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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Avraham "Abie" Nathan
| honorific_suffix =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image = Abie Nathan1961.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Nathan (1961)
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 29 April 1927
| birth_place = [[Abadan]], [[Persia]]
| death_date = 27 August 2008
| death_place = Tel Aviv, Israel
| death_cause =
| body_discovered =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| monuments =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| citizenship = Israeli
| education =
| alma_mater =
| occupation = [[humanitarian]] and [[peace activist]]
| years_active =
| employer =
| organization =
| agent =
| known_for = Founder of the [[Voice of Peace]] radio station
| notable_works =
| website = {{URL|http://www.abie-nathan.com/}}
| footnotes =
}}
'''Avraham "Abie" Nathan''' ({{lang-he|אברהם "אייבי" נתן}}, 29 April 1927 – 27 August 2008) was an Israeli [[humanitarian]] and [[peace activist]]. He founded the [[Voice of Peace]] radio station. When he died the [[president of Israel]] [[Shimon Peres]] said about him: "He was one of the most prominent and special people in the country... He is the man who dedicated his life for other people and for a better humanity."<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3588733,00.html | title=פרס: "אייבי הקדיש את חייו לאנושות יותר טובה" | newspaper=Ynet | date=27 August 2008 | last1=Ynet | first1=כתבי }}</ref>

==Early years==
Abie Nathan was born to a Jewish family in [[Abadan]], [[Persia]], on 29 April 1927 and spent his adolescent years in [[Bombay]] (now Mumbai), India. He became a pilot in the [[Royal Air Force]] in 1944. In 1948 he volunteered as a pilot in the [[Machal]] (volunteers in the [[1948 Arab-Israeli War]]) and stayed in Israel thereafter.<ref name=nathan.com>{{cite web
| url = http://www.abie-nathan.com/main-en.html
| title = Abie Nathan
| accessdate =2 May 2007
|date=July 2005
| work = abie-nathan.com
| publisher = Noam Tal
| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20070427073416/http://www.abie-nathan.com/main-en.html| archivedate= 27 April 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> He worked for [[El Al]] airlines and later opened a restaurant in [[Tel Aviv]].<ref name=nathan.com/>

==Flight for Peace==
[[File:4X-AIA Abie Nathan's peace plane 1965.jpg|thumb|right|Abie Nathan's Peace Now plane 1965]]

Nathan led a party called ''Nes'' (Miracle) in the [[1965 Israeli legislative election|1965 Knesset elections]], but failed to cross the [[electoral threshold]]. After the results were published, he declared that he would fly to Egypt in his plane, which he named ''Shalom 1'' ("Peace 1"), carrying a message of peace. He landed in [[Port Said]] on 28 February 1966, where he was arrested. He asked to meet Egyptian President [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] to deliver a petition calling for peace between Israel and Egypt. He was refused and deported back to Israel, where he was arrested again for leaving the country by an illegal route.<ref>{{cite news|title=Israeli 'Peace Pilot' Again Tries to See Nasser; Abie Nathan Is Sent Home After Landing at Port Said --Arrested on Return|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/07/29/archives/israeli-peace-pilot-again-tries-to-see-nasser-abie-nathan-is-sent.html|date=1967-07-29|work=The New York Times|page=6|accessdate=29 April 2007}}</ref>

==Meetings with PLO==
In 1978, Nathan began his first hunger strike to protest against the construction of [[Israeli settlement]]s. In the early 1980s, he began meeting officials from the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO). These meetings were later outlawed by the [[Knesset]]. In 1991, Nathan went on another hunger strike for 40 days to protest against that law, which prevented meetings with alleged terrorist organizations. He stopped his hunger strike after President [[Chaim Herzog]] intervened.<ref>{{cite news|title= Israeli Peace Advocate Ends Hunger Strike|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE7D6113DF934A35755C0A967958260|date=7 June 1991| work=The New York Times|accessdate=1 May 2007}}</ref> Nathan continued to meet with PLO head [[Yasser Arafat]], however, and on 18 September 1991 he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.<ref>{{cite news| title= Israel Frees Abie Nathan|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE4D71F30F932A05750C0A964958260|date=31 March 1992| accessdate=29 April 2007|work=The New York Times}}</ref> Herzog cut 12 months from the sentence, and Nathan was released after serving less than 6 months.<ref>{{cite news| title= Abie Nathan's Jail Term Cut Sharply by Israeli President|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5DB1E38F933A05750C0A964958260|date=30 March 1992| accessdate=29 April 2007|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

==Voice of Peace and humanitarian activities==
[[File:הגה ספינת השלום עם קו.jpg|thumb|right|The helm of the Peace Ship - one of the only items left from the ship from which the Voice of Peace was broadcast (currently displayed in the [[Hashomer Hatzair]] archive, Yad-Yaari in [[Givat Haviva]], [[Israel]]).]]
{{main|Voice of Peace}}
In 1973, Nathan founded the [[Voice of Peace]] radio station. He bought a ship with the help of [[John Lennon]],<ref name="nation061008">{{cite news |last1=Silverstein |first1=Richard |title=The Free Gaza Movement |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/free-gaza-movement/ |accessdate=29 December 2019 |publisher=The Nation |date=6 October 2008 |archive-date=29 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229125050/https://www.thenation.com/article/free-gaza-movement/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1015844.html Israeli peace pioneer Abie Nathan dies aged 81] Haaretz, 28 August 2008 {{dead link|date=September 2018 |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> named it the "Peace Ship", and sailed it outside Israeli [[territorial waters]]. The station broadcast 24 hours a day, mostly English-language programs that mainly included popular music, while promoting Nathan's political activities. At the same time, he was involved{{How|date=September 2012}} with disaster relief in Cambodia, Bangladesh, Biafra, Colombia, and Ethiopia.<ref>{{cite news|title=Racing to Save the Hungry|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946351,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930075520/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946351,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 September 2007| date=12 November 1979|accessdate=30 April 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Israel Arrives in Ethiopia on Relief Mission|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10F15F9385C0C7B8DDDAB0994DC484D81|first=Clifford D|last=May|work=The New York Times|date=18 December 1984|accessdate=1 May 2007}}</ref> In another anti-war protest, he presided over the burial of smashed military toys.<ref>{{cite news|title=Abie Nathan Mounts 'Protest for Peace'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/08/13/archives/abie-nathan-mounts-protest-for-peace.html|date=13 August 1977|work=The New York Times|accessdate=1 May 2007}}</ref>

Nathan founded, at the beginning of 1980, "Abie’s Angels" – an Organisation of volunteers that helped each other when needed. In August of that year, together with the non-political movement for quality of life and society in Israel Am Yafe Am Ehad (One Beautiful People One Nation) he set up a trust for the elderly named "Keren Sevá Tová" (a ripe old age) that provided clothes and household ware to old people in need. At the end of that year he received an award from the Knesset (Israeli parliament) for setting up a social lobby for the elderly.

On 1 October 1993, economic and legal difficulties forced Nathan to close the Voice of Peace station. One of the reasons for closing was that, with the signing of the [[Oslo Peace Accords]], Nathan felt that his message for peace and dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians had been spread.<ref>{{cite news|title=Abie Nathan pulls up anchor| url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/99750459.html?dids=99750459:99750459&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Oct+1%2C+1993&author=Allison+Kaplan+Sommer&pub=Jerusalem+Post&edition=&startpage=09&desc=ABIE+NATHAN+PULLS+UP+ANCHOR| work=The Jerusalem Post|date=1 October 1993|last=Kaplan Sommer|first=Allison|accessdate=30 April 2007}}</ref> The Peace Ship was [[scuttling|scuttled]] on 28 November 1993.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nathan to sink peace ship today|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/99763028.html?dids=99763028:99763028&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Nov+28%2C+1993&author=&pub=Jerusalem+Post&edition=&startpage=02&desc=NATHAN+TO+SINK+PEACE+SHIP+TODAY|date=28 November 1993|work=The Jerusalem Post|accessdate=30 April 2007}}</ref>

==Sickness, death and tributes==
[[File:Memorial plaque to "The voice of peace" in Tel Aviv beach.JPG|250px|thumbnail|right|Memorial plaque to "The Voice of Peace" at Tel Aviv's Gordon Beach]]
In 1997, Nathan suffered a [[stroke]] that left him partially paralyzed. He died in [[Tel Aviv]] on 27 August 2008 at age 81.<ref>Kershner, Isabel. [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/world/middleeast/29nathan.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries&oref=slogin "Abie Nathan, Israeli Peace Champion, Dies at 81"] ''[[The New York Times]]''. Accessed 29 August 2008.</ref> On 10 June 2007 the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality passed a resolution to post a commemorative plaque on the Tel Aviv boardwalk at Gordon Beach, opposite where the Peace Ship had been anchored. This memorial plays recordings of the Voice of Peace, including the station callsign in Nathan's voice and an explanation in both Hebrew and English.

==See also==
* [[List of peace activists]]
* [[Mathias Rust]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.abie-nathan.com/pages-eng/main.html Abie Nathan website]
* [http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/VOP/vop01.shtml Who's Abie Nathan?] Soundscapes
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110928094616/http://www.observercyprus.com/observer/NewsDetails.aspx?id=3089 Peres: Woe to us had Nathan listened to consensus, Cyprus Observer]
* [http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1220736636/ "Lonely Rider" by Uri Avnery]

{{Nuremberg International Human Rights Award}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathan, Abie}}
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:Israeli humanitarians]]
[[Category:Israeli anti-war activists]]
[[Category:Israeli Jews]]
[[Category:Israeli people of Iranian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:People from Abadan, Iran]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Mumbai]]
[[Category:People from Tel Aviv]]
[[Category:Radio company founders]]
[[Category:Restaurant founders]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Burials at Kiryat Shaul Cemetery]]
[[Category:Iranian expatriates in India]]
[[Category:Israeli expatriates in India]]

Abie Nathan - Revision history

Bot at 00:07, 27 July 2022