a Gandhi for our generation? this article has more:
Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Arun Gandhi, is to kick off an unarmed Palestinian movement against Israeli occupation which is being launched by a group of social and political activists in Ramallah.
Gandhi, head of the MK Gandhi Institute for non-violence in the US, will be the star attraction at three mass rallies planned in Ramallah, Abu Dis and Bethlehem on August 26.
The campaign is being organised by a group of Palestinian social and political activists in Ramallah, who have joined hands with anti-fence activists, NGOs, and Fatah activists headed by minister without portfolio and Fatah member Kadura Fares in the wake of the International Court of Justice’s ruling condemning the construction of the West Bank barrier by Israel.
I think if the Palestinians would have taken the peaceful protest route from the beginning that there would be a Palestinian state today. This is a welcome change!
Ha! You think the Israeli’s can be reasoned with non-violently? Truth be told, I hold out the same hope, but then I read stuff like this and it makes me as angry as the Palestinians.
Now I know this is a MASSIVE argument and I’m probably violating my own best judgement by falling into this BUT…. I still like GC’s one-liner –
“The Palestinians want to eliminate the Israeli’s but can’t. The Israeli’s could eliminate the Palestinians but won’t.”
I personally applaud more non-violent tactics by the Palestinians & hope that Arun Gandhi is successful. Fewer suicide bombers is always a good thing.
“I think if the Palestinians would have taken the peaceful protest route from the beginning that there would be a Palestinian state today.”
i don’t know that i agree. who would have fought for and sided with them? in the case of mlk that michael moore uses, we should remember he had the support of the us govt. kennedy sent in national guardsmen to help, so the THREAT of violence existed. indians vastly outnumbered their british counterparts, besides which the crown was losing interest in india at that point. south africa had the sharpeville massacre (ironically, an act of violence) which drew the world’s attention to it and prompted the un’s condemnation. besides which, apartheid wasn’t exactly nonviolent, as the anc had its militant activities.
then there’s the whole issue of the media.
anyway, i do NOT believe in violence, and i applaud gandhi and the ISM, but it should be remembered that palestine is a unique situation.
I think it’s pretty amusing that they had to import a foreigner to stage nonviolent protests. I expect Arun to be killed as a “collaborator “in the near future. (It’s always grimly amusing to me the way the media always quotes “terrorist”, but never “collaborator”, given that the latter category is considerably more dubious than the former).
But I’m a cynic.
However, I should also point out that Israel’s tactic of unilateral withdrawal and the security fence has to some extent marginalized the jihadists. This is the only reason why such methods are being considered now – because the Palis know they have lost the violent war they waged. Though the rest of the world would love the Israelis to offer their necks to be slit by the wuvvable Palestinians (funded & armed by the rest of the Arab/Muslim world), the fact is that suicide bombings are considerably more difficult when you can’t just walk out of the West Bank & into a pizza parlor and blow yourself up.
The security fence works – just see the stats.