Uri and Rachel Avnery: dialogue, protest and daily work

Uri Avnery arrived from Germany with his family in 1933, joined the Irgun as a teenager and was severely wounded fighting in the 1948 war.¹ In 1950, he and his partners bought the weekly HaOlam HaZeh, which he edited for four decades. ² Investigative reporting and public campaigns mixed with sensational journalism and fierce political opposition.¹ His writing about the war also went beyond Israeli soldiers’ memories: The Other Side of the Coin addressed violence and the uprooting of Palestinians.²

In July 1982, during Israel’s siege of Beirut, he met Yasser Arafat.¹ Avnery considered dialogue with the Palestinian leadership essential to a settlement, but meeting during a war drew criticism even from political allies. Interior Minister Yosef Burg sought an investigation into possible legal action; Avnery said he had acted as a journalist.³ In October, it was reported that Attorney General Yitzhak Zamir had closed the file for lack of evidence of a criminal offence.⁴

She taught the lower grades at Tel Nordau School for 28 years, later becoming a photographer and a member of HaOlam HaZeh’s editorial staff.⁵ Uri recalled that after his 1982 meeting with Arafat, which she did not attend, she enrolled in a photography course and chose a new direction. She documented hundreds of demonstrations and peace actions.⁶ A co-founder of Gush Shalom, she handled administration and organising full-time without pay.⁷ Her contribution included both the photographic record and the daily work that allowed a movement to function.

Gush Shalom grew out of opposition to the Rabin government’s deportation of 415 Palestinians in December 1992. In January 1993, Jewish and Arab protesters established tents opposite the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, staying for 45 days and nights.⁸ An independent movement emerged, founded by Uri and Rachel Avnery and other activists.⁹ Their platform called for an end to occupation, recognition of the PLO and a Palestinian state alongside Israel with East Jerusalem as its capital.⁹ Demonstrations and practical action accompanied those political demands.⁸

In 1997, Gush Shalom began a campaign to boycott settlement products.¹⁰ This was a targeted boycott: Avnery distinguished it from a general boycott of Israel, which he opposed because he believed it blurred the distinction between Israel and the settlements.¹¹ Activists also protested land expropriation and home demolitions and helped rebuild demolished Palestinian houses. In 2001, Uri, Rachel and Gush Shalom jointly received the Right Livelihood Award.⁷