Guns' Blog

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Gandhi in Palestine

2nd October marks the 138th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, widely considered the architect of India’s freedom from British rule in 1947. The method Gandhi employed –generally called Satyagraha (loosely translated as “Truth-force”) is well-known and recognized as being a unique and powerful method to rid an oppressed people of tyrannical rule.

When I look at the Palestinians’ struggle in the occupied territories, unlikely though this sounds, I wonder what would happen if the Palestinians were to adopt non-violent methods. The conditions certainly seem ideal:

  • Closely interdependent populations – Israelis would find life very difficult if they were faced with a peaceful, yet uncooperative Palestinian labor.
  • A sensitive Oppressor – notwithstanding the insensitivity of the Israeli extreme right, Israelis remain a people with a conscience, deeply conflicted between the immorality of their occupation and their democratic values. A peaceful, non-violent, yet uncooperative Palestinian population would put great pressure on their collective conscience.
  • Media limelight – last, but equally important, the struggle is important to the world’s media. Journalists from around the world, with excellent access to most of Israel and Palestine, will bring such an ‘asymmetrical conflict’ to the TV sets of millions of opinion makers, especially in the US and Europe.

Assuming that the Palestinians have what is required to effectively apply non-violent techniques to their conflict, would it work? Definitely.

Imagine and situation where Palestinians silently and without violence refuse to cooperate with Israel – they refuse to work, they peacefully block roads and highways, peacefully surround and blockade Israeli army installations, block movement into and out of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, prevent Israel from further construction of the wall, block to-and-fro movement through the checkpoints… in short, they prevent the state of Israel from operating smoothly and bring life to a halt.

The resulting conflict will be one-sided – in favor of the Palestinians, and they will capture the moral high-ground. On the other hand, the Israelis, with nothing but military power and violence in their arsenal, will be at a loss on how to react to such a peaceful and determined opponent.

The world stood up and took notice during the first Intifada when the Israeli army fired upon stone-throwing civilians and children. Can you imagine their reaction if the Israelis acted in a similar manner to peaceful demonstrators, who stand bravely and without protest bear the brunt of their bullets and water canons? The world will be forced to act in support of the Palestinians. Within Israel itself, I can see vast swaths of the population, including members of the Israeli military, refusing to support a government that uses heavy handed techniques against the protestors.

Most importantly, the Palestinians would prevent the Israelis from taking away the one thing that nobody can take away unless you choose to give it to them – self-respect.

Gandhi once said, “An eye for an eye and the whole country goes blind.” That sounds exactly like what is happening in the occupied territories – both sides find themselves in an ever escalating cycle of violence, and after having tried it for decades, it is difficult to imagine how the result will be any different this time, or the next. But since old techniques have failed, shouldn’t the Palestinians be thinking about something new and innovative?

Of course, there are serious challenges to transforming the Palestinian struggle from violence to non-violence. Fringe violent elements will always give such movements a bad name and provide justification for violent reaction. The non-violent protestors themselves may lose their composure and yield to acts of violence (Gandhi called off his non-violent protest movement, despite its huge successes, when a protest march turned violent and the crowd burnt 22 policemen to death in a police station).

The most important challenge is that a successful non-violent movement requires that the protestors embody three essential conditions:

  • A devotion to the truth – implying openness, honesty and fairness.
  • Dedication to non-violence – a refusal to inflict injury on others
  • A willingness to self-sacrifice.

Are the Palestinians capable of something like this? Such an approach means a dramatic change in tactics and it requires that the silent majority stop passive complaint and take positive action. Thus far, they have preferred to surrender the leadership of the struggle to the fanatical and extremist fringe and avoided active participation.

A peaceful, non-violent struggle requires discipline, sacrifice and leadership. Are the Palestinians ready for it? The conflict most certainly is.

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