Veteran peace activist Uri Avnery has been hospitalized after suffering a major stroke.
Avnery was a Jewish underground fighter against the British occupation of Palestine in the 1940s and later became a member of Knesset for 11 years with various leftwing factions.
During the early years of the state, he worked as editor-in-chief for the HaOlam HaZeh weekly, contributed to Etgar and later penned regular opinion pieces in the HaAretz newspaper.
Avnery also founded many peace movements, including Gush Shalom in the 1990s and Semitic Action in the 1950s, which he established together with several former leaders of the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel (Leḥi) underground.
While clearly a deep and revolutionary thinker in many regards, he has regrettably been obstinate in his refusal to entertain any alternative to partitioning the country into two states as the only viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 1982, he would become the first Israeli to meet with Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat.
Throughout his life, Avnery refused to use the term “Middle East” but opted instead to say “Semitic Region,” arguing that “Middle East” requires the acceptance of a Eurocentric mental framework.
In December 1960, Avnery and several comrades from Semitic Action created the Israeli Committee for a Free Algeria. The committee supported the struggle of the National Liberation Front (FLN) to free Algeria from French rule. The group’s positions ran counter to the official policy of the Israeli government, which regarded France as one of Jerusalem’s most valued source of arms at the time.
Avnery had been introduced to members of the FLN by Egyptian radical Henri Curiel, who suggested that an independent Algeria would become Israel’s first ally in the region. In general, Semitic Action advocated for a region-wide Semitic confederation and an Israeli foreign policy that linked Jerusalem with the other Semitic peoples rather than with the imperialist powers.
After suffering a stroke on Saturday, he was sent to the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, where he is reportedly unconscious and in critical condition.
