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During the half year free of suicide bombings just ended, Israeli forces
killed more than 400 Palestinian civilians. Even without making this point, that
Sharon's violence against Palestinian civilians remained extreme, Uri Avnery's
article clearly lays out the problem facing the Palestinian freedom
movement--that goes far beyond the problem Gandhi faced in India. He also shows
the sensitivity of Israeli officials to international
pressures, suggesting that intensification of this factor might help
give the liberation campaign ability, and reason, to focus on a non-violent
tack, protecting civilians on both sides.
Jimmy
--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2004 15:56:36 +0200 Subject: Avnery on non-violence Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi,
Hope this may interest you. Salamaat, Shalom, uri
Uri Avnery4.9.04
How
Are You, Non-Violence? At the mass meeting
with Arun Gandhi, the grandson of the Mahatma, in Abu-Dis, I observed the faces
of the participants. While Gandhi was preaching non-violence, I imagined a
debate between two young Palestinians in the audience. Yussuf: “He is right.
The armed intifada has failed.” Hassan: “On the contrary. Without the actions of the martyrs, the world would have forgotten us long ago.” Yussuf: “For half a
year there were no suicide attacks in Hassan: “We have
achieved nothing. On the contrary,
the Israeli generals boast that they have defeated us with their targeted
assassinations, incursions into our territories and all the other acts of
oppression. And all this time they have been enlarging the settlements, putting
up new ‘outposts’ and continuing to build the racist
wall.” Yussuf: “You forget
that the Hassan: “What is that
worth, if in the meantime Yussuf: “Even the
senior jurists in Hassan: “But in the
meantime, the opposite is happening. Because of the lull in suicide attacks, the
Israeli economy is reviving. Tourism to
Yussuf: “We have to
win international public opinion. We can do this only by non-violence. I admire
the martyrs who are ready to die for our people. I am proud that we have such
heroes. But they don’t get us anywhere. They only provide
Hassan: “As if
Yussuf: “But Gandhi
argues that non-violent methods will be more successful. His grandfather proved
this in Hassan: “He doesn’t
know the Israelis. The Israeli army will open fire on any non-violent
Palestinian demonstration that reaches serious
proportions.” Yussuf: “Look at the
brothers who scaled the wall. That is an example of successful non-violent
action, breaking the law of the occupier openly and without fear!
” Hassan: Don’t kid yourself. If Arun
Gandhi and the Israelis hadn’t been there, the soldiers would have shot and
killed them. Later they would have announced that they were wanted terrorists.
You remember the beginning of the
al-Aksa intifada, when there were unarmed mass demonstrations? The
Israeli army brought in snipers and killed the leaders. Please, this is not
Yussuf: “But that is
exactly what they say about us!” This kind of debate is
now going on everywhere in Palestinian society, perhaps in every Palestinian
family. The Yussufs have no success in convincing the Hassans, and I am afraid
that Gandhi will not succeed either, because they lack the decisive argument.
Abu-Mazen, who advocates non-violence, got nothing from
Therefore, the suicide
attack in Beer Sheva, just a week after the Gandhi rally, was to be
expected. As long as the Sharon
government, with the active encouragement of President Bush, goes on enlarging
the settlements, building the Wall and all the other actions of annexation,
there is no way to convince Palestinian public opinion to turn its back on
violence. And only a decisive change in Palestinian public opinion can put an
end to suicide attacks. No wall will stop people who are ready to die in order
to carry out attacks, and the Palestinians have already proved that they have
any number of such people. Ehud Barak, a very
violent person, once said that if he had been a young Palestinian, he would have
joined a terrorist organization. Obviously, he doesn’t believe that non-violence
will succeed against the Israeli army. And he should
know. I was impressed by the
teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the greatest liberator of the
20th century, achieving freedom for the whole Indian subcontinent,
including present-day In my youth I joined
two very violent organizations (the Irgun and the Israeli army), but after I was
wounded near the end of the 1948 war there were several months when the very
thought of combat caused me physical nausea. I detest violence in all its forms,
but how can it be stopped? There are people
amongst us who are ready for a compromise peace but have been led to believe
that “there is no one we can talk with”, because “they” don’t want peace but
seek to annihilate us. But we must understand that Palestinian violence, which
causes so much bloodshed, is the predictable result of our cutting off every
other road in front of them. I am convinced that it
is possible to put an end to violence in our country – if we offer the
Palestinian people an alternative, non-violent way of achieving freedom and
justice. Anyone who believes
that a wall will succeed in stopping suicide attacks might as well rely on the
amulets of Kabbalist rabbis.
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