;)
By DAOUD
KUTTAB
Monday,
September 30, 2002 – Page A15,
Globe and Mail
The time was almost midnight, on Sept. 20, when a number of
satellite television stations interrupted their regular programming
to announce that Israeli soldiers had warned Palestinians living
near Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah that the building
would be blown up in 15 minutes if those inside it didn't come
out.
Within those tense minutes, the streets of Ramallah filled with
ordinary Palestinians. Marchers, often led by women, increased in
number as people trapped in their homes for days on end decided to
shake off the injustice that had befallen them. Many demonstrated
more in defence of their national honour than in support of Mr.
Arafat.
The popular uprising that began in the Ramallah neighbourhood of
Umm al Sharit quickly spread to Nablus, Tulkarem, Gaza and
Bethlehem. The next day, women and men came out with pots and pans
and beat on their household utensils as a sign of anger and protest.
The following day, a candlelight vigil was held as a way to break
what people considered a repressive curfew.
In 1987, Palestinians introduced the term intifada into
the international lexicon, when thousands of youths armed with
nothing more than stones rose up against Israeli guns and tanks. In
the fall of 2000, when rioting broke out following the visit of
Ariel Sharon to the area around the al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem,
many called those protests the al Aqsa, or second, intifada. Now,
with what happened the evening of Sept. 20 in Ramallah, I believe we
are witnessing the birth of the third intifada.
Since that night, schools in many West Bank cities have remained
open, defiant of Israeli curfews. Some areas are organizing popular
schools. Some of the more affluent schools are sending homework to
their students via e-mail. Curfew days have become high traffic days
on the Internet as most people are doing their office or school work
from their homes. A major culture is being written up, recorded,
photographed and spread on cyberspace about life under curfew.
What happened late that Friday night was not without warning. A
week earlier, the representatives of the Palestinian people did
something unprecedented in Arab politics: They forced a government
appointed by Mr. Arafat to resign rather than be shamed by a
confidence vote. At about the same time, a public opinion survey,
commissioned by the Search for Common Ground, found that a majority
of Palestinians supported the idea of non-violent resistance. Hence
the peaceful protests that started 10 days ago.
In the two previous intifadas, those who favoured more violent
confrontation soon came to dominate the protests. Such acts are not
only contrary to the spirit of non-violence, they also endanger
those involved, quickly limiting the possibility that large numbers
of ordinary Palestinians might participate.
For a long time, many international critics of the Palestinians
have been asking why we don't use non-violent methods to effect
change. They argue that if Palestinians do that, a major change will
take place in Israeli and international public opinion that will
eventually be translated in political terms. Many of us have doubts
about that, seeing that the Sharon government is only interested in
a Palestinian population that raises the white flag of
surrender.
When Palestinians in Ramallah carried out their plans to hold a
candlelight vigil on Wednesday night, the Israeli army, which had
said it would lift Thursday's curfew, reversed its position and
reimposed the curfew. Some people obeyed the renewed order; most
didn't. Schools in particular have decided that they will no longer
call off their teaching duties according to Israeli army
dictates.
What is worrisome, however, is that the Israeli and international
press have ignored or belittled the non-violent nature of what
happened in Palestine last week. It seems that the long-awaited
change in Israeli and U.S. public opinion will not happen soon, as
both peoples continue to be bombarded by news that fulfills the
aspirations of those wishing to end the conflict in a violent way.
Daoud Kuttab is director of the Institute of Modern Media at
Al-Quds University in Ramallah.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
| 
pixelshim.gif