who committed
his life to his beliefs.
Views of Avnery among the left, Israeli,
Palestinian, and third parties varied. His
continued Zionism, whether classical or
post, caused some to denigrate him, while
others, watching him stand up for Palestin-
ian rights in the press, in the Knesset, and
in the streets and olive groves, revered him.
Among Israel’s right-wing, however, he was
often despised. Israel’s first Prime Minister
David Ben-Gurion’s hatred for him was al-
most legendary. Whether approvingly or not,
however, many across the political spectrum
acknowledged his influence. His credentials
within both the Zionist project and the peace
movement made him impossible to ignore.
From the beginning of his political career
Avnery looked at Zionism from a unique
perspective. Avnery fought with the Irgun, yet left it over ideolog-
ical differences regarding the treatment of the native Arab popu-
lation and the Irgun’s use of terrorism. In 1945 he published an
anti-terrorism pamphlet, and by 1946 had formed a group and
started a publication advocating Zionist alliance with the Arabs,
wanting the new Jewish nation for which he was fighting to em-
brace its Semitic heritage and be an integral part of a new Middle
East. This idea, formed while he was still a teen, and before the
creation of the state of Israel, was the cornerstone of Avnery’s
policy for the rest of his life.
According to Gush Shalom’s biography of Avnery, it was this
idea—essentially the same concept as his later definition of post-
Zionism—that Avnery considered his biggest contribution to Israeli
thought. While Avnery deemed the idea of a Semitic alliance the
most important part of his legacy, many Israelis consider his main
contribution to be the push to societal and intellectual skepticism
fostered by Avnery’s 1950s alternative publication Haolam Hazeh,
according to Israeli historian and journalist Tom Segev.
I find it interesting that these two views of Avnery’s legacy—his
own and that of two generations of Israelis, in Segev’s words—
both stem from Israel’s early days. Much has happened since, and
Avnery continued to write about and act on all of it. His last columnUri Avnery (1923-2018)
By Sara R. Powell
Uri Avnery (r), head of the Israeli peace group Gush Shalom, and Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat in his battered compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 8, 2002. A group
of 17 international peace activists, including five Israelis, moved into the compound to act as
human shields to prevent what they feared was Israel’s decision to kill Arafat.HUSSEIN HUSSEIN/AFP/GETTY IMAGESSara R. Powell is a former Washington Reportstaff member and a
frequent volunteer.54 WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS OCTOBER 2018In Memoriam
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