We lost a dear friend:
Toma Sik 1939-2004

He was a pioneer of the Israeli-Palestinian search for peace, a forerunner of the present day pacifist-refusniks and actively involved in the struggle for equal rights of Arabs, the cause of the unrecognized villages, as well as environmental and anti-nuclear issues.

On July 20, 2004 we heard that Toma Sik is dead - overrun by a tractor during a nightly walk home through the fields to his newly-bought old farm somewhere in a forgotten part of Hungary. This farm should have fulfilled his dream of establishing a commune of organic-humanist (and vegan) "new peasants".

For decades his friendly bearded face was to be seen at any anti-occupation demonstration. Arriving on his bicycle he would take down bundles of leaflets, written in his inimitable style and which he produced on his old stencil machine.

Nobody could fulfill all the criteria which he set, not even he himself - as he would gladly admit with a sense of humor rare among heavily principled people.  His being anarchist, vegan, pacifist, world-citizen and the rest of it didn't prevent him from giving his all to organizations with less universal goals such as Gush Shalom, where he played a central role until he left Israel in the late 1990s - since when he ultimately settled down again in his country of birth.

He is survived by his two daughters and four grandchildren who all live in Israel.

hagalil.com 02-08-2004