"Pacifist Israelis Communicate with 'the Enemy' via Internet"
by Michel Arseneault
Le Monde
4 February 1998
translated by Gary Gambill
After the death of seventy-three soldiers in the collision of two
Israeli helicopters on February 4, 1997, four mothers of Israeli
soldiers (inspired by the "Four Mothers of the Jewish people", Lea,
Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel) formed an organization calling for the
withdrawal of Israel from its occupied "security zone" in south Lebanon.
This pacifist group quickly established a Web site in hebrew to denounce
the "inadmissible" human cost of the military operations, both for
Israelis as well as Lebanese.
But, for these women, the Internet was going quickly to play very
an other part. "It was very important to show the Lebanese that we also
thought of them," explains Yona Rochlin, a member of the Four Mothers,
who believes that
Internet is the best way of communicating with "enemies".
Yona Rochlin translated and adapted an English version of the Four
Mothers website. Rochlin recently contacted a journalist from the daily
English-language newspaper of Beirut, The Daily Star, to suggest an
interview, via electronic mail, with a spokesman of the Four Mothers.
The journalist accepted and published the article. It was a first, as
Lebanese newspapers never interview Israeli nationals. The spokesman of
the Four Mothers, Shaul Zadka, denounced the occupation, requiring the
withdrawal of the Israeli army from the border zone occupee, and called
for dialogue between the two people to cease their "mutual demonization"
("diabolisation mutual").
Since then, Lebanese regularly leave messages on the electronic
guestbook of the Four Mothers site. "I would like to thank you for your
noble and heroic gesture," wrote one Lebanese visitor, "I hope that the
Lebanese press will publish your point of view in Arabic, so that even
more people will learn of the existence of many Israelis who call for
has peaceful coexistence."
Today, the English site of the Four Mothers contains about thirty
newspaper articles, mainly American and Israeli, and forty links appear,
including the official site of the Israeli army, which has online tables
counting the number of soldiers killed in the frontier area, but also
Lebanese sites that support Hezbollah.
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Email: yona@netvision.net.il