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Gideon Levy / The last of the dreamers of peace
By Gideon Levy
Tags: Abie Nathan, Voice of Peace 

It was a Saturday afternoon in the late 1980s. We entered The Voice of Peace's rickety Subaru truck and drove to Gaza to Mahmoud Zahar's house. Afternoon coffee with the Hamasnik, just imagine. Imagine that once it was possible to visit Zahar on a Saturday afternoon. Just think  there once was a man here who dreamed of peace.

Picture a pilot who never drove a car. All those things sound like hallucinations now, even more than they used to.

Abie Nathan was perhaps the only Israeli who felt guilty about 1948. As a volunteer pilot from overseas he had bombed Palestinian villages and then wanted to make up for it. He didn't shoot and whine about it but actually tried to make amends.
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Today that sounds like science fiction. Israeli? Very doubtful. He lived among us for decades, but Abie dreamed in English and thought in Hindi. He helped Palestinian children, but also hastened to every disaster area in the world. In that, too, he was perhaps the last Israeli who saw compassion and aid as global notions. Our Mother Teresa.

Like another central figure in the Israeli peace movement, Uri Avneri (may he live long), he was both a bohemian and an ideologist. No party was comparable to Nathan's roof parties in North Tel Aviv's Zirelson Street. Nobody could be as treacherous as us, who lived it up at his parties and then abandoned him after he became sick and wheelchair-ridden many years ago. There are dozens of people around town who should feel
deeply guilty today for neglecting him so criminally, including this writer.

In the footnotes of history, Abie will be remembered as the man from California, the city's first hamburger joint; as the man who took the peace flight to Cairo and was erroneously reported to have crashed. And of course, as the man from "Twilight Time," the unforgettable program on the Voice of Peace, with its daily moment of silence - perhaps the last time we heard silence here, not just incessant intolerable noise.

When the Peace Boat was sunk by its founder, Abie and all his charm sank with it in the public awareness.

Indeed, he had charm. A rare combination of naivete and organization skills, an Israeli yet a man of the world, a bomber and a fighter for peace. When they lay him to rest I'll remember all those spectacular contradictions. Above all, I'll remember the other days, when you could drive to meet Zahar on a Saturday afternoon, bring him toys for Gaza's
children (in the trunk of the jalopy that kept pulling to the left), and dream of peace. None of this is possible anymore, perhaps because Abie is no longer with us. He hasn't been for a long time.
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  1.   Well written Gideon. 23:28  |  BBSNews 27/08/08
  2.   Abie Nathan, Israeli hero 23:38  |  Secualr 27/08/08
  3.   What a great man 00:12  |  American 28/08/08
  4.   Are there any politicians in Israel of the same calibre... 01:03  |  Maureen Ann 28/08/08
  5.   It was not a peace mission 01:19  |  Meir Weinstein 28/08/08
  6.   NOT HIS, NOT MINE 01:29  |  indrajaya 28/08/08
  7.   May God Rest His Soul 01:48  |  NEJ 28/08/08
  8.   And like Mother Teresa 02:20  |  brian 28/08/08
  9.   Gideon Levy forgets 02:33  |  clickfool 28/08/08
  10.   A MAN OF PEACE AND GUILT 03:00  |  VIPER 28/08/08
  11.   no quilt feelings none required. our land liberated from thieves. 03:08  |  ralph 28/08/08
  12.   Peace Dreaming Air Force Guys Still Alive 03:58  |  John Isenhower 28/08/08
  13.   no guilty israelis? 04:13  |  no guilty israelis? 28/08/08
  14.   #2 Then why does Israel *act* guilty, ralph? 06:29  |  Johnboy 28/08/08
  15.   you`ve hit on the core of our Problem Johnboy 07:11  |  Daniel 28/08/08
  16.   And where is the Palestinian Abbie Nathan? 08:08  |  Israeli citizen 28/08/08
  17.   Abie - the man who believed in dreams 08:51  |  Ahi 28/08/08
  18.   Last of the dreamers of peace? typical Gideon guff 09:08  |  x-ray 28/08/08
  19.   #17 No Daniel, your attitude is disturbing 09:34  |  Johnboy 28/08/08
  20.   O Gideon Levy feels he has been Neglected and Abandoned 09:46  |  Gil 28/08/08
  21.   #19 Who speaks for Israel, p=s??? 09:47  |  Johnboy 28/08/08
  22.   # 4 the headline by mr. levy is a tribute, mr. "proud jew" 10:20  |  eric 28/08/08
  23.   Abie Nathan 10:27  |  Ahmed M Ibrahim 28/08/08
  24.   JOHNBOY@11 You missed it!?Israel was declared a state in 1948 11:08  |  PETER SM 28/08/08
  25.   JOHNBOY (#All) 11:59  |  Gil 28/08/08
  26.   JOHNBOY (#All) 12:00  |  Gil 28/08/08
  27.   JOHNBOY (#All) 12:57  |  Gil 28/08/08
  28.   All israel bashers 14:17  |  rich 28/08/08
  29.   JOHNBOY (#All) 16:25  |  Gil 28/08/08
  30.   ABIE Z``L 17:22  |  jack 28/08/08
  31.   Thanks Gideon- You can make a difference as well 17:49  |  Elias 28/08/08
  32.   You have deported Palestinian peace makers 23:46  |  Fed up 28/08/08
  33.   Gideon Levy 23:52  |  THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT 28/08/08
  34.   #24 I am talking about the OT, PETER SM 05:29  |  Johnboy 29/08/08
  35.   #25 A simple translation of Gil`s nonsense 05:36  |  Johnboy 29/08/08
  36.   to gil (#ALL) 12:17  |  eric 29/08/08
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