Daniel Lubetzky: Not Just One Voice

Issue # 215

I would not normally reference Hollywood (although the Oscars will be presented this coming Sunday).  But today's column is different.  It is about efforts being undertaken by an American Jewish businessman, Daniel Lubetzky, to promote Middle East peace through an organization called "One Voice."

Lubetzky's connection to Hollywood?  During the recent Palestinian Presidential campaign, Lubetzky arranged for a television spot by actor Richard Gere -- broadcast throughout the West Bank and Gaza -- telling Palestinians that the "whole world" wanted them to come out and vote.  The ad got a lot of media play here and some ridicule too.  As is often the case when Hollywood figures lend their names and their selves to political causes, critics have a field day hollering that that actors should just shut up.  "Who cares what they think anyway?"

But people do care (as the careers of Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger amply demonstrate). Hollywood, -- by which I mean film, television, music, and video -- is today America's #1 export.  Entertainment is what we do best and utilizing the skills, talent, and global reach of the industry can make a difference.

In any case, ridicule did not lessen the impact of the Richard Gere spot.  I know.  I heard from Palestinians at the polls that they were impressed, one man said "touched," that Gere "cares about what happens here." Several others mentioned it when I asked about the importance of the election.

Apparently, Gere's message that "the whole world is watching" helped create an atmosphere surrounding the election that was self-consciously dramatic.  He helped them understand that a good election - and one that would look good abroad -- would help transform their image, and maybe their destinies.   So far it has.

Daniel Lubetzky understands the power of media and has repeatedly utilized celebrities (Jason Alexander, Jennifer Anniston, Muhammad Ali, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Brad Pitt, and others) to get his message across.  Attention is paid to celebrities and Lubetzky is more than willing to take advantage of a star's desire to give something back to a world that has been very good to them.

And giving something back is what Daniel Lubetzky is all about. Lubetzky was born in Mexico City. His father, Roman Lubetzky, was a Holocaust survivor from Lithuania who made his way to Mexico following his liberation from Dachau. Daniel's mother, Sonia, is a Mexican-born Jew.

At 36, Daniel Lubetzky is, in many ways, a throw-back to the immigrant experience of previous generations.  He grew up speaking Spanish, Yiddish and Hebrew, and after his family moved from Mexico to the US he learned three more languages.  While working towards his undergraduate degree at Trinity University in San Antonio, he began a successful watch business. But it was following his graduation from Stanford Law (and brief stints as an attorney for Sullivan & Cromwell in New York and as a consultant for McKinsey & Company) that he found his calling.

It happened during a visit to Israel.  Lubetzky, who has life-long ties to the Jewish state, happened to taste a sun-dried tomato spread that he could not get enough of.  Ever the entrepreneur, he sought out the manufacturer and began exporting the spread to the United States.  Ever the idealist, he insisted that the product would be manufactured exclusively by Israelis and Palestinians and with ingredients from the Middle East.   He called his new company "Peace Works" and sales took off.

Today Peace Works manufactures 32 different products which are sold in 5,000 stores in the United States alone.

Lubetzy calls his business a "not only for profit" company.  Each one of "Peace Works" products is produced and distributed in a way that fosters business partnerships between groups in conflict.

Israelis and Palestinians; black and white South Africans; Christians and Muslims in Indonesia; all have been brought together by Lubetzky in businesses that make money and promote peaceful relations at the same time.  The Peace Works philosophy, Lubetzky's philosophy, is that "Profitable economic cooperation initiatives can cement relations between rivals in the same way that common-place business partners profit from exchange in today's market place.  Business can enable the conditions necessary to achieve long-lasting social understanding and prosperity in conflict regions around the world."

The success of Peace Works has enabled Lubetzky to have a direct impact on the Middle East conflict through OneVoice, an organization he established to empower moderate Israelis and Palestinians.  Even during the darkest months of the intifada, OneVoice worked to bring together opponents of extremism on both sides.

OneVoice takes the summit concept and stands it on its head.  Instead of leaders talking to leaders, OneVoice operates entirely at the grassroots to buttress leaders willing to take risks for peace.  It has already touched tens of thousands in both communities.

Last month, the Palestinian branch of OneVoice, which is headed by Fathi Darwish, and hundreds of volunteers, brought GOTV ("Get Out The Vote") to the West Bank and Gaza. They distributed over 100,000 brochures encouraging participatory democracy, aired public service announcements that were viewed by millions, and put on democracy festivals and caravans in eight cities that were attended by tens of thousands.

In Israel, OneVoice is organizing training seminars throughout the country to teach young Israelis how to prevent the violence expected to surround Gaza withdrawal.  At a time when the rule of law is being challenged in Israel as never before, OneVoice's efforts to organize Israelis toward non-violent conflict resolution and civic engagement rather than civic strife is critically important.

Over the long term, OneVoice's goal is to enlist the majority of Israelis and Palestinians in support of three principles: an affirmation of the right of both peoples to independence, security, and human dignity; opposition to absolutism and extremism; and a commitment to engage in dialogue leading to the implementation of the two-state solution.  130,000 Israelis and Palestinians have already signed a petition embodying these guidelines (see www.silentnolonger.org).

There are those who are saying that the OneVoice approach is not necessary now.  The intifada seems to be ending and both the Israeli and Palestinian leadership say they are committed to the Roadmap.

In fact, the people-to-people approach of OneVoice is more essential than ever.

The Oslo experience taught us all that diplomacy cannot be left strictly to political leaders. "The mistake that citizens have repeated time and again is to stay at home, and do nothing but wait for the political leaders to deliver on their expectations....,"  Lubetzky says. In the meantime, proponents of the status quo "redouble their efforts to derail peace negotiations, and resort to terror and dehumanization to achieve it.  Terrorists determined to destroy Israel resort to killing innocent civilians and undermining negotiations.  Militant settlers determined not to leave the Gaza strip threaten to kill the Prime Minister and beat up Israeli soldiers dismantling illegal outposts.  In a perverse partnership, militant settlers sometimes aid terrorists and vice-versa."

OneVoice's mission is to counter the militants, to create the active and organized constituency that the extremists have long had.

Daniel Lubetzky believes that, ten years after Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, we have been given a "second chance" to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace. In a sense, he wants to turn the clock back to those moments just before Yitzhak Rabin walked down the steps following the peace rally.  He wants to catch that moment, freeze it, and then fast-forward to where we might be if Rabin had lived.  The constituency for peace that Rabin saw clearly in his final moments - an Israeli constituency and a Palestinian constituency - is still there.  But this time it has to be mobilized.  That is Lubetzky's mission. And it must be ours as well.