I have to admit, I had not known about Shimon Tzabar when he was alive. I find on peacepalestine this morning a lovely tribute to him by Gilad Atzmon:
Shimon participated in three Israeli wars. However, it was only after 1967 that he fully internalised the scale of the Zionist fallacy. Repulsed by emerging Israeli imperialism, Shimon left Israel and settled in London. I believe that it was then that Shimon started regarding himself as a ‘Hebrew-Speaking Palestinian’…
Shimon always loved to surround himself with creative people. When we got to know each other he asked me to join the editorial staff of the Israel Imperial News. I was on his editorial board for a while. In 2004, he asked me to join forces with him in the production of the “Better than the Michelin Guide to Israeli Prisons, Jails, Concentration Camps and Torture Chambers”.
Haaretz also gives mention:
He was a fierce opponent of Zionism and the occupation, and criticized peace groups like Peace Now and Gush Shalom. He left Israel shortly after the Six-Day War over strong opposition to the occupation, and settled in London.
In September 1967, Tzabar published a short text in Haaretz signed by 11 other left-wing figures against the occupation. “Foreign rule leads to resistance. Resistance leads to oppression. Oppression leads to terror and counter terror…keeping the territories will turn us into a nation of murderers and murder victims,” it said.
And Scott has posted the text of a lovely poem by Tzabar.
It sounds as if Mr. Tzabar lived very much according to his conscience. It must have been hard to reject the dominant belief system of the country where he was born - a country for which he risked his life in three wars - and to find solidarity with people whom he’d been taught were his enemies. One need not embrace the vehemence of his anti-Zionism to respect the courage of his stand. To hew to justice, even when reviled, is one way of being faithful to God.
In this tradition follow the Refusers and the soldiers who have spoken out about their experiences in the occupied territories.
For Shimon Tzabar: Yit’gadal v’yit’kadash sh’mei raba b’al’ma di v’ra khir’utei.
May God recompense the righteous, and may we be fortunate enough to stand among them.
Another fierce opponent of the Occupation & Israeli anti-Zionist, Tanya Reinhart died a few days ago. She was a linguist & student of Noam Chomsky. Because of her support for Israeli academic divestment she either was forced to, or chose to (I can’t tell which fr. the Haaretz obituary) leave Israel & teach abroad. There’s an obit in today’s NYT.