Week 10

Peace and War

 Aims
• To think about peace and war in Israel,
focusing mainly on the period
between 1973 and 1985 (considering
the 1973 Yom Kippur war, the signing
of the peace treaty with Egypt in
1979 and then the 1982 Lebanon
War.
• To consider peace and war through
the prism of gender.
• To trace the role of women in war and
peace.
Simona Sharoni, Gender and the
Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

The book seeks to explore ‘the

connections between the violence
of the conflict and the escalation in
violence against women, the
relationship between militarism and
sexism, the role of nationalism in
the construction of individual and
collective identities, and the
prospects, pitfalls, and fragility of
different forms of alliances between
Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian
women.’
 1948
• Israel's 1948 Declaration of Independence made an
allusion to gender equality, stating that "the State of
Israel will maintain complete social and political
equality for all its citizens regardless of religion, race
or sex.“
• However in reality the "founding fathers" of the
Jewish state, under the paternal leadership of Ben
Gurion, established themselves at the center of
Israeli-Jewish collectivity.
• In the aftermath of the war, and especially following
the 1956 Sinai campaign, the military came to
occupy a central institutional role in defining and
reproducing the social and political fabric of Israeli
society.
Moshe Dayan
• Moshe Dayan (1915 – 1981)
was a native-born Israeli
(born on a kibbutz and
grew up in a moshav).
• As commander of the
Jerusalem front in the 1948
Arab–Israeli War, chief of
staff of the Israel Defense
Forces (1953–58) during
the 1956 Suez Crisis, but
mainly as Defense Minister
during the Six-Day War in
1967, he became to the
world a fighting symbol of
the new state of Israel.
Natalie Rein, Daughters of Rachel:
Women in Israel
“[after 1948] the hopes
and aspirations of Israeli
women toward equality
and egalitarianism
faded. The country
turned its back on
humanism and pursued
a policy of nationalism,
militarism and Zionism.”
Motherhood as ‘National Service’
Ben Gurion:
• "If the Jewish birthrate is not
increasedmit is doubtful that the
Jewish state will survive”
• "any Jewish woman who, as far as it
depends on her, does not bring into
the world at least four healthy children
[is like] a soldier who evades military
service."
 Six Day War, 1967
Chaim Herzog:
“[The Six Days War marked a]
transformation from a
potentially helpless victim into a
brilliant victor [and] created a
euphoria which brought about a
revolutionary change in Israel.
Against the background of
somber prospects a few days
before, their incredible victory
evoked a reaction throughout Major-General Chaim Herzog (1918-
the Jewish world such as Israel 1997) was an Israeli politician, general,
had never known or lawyer and author who served as the
sixth President of Israel between 1983
experienced." and 1993.
 Six Days War and Gender
Relations
• The 1967 war and its aftermath had major implications for
gender roles and gender relations in Israel; it resulted in
the reassertion and indeed celebration of militarized
masculinity.
• While ordinary Israeli-Jewish men were praised for their
accomplishments on the battlefield, Israel's male elite
leadership secured its unchallenged position at the
centre of Israeli-Jewish collectivity.
• Most women, on the other hand, had no direct part in the
glory because they did not take part in the actual
fighting. Their contributions on the homefront were
either overlooked or taken for granted, viewed merely as
the fulfillment of their assigned responsibilities as
women.
Golda Meir
• Golda Meir (1898 - 1978) was
an Israeli politician.
• She was born in Kiev before
economic hardship forced
her family to emigrate to
the United States in 1906.
• She immigrated to Palestine in
1921.
• She was one of the founders
of the State of Israel, who
served as the Minister of
Labour, Foreign Minister,
and fourth Prime Minister.
 Yom Kippur War, 1973
• The Yom Kippur War started with a surprise Arab attack
on Israel on Saturday 6th October 1973.
• The Egyptian and Syrian military forces launched an
attack knowing that the military of Israel would be
participating in the religious celebrations associated
with Yom Kippur.
• Within two days, the Egyptians had crossed the Suez
Canal and moved up to 15 miles inland of the most
advanced Israeli troops in the Sinai. Syrian troops
advanced by the same distance into the Golan
Heights in north Israel.
• However, on October 8th, Israeli forces, bolstered by
called-up reserves, counter-attacked.
• On October 24th, a cease-fire was organised by the
United Nations.
•
 Peace Treaty with Egypt, 1979
• 1974, the first of two
Egyptian-Israeli
disengagement agreements
providing for the return of
portions of the Sinai to
Egypt were signed.
• 1978, Camp David Accords.
• 1979 Sadat and Israeli Prime
Minister Menachem Begin Celebrating the signing of the
signed the first peace Camp David Accords: Menachem
agreement between Israel Begin, Jimmy Carter, Anwar El
and one of its Arab Sadat, 17 September 1978.
neighbors.
• 1982, Israel fulfilled the 1979
peace treaty by returning
the last segment of the Sinai
 1973-1982
• In the 1977 elections the right-wing
Likud party are victorious after
twenty-nine years of Labour-led
governments in Israel.
• The extra-parliamentary pressure
group called Peace Now is
founded in 1978.
• The Camp David Accords between
Israel and Egypt are signed in
1978 leading to the peace treaty
with Egypt in 1979.
• 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Menachem Begin 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and
the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. Before the creation of the state of Israel, he was the
leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger
Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah.
 Women’s Movement
• Shulamit Aloni formed the Citizen's Rights Movement (CRM)
in 1973, with support of the women's movement.
• In return, Marcia Freedman, as the representative of the
women's movement, was allotted third place on the party
slate.
• Although at the time of this alliance no one expected that
Freedman would be elected, the women's movement still
celebrated a victory because it's political power had finally
been recognized.
• Contrary to most political analyses, as a result of the
elections, the CRM won three seats in the Knesset, one of
which belonged to Marcia Freedman, the outspoken
feminist.
• The CRM focus on important domestic issues that had been
neglected for so long was no doubt a factor in the CRM's
popularity and unexpected strong showing in the elections.
 Women’s Party
• A Women's Party was established to run in the 1977 elections.
• The party called attention to existing connections between
different forms of oppression and between gender
inequalities and the politics of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
• It pointed out that the huge military budget comes at the
expense of needed resource allocations for social programs
and domestic issues.
• Such connections were unpopular in the Israeli political climate
during that time, and were often perceived as traitorous and
a threat to national security.
• The Women's Party did not win enough votes for a seat in
Knesset and disbanded, but the establishment of the party,
and its participation in the 1977 elections, as an important
milestone in the history of women's political activism in
Israel.
 Women Against the Invasion of
Lebanon and Parents Against Silence
• Two major women's protest groups emerged during that
period: Women Against the Invasion of Lebanon and
Parents Against Silence.
• Both groups opposed the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and
demanded an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from
Lebanon.
• The groups differed, however, in their origins, the positions
they articulated against the war, and the strategies they
used to achieve goals.
• Parents against silence insisted that they were simply
mothers (and fathers) who were worried about their sons
in combat.
• Women Against the Invasion of Lebanon, was made up of
women who had been active in the Israeli feminist
movement and articulated their opposition to the war in
the form of a feminist anti-militarist position.
•
Women Against the Occupation
(SHANI)

• SHANI was organized on the principle

that the women in the peace
movement needed to go beyond basic
slogans in order to delve deeper into
politics.
• SHANI also stressed that as a political
group, and not just a protest
formation, it had to devote a significant
part of its efforts to educational work
in order to deepen its members
understanding of current issues.
 Conclusions
• While the state of Israel was founded on the premise
of gender equality men and women were expected
to play very different roles.
• Masculinity was associated with militarism. Women
were supposed to serve the state through
motherhood.
• While cementing the gendered difference, the
experience of war was also destabilizing.
• After the Lebanon war some women came to see their
role as not in facilitating war, but campaigning for
peace.