January 24, 2007
By Michael Jacobs

A former Israeli soldier brought of message of nonviolence and reconciliation to 200 people at an appearance sponsored by the Jewish peace group Brit Tzedek v'Shalom and Congregation Bet Haverim on Jan. 8.

Elik Elhanan, 29, is a Jerusalem native who did his service starting at 18 with the Israel Defense Forces and now is a student at Tel Aviv University. What sets him apart from tens of thousands of other young Israelis is what happened in the decade between the start of his military service and the night he spoke at Central Congregational Church, the home of Bet Haverim, in the first stop of a 22-city U.S. tour arranged by Brit Tzedek.

While Elhanan was in the army, a suicide bomber struck a mall in Jerusalem and killed five people Sept. 4, 1997. One of them was Elhanan's 14-year-old sister.

After he returned from leave, an officer promised Elhanan the chance to get revenge for his sister by fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. That attitude left Elhanan cold. He said he couldn't understand how that would punish the Palestinian who killed his sister and was himself already dead.

"I felt that there was something more," Elhanan said. "How can revenge change my life? Revenge won't bring her back."

That wake-up call set him on the path toward Combatants for Peace, the group he helped form in 2005. As the name implies, the group combines Israelis and Palestinians who once fought but are now committed to finding a peaceful resolution.

Elhanan was due to appear in Atlanta with Palestinian Suleiman Al-Himri, but he had visa problems, then was stopped for extensive questioning in Chicago and so missed Atlanta.

That left Elhanan alone to explain the impasse between Israel and the Palestinians. His group takes no clear position on such issues as where to draw the borders between Israel and a new Palestinian nation.

As Elhanan said, most people prefer peace to war if the peace is safe and secure. But he said he has found that each side feels the same about the other: "We want peace, but they don't want peace."

The goal of Combatants for Peace is to open eyes among Israelis and Palestinians that peace is possible.

As explained at thegroup's Web site (www.combatantsforpeace.org), the organization does not argue for exact terms of a peace agreement, as long as it is fair and equal. The key, Elhanan said, is to stop shooting and start talking in the first meaningful peace negotiations since the start of the second intifada in 2000.

But a principle of the group is that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands inspires resistance, which sparks retaliation and thus a cycle of violence. End the Israeli occupation, the group argues, and peace can follow.

Elhanan said the Atlanta event broke with the group's standard practice of always having an Israeli and a Palestinian appear together. Without the Palestinian side represented, it's not clear how balanced the Combatants group is. Elhanan's solo appearance focused heavily on what Israel has done wrong and operated on the assumption that most Palestinians would embrace a two-state peace solution if Israel would leave Gaza and the West Bank.

For example, when asked why he thought the peace talks failed in 2000, even though Israel offered Yasser Arafat almost all of the West Bank and a share of Jerusalem, Elhanan said it was simple: The deal on the table was not fair or just.

He said the lack of talks has drained hope from the Palestinians and thus inspired more terrorism.

Asked how Israel should respond to the aggressiveness of Hezbollah, which has Iranian and Syrian support and sparked the war last summer with a cross-border attack on Israeli troops and a barrage of missiles, Elhanan said: "The first thing, I'd stop making them look right by killing 1,200 civilians in Lebanon."

He rejected any connection between Hezbollah and Hamas or any other Palestinian groups, and he said that if Israel would make peace with Syria by resolving its grievances - presumably by giving back the Golan Heights - Syria would cut off support for Hezbollah, and the terrorist group would simply fade away.