Time For Peaceful Resistance, Says Gaza's New Movement
Time For Peaceful Resistance, Says Gaza's New Movement
Israel calls them riots, but the man at the center of recent protests sees them as a rejection of violence
S ipping mint lemonade while looking out at the Mediterranean, the man credited with instigating a demonstration movement that has rocked Gaza is at odds with the image of the protests that has been put forward by Israel.
Israel has described the recent demonstrations on the Gaza frontier as “riots” and a ploy to “camouflage terror attacks” led by Hamas, a militant group founded on the idea that Israel has no right to exist.
Yet Ahmad Abu Artema, who claims no Hamas affiliation, holds an ideology more often attributed to that of Israel’s president: he says he wants to see Palestinians and Israelis living in one country as equal citizens.
“If you want my personal opinion, I don’t believe in liberation [of land in Israel]. I believe in ending the apartheid system in Israel like the end of the apartheid system in South Africa, and we live all in one democratic state,” Artema said in an interview in Gaza City. “I want to live with Israelis.”
Following three wars during the past 10 years, Palestinian action in Gaza against Israel has overwhelmingly been seen as an armed fight. But Abu Artema hopes a new peaceful protest movement, widely supported by thousands of demonstrators including elderly people, women and children, will skew that image.
Groups of young men at the front of the demonstration last Friday threw rocks, burned tyres and in some cases tried to damage a border fence on the first day of the planned six-week demonstration demanding the right of return for refugees. Yet most participants simply turned up and stayed hundreds of metres back, away from an Israel-ordered no-go area.
Israel’s response to the protests, however, has been widely criticised. The UN and EU have called for independent investigations after soldiers were accused of killing more than 16 people and shooting hundreds of others, mostly in the legs.
A leading Israeli human rights group called B'Tselem made the rare move of telling soldiers they were “duty-bound” to disobey live fire orders on unarmed civilians.
In Gaza, there have been calls on social media for participants to use tyres to create a wall of black smoke to blind the Israeli snipers, although Abu Artema has warned against this, saying it will exacerbate tensions. An organizing committee on which he sits has called for people not to approach the perimeter, to avoid a repeat of last week’s bloodshed.
Many attribute the new movement to a viral Facebook post, written by Abu Artema, which pondered what would happen if thousands of Gazans, the vast majority of whom are refugees and their descendants, attempted to peacefully cross the frontier to reach their ancestral homes.
But as the idea turned into a real plan, organizers modified it to avoid danger at the border and agreed they would pitch tents and have meals, traditional dabke dancing, football games and even weddings hundreds of meters from the perimeter. “We are looking for a new culture,” he said, showing a video on his phone of a marriage at the protest camp last weekend.
He says he represents a rejection of armed resistance, in part because he believes that strategy has failed. “It’s not necessary to resist the occupation with bullets. You can resist the occupation with dabke, or by just sitting there.”
Political parties, most notably Hamas, openly support the movement and have sent members and fighters to participate, a decision Abu Artema says he accepts. “I’m not a spokesman for Hamas,” he said. “It’s positive that those people started to believe in peaceful struggle. [Israel] wanted to drag it to violence, they don’t want to confront people. They want to be confronted by a rocket or a missile.” Just because a small number of people threw stones, he said, that did not warrant live fire.
The Israeli military, which disputes last Friday’s casualty count, said it used bullets only when necessary, although videos appeared to show people shot while running away. It also pointed to an attempted gun attack on soldiers along the border.
Does Abu Artema feel the movement can avoid spiraling out of control? “Personally, I believe in peaceful protest. There is a dream and there is reality, and there is a difference between them.”
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While yammering nabobs of war claim otherwise Palestinians hold onto hope for peace with Israel...
JBB-- I don't doubt the sindereity of your intentions, but you've been conned.
In fact, there have been several peace deals that have been fair to both sides-- they've turned down every one!
The Palis have gotten some generous offers, but declined each one. (Currently Israel has a right wing government-- but it hasn't always been that way...)
If you doubt it, I can provide extensive documentation of this from reliable sources.
I should have said "Some Palestinians hold out hope for peace". There are those on both side who have given up and resolved themselves to nothing ever happening to end the hundred year olde Palestinian Question. My intent is not to editorialize but rather to inform. Ther-e is way too much editorializing about the issue that does not contribute to moving anything along towards a peaceful resolution. As long as there is news of the current import coming out of the middle-east someone needs to get it in front of people's eyes even if we are all sick to death of the subject. To me demonizing either side of the dispute is counterproductive.
True, and sadly, when it comes to Israel and the Arabs, that's most of what we hear.
So I like your idea--- let's focus on the positive for a change! I'll go first:
Here's is an article I found that shows the positive side of Israel and the Arabs:
The smart way is peaceful protest. Might get more on their side by not stone trhowing, lobbing rockets, suicide bombers and stabbings. WOuld be good for them to do the smart thing instead of what normally happens.
While occasionally terrorism may be effective, more often than not it merely serves to stiffen the will of the victims. Its counter-productive.
(Although in the case of Arab terrorism against Israelis, it has actually been successful in a sense: its been so horrific since its almost always directed against Israeli civilians & has been so horrific, eventually Israel has had no other choice but to respond with force. Much of the world is horrified by Israel wanting to defend itself, so the Arabs have been fairly successful in turning much of world opinion against Israel!)
Photo: In keeping with their usual strategy, Palestinian terrorists attack Israeli civilian targets almost exclusively. Here a Palestinian terrorist managed to board a civilian bus undetected and blew himself up. (Israel has since figured out to thwart this sort of attack, so Arab terrorists have turned to other methods of murdering Israelis).:
On the morning of June 18, 2002, at 7:50 a.m., a Palestinian suicide bomber from Bethlehem got onto the Egged line 32A bus, which came from the Gilo neighborhood and stopped at Beit Safafa, an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem. The bomber boarded the bus and exploded himself in the front. His explosive belt included metal balls for shrapnel in order to maximize casualties.
The barbaric Palestinian group Hamas was behind that attack. (They are the same people who claim that they want peace with Israel)-- they are behind the current "peace efforts" on the Gaza-Israel border).
So Hamas sends fighters, and this "pacifist" is OK with that.
Words are always cheap, and in the ME even cheaper. We know people by their deeds, only...
I am skeptical, but their other methodology to this point has not brought them much in return. Worked for Gandhi, King and others, at this point anything is worth a try.
True.
Well it has brought them something-- much misery and suffering. (Although its difficult for westerners to imagine, most of the Gazans have been so brainwashed by Hamas that actually believe that all that suffering for the sake of Allah may earn them a place in Paradise-- for all eternity!)
Worked for Gandhi, King and others, at this point anything is worth a try.
Yep. ( And here's the irony-- extremism, and especially violence is more often than not counter-productive. Peaceful resistance works-- but the Palis will never, ever realize that. have to log off for a while, but later I can tell about an interesting situation, a true story, re: the Palestinians and Ghandi's methods).
So a group sworn to destroy Israel is joining the peaceful movement with members and fighters...What is wrong with this picture..
Words mean nothing, it's their actions that count...And their actions don't suppor their words.
Exactly. Calling for peace while at the same time trying to destroy the other side is hardly what I would call an honest effort. The Hamas have never shown any indication that they are willing to find a 'peaceful' solution.
Lip service is strong with the Hamas, but, that is all it is.
From the article:
But Abu Artema hopes a new peaceful protest movement, widely supported by thousands of demonstrators including elderly people, women and children, will skew that image.
Political parties, most notably Hamas, openly support the movement and have sent members and fighters to participate, a decision Abu Artema says he accepts. “I’m not a spokesman for Hamas,” he said.
Hamas supporting a peaceful movement? Yup---- and I have a bridge I want to sell you!
There are several falsehoods in that article-- but that's the biggest lie of all. (It might seem plausible to someone who knows little or nothing about Hamas and who as read an article or two from pro-Hamas sources-- but anyone who knows anything about Hamas knows it yet another big lie).
This article is incorrectly designated. It belongs under the 'Humor/The Lighter Side' forum.