What has become of Israel’s peace movement? In the early 1980s, it was a major political force, bringing hundreds of thousands onto the streets; but since then, its importance has declined amid spiralling violence. Now, and especially since the second Intifada of 2000–5, the ‘doves’ of the Israel/Palestine conflict struggle to be heard over its ‘hawks’, and the days of mass mobilisation are over.
Doves Among Hawks charts the successes and failures of a beleaguered peace movement, from its formation after the Six-Day War to the current security-obsessed climate, where Israel’s ‘doves’ seem to be fighting a lost and outdated battle. Samy Cohen’s history of a peace process that once took on the Israeli settler movements exposes how that cause has been derailed and demoralised by suicide attacks.
But the peace movement isn’t dead—it has simply transformed. From human rights monitors to lobbies of the bereaved, Cohen reveals a multitude of smaller, grassroots organisations that have emerged with unexpected energy. These lawyers, doctors, army reservists, former diplomats and senior security personnel are the unsung heroes of his story.