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Uri Avnery - Divide and rule (297/315)

71 views · Published 12 July 2017 · 4:53 · Indexed 14 November 2026

Channel: Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People · 2017 · News & Politics

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Uri Avnery (1923-2018) was an Israeli writer, journalist and peace activist. He was editor-in-chief of the weekly news magazine "HaOlam HaZeh" and founded the Gush Shalom peace movement. [Listener: Anat Saragusti; date recorded: 2017]

TRANSCRIPT: [AS] You mention here a meeting in Jerusalem at the home of the Hamas leader Mohammed Abu Tir.

At some point war actually broke out between Israel and Hamas. Relations between Israel and Hamas are very complex. Hamas, I think, was officially born with the First Intifada. Before that there had been an Islamist movement without a name. And there was a relationship between the religious community in the West Bank and the military government; I would not say it was friendly, but they tolerated each other. Why? The military government, and Israel in general − especially Israel's 'experts' on Arab affairs − do not understand the Arabs in general, they have no idea. This continues to this day and will carry on continuing. You cannot understand someone you hate. Hatred is a very bad tool for understanding others. I'll add that understanding others is also required in order to fight others. If you are fighting an enemy you do not understand, you are acting foolishly. In the military government during all of the years before the First Intifada, there had been a false impression amongst all of the military governors that the Islamists are basically good people, because Islamists hated the PLO and PLO hated the Islamists so, according to a very ancient principle called divide et impera in Latin – divide and rule – the military government, under orders of their superiors, always indulged the Muslims in order to fight the nationalist in the PLO. The PLO was a secular national movement, although Arafat himself was a religious man. In the middle of meetings with us he would always excuse himself for a few minutes, go outside, pray, and return without making a fuss. But the PLO was a secular movement, in essence although there were and still are a lot of Christian leaders in the movement. Arab Christians throughout the Arab world support Arab nationalism, because it guarantees them equal rights. Arab nationalism in its essence is not and never was religious and so it was easy for Christians to be integrated into it. There are many Palestinian national leaders who are Christians. The entire Ba'ath movement in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq was, in fact, established by Christians. The ideology was formulated by Christians because Arab nationalism was like a wall against religious Islam.

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