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A palm-reader’s prediction comes true
Uri Avnery Social activist
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I'll pause a moment because I want to tell you an anecdote from that time. The elections, as I said, were on December 31. A few days before that I was in Nelson Village. Raffi Nelson set up a resort camp in occupied territory south of Taba, which was very popular with the bohemians from Tel Aviv. All of this had happened − the Yom Kippur War and then the Sukkot festival. Rachel and I would sometimes visit there and one time when we were there, Shulamit Aloni was also visiting and as I have already mentioned, she submitted her first ever list, and I had even helped her with it a bit. There was someone there who read palms, which was very much in vogue.

[Q] A palm reader? Hand writing?

Not hand writing, but palm reader, a palm reader, with lines etc called a chiropractor or something, I don't know. He was already quite popular then with the Tel Aviv bohemians, it was kind of a trend. So Shulamit Aloni approached him − I laugh at such things, I always have − but Shulamit Aloni half-believed or at least she wanted to believe, and she asked him, 'What will happen in the elections?' What will happen to her in the elections? The man examined her palm… and the reply was: 'This year you will not be elected'. Her face fell, but she was elected! There was a simple explanation: the election was indeed held on December 31, but the results were announced on January 1 of the following year, so he was not wrong. This is merely incidental.

אני אעשה רגע הפסקה מפני שאני צריך עוד לספר אנקדוטה ששייכת לאותה תקופה. הבחירות כאמור היו ב-31 בדצמבר כמה ימים לפני זה הייתי בכפר של נלסון. נלסון הקים בשטח כבוש מדרום לטאבה איזה מחנה נופש שהיה מאוד פופולארי בבוהמה התל-אביבית. הרי כל זה קרה, מלחמת יוה"כ אח"כ סוכות. רחל ואני היינו מבקרים שמה, ובאחד המקרים שהיינו שם הייתה שם שולמית אלוני, שהיא הגישה, כבר סיפרתי, את הרשימה הראשונה שלה שאני אפילו קצת עזרתי לה. והיה שמה אדם שקורא כף יד שהיה מאוד באופנה, נקרא כירופרקטר או משהו, לא יודע. והוא היה ככה די פופולארי אז בבוהמה התל-אביבית, זה היה מין אופנתי כאילו. אז שולמית אלוני ניגשת אליו, אני צוחק מדברים כאלה, תמיד צחקתי, אבל שולמית אלוני חצי האמינה או רצתה להאמין, והיא שואלת אותו "מה יקרה בבחירות?" מה יקרה לה בבחירות? האיש בודק את כף היד… והבשורה הייתה: "בשנה הזאת את לא תיבחרי”. ופניה נפלו, והיא נבחרה! אבל היה הסבר פשוט: הבחירות היו אמנם ב-31 בדצמבר אבל התוצאות היו ב-1 בינואר של השנה הבאה, אז הוא לא טעה. זה רק דרך אגב.‏

Uri Avnery (1923-2018) was an Israeli writer, journalist and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement. As a teenager, he joined the Zionist paramilitary group, Irgun. Later, Avnery was elected to the Knesset from 1965 to 1974 and from 1979 to 1981. He was also the editor-in-chief of the weekly news magazine, 'HaOlam HaZeh' from 1950 until it closed in 1993. He famously crossed the lines during the Siege of Beirut to meet Yasser Arafat on 3 July 1982, the first time the Palestinian leader ever met with an Israeli. Avnery was the author of several books about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including '1948: A Soldier's Tale, the Bloody Road to Jerusalem' (2008); 'Israel's Vicious Circle' (2008); and 'My Friend, the Enemy' (1986).

Listeners: Anat Saragusti

Anat Saragusti is a film-maker, book editor and a freelance journalist and writer. She was a senior staff member at the weekly news magazine Ha'olam Hazeh, where she was prominent in covering major events in Israel. Uri Avnery was the publisher and chief editor of the Magazine, and Saragusti worked closely with him for over a decade. With the closing of Ha'olam Hazeh in 1993, Anat Saragusti joined the group that established TV Channel 2 News Company and was appointed as its reporter in Gaza. She later became the chief editor of the evening news bulletin. Concurrently, she studied law and gained a Master's degree from Tel Aviv University.

Tags: Nelson Village, Taba, Shulamit Aloni

Duration: 2 minutes, 34 seconds

Date story recorded: October 2015

Date story went live: 26 June 2017