TEL AVIV — A month into the war in Lebanon, Israel's long-quiescent peace movement is suddenly issuing a ringing call to arms.
Isolated and beset by infighting in the first weeks of the conflict, the still-small peace camp was spurred into action by the Israeli government's authorization this week of a broader ground invasion in Lebanon.
Faced with the prospect of a bloody, drawn-out conflict, mainstream peace groups that had refrained from criticizing the war effort are urging a diplomatic resolution to what has already proven to be a costly and complicated battle with the Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah.
On Thursday, organizers of an antiwar rally in Tel Aviv for the first time brought in what are regarded in this bookish country as big guns: a trio of Israel's best-known authors.
The three -- Amos Oz, David Grossman and A.B. Yehoshua -- have all spoken out strongly against past conflicts and wield considerable moral authority here.
"The use of more force now is not in Israel's best interests," Oz told reporters before the rally in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. "The time has come to resolve this through diplomatic means."
Though it drew only several thousand people, the rally had a much different tone than protests organized previously by far-left groups. Absent this time were strident denunciations of the government and the army. Instead, the protesters waved blue-and-white Israeli flags as they shouted, "Negotiate now!"
According to polls, the war retains the broad backing of the Israeli public despite, or perhaps because of, growing sentiment that the battle against Hezbollah has thus far been a losing one.
And up until now, the antiwar movement had been mainly the province of what are generally considered to be splinter groups: Arab parties, communists and anarchists.
Yael Dayan, the daughter of iconic general and politician Moshe Dayan and a doyenne of the Israeli peace movement, found that out the hard way last week when she tried to address a Tel Aviv antiwar rally organized by a far-left coalition.
Stepping up to the microphone, Dayan -- an imposing, deep-voiced woman who bears a striking resemblance to her famous father -- told the crowd it was important to support Israel's troops even while opposing the war.
Her listeners responded by hurling invective and debris, with some shouting that Israeli soldiers were baby-killers. Dayan was forced to relinquish the microphone and leave the stage.
