A Plea For Realism

December 31, 2001 6:13 AM

A Plea For Realism This is the first time I have seen an on-line or paper eminating from the Arab states and serving the Arab/Muslim community suggest a new approach that is peaceful for bringing about a resolution the the chaos that has marked this past year in that area of the world.
posted by Postroad (8 comments total)

It's good to see this, but this approach is not new. Several others (Faisal Husseini among them) have advocated a Gandhian non-violent approach to ending the occupation. I believe there is even a center for the study of non-violent resistance to the occupation in or near Jerusalem.
posted by laz-e-boy at 8:00 AM on December 31, 2001

New or not, it beats defeatist violence. And the longer the intifada continues, the more hopeless will seem the economic situation of Palestinians, the angrier will be the youth, and the stronger will be groups like HAMAS. Which, I suspect, is really the point.
posted by dhartung at 8:39 AM on December 31, 2001

And in the Fox News tradition of 'fair and balanced' there is this story from the Arab News: were the 9/11 hijackers really Arabs? (thru Rantburg).
posted by Mack Twain at 10:50 AM on December 31, 2001

It's not that the approach is new, it's that it is the only way the Palastinians can hope to win any kind of equality in a way that is practically and morally (by my morals anyway) superior to everything that happened between Oct. 2000 and today.

What really bothers me is why there is no discussion about this. A few posts in a few hours, ugh.

Does anyone know why a non-violent strategy isn't being adopted by the Palastinians?
posted by Wong Fei-hung at 11:14 AM on December 31, 2001

Does anyone know why a non-violent strategy isn't being adopted by the Palastinians?

My guess is it's a hormonal thing - too much testosterone and adrenalin.
posted by waffleboy at 11:31 AM on December 31, 2001

Didn't Tom Clancy play with this idea in one novel or another? As I recall, it ended up leading to terrorists setting off a nuclear bomb at the Super Bowl.

Which may be conclusive evidence that it's a good idea.
posted by nickmark at 12:13 PM on December 31, 2001

Does anyone know why a non-violent strategy isn't being adopted by the Palastinians?

Probably because it's doing so shitty for the Kurds and the Tibetans right now. Like China is really feeling pressure from the Beastie Boys, or Turkey really cares about Kurdish protestors setting themselves on fire in front of embassies or going on hunger strikes.
posted by bobo123 at 12:46 PM on December 31, 2001

There is a Palestinian poet named Mahmoud Darwish who I think described best why there will continue to be a violent response to the occupation.


Identity Card

Record!
I am an Arab
And my identity card is number fifty thousand
I have eight children
And the ninth is coming after a summer
Will you be angry?

Record!
I am an Arab
Employed with fellow workers at a quarry
I have eight children
I get them bread
Garments and books
from the rocks..
I do not supplicate charity at your doors
Nor do I belittle myself at the footsteps of your chamber
So will you be angry?

Record!
I am an Arab
I have a name without a title
Patient in a country
Where people are enraged
My roots
Were entrenched before the birth of time
And before the opening of the eras
Before the pines, and the olive trees
And before grass grew

My father.. descends form the family of the plow
Not from a privileged class
And my grandfather..was a farmer
Neither well-bred, nor well-born!
Teaches me the pride of the sun
Before teaching me how to read
And my house is like a watchman’s hut
Made of branches and cane
Are you satisfied with my status?
I have a name without a title!

Record!
I am an Arab
You have stolen the orchards of my ancestors
And the land which I cultivated
Along with my children
And you left nothing for us
Except for these rocks..
So will the State take them
As it has been said?!

Therefor!
Record on the top of the first page:
I do not hate people
Nor do I encroach
But if I become hungry
The usurper’s flesh will be my food
Beware..
Beware..
Of my hunger
And my anger!



posted by dejah420 at 1:30 PM on December 31, 2001