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Re: “Palestinians should follow path of non violence" by Dewayne
Wickham.
May 1, 2002, Aref Assaf
After 35 years of oppressive Israeli military occupation of their
homeland, many Palestinians have lost hope in the viability of nonviolence
as a tacit for ending the Israeli occupation. Israel does not recognize
the humanity of the Palestinians. Columnist DeWayne Wickham argues that
the Palestinians' best chances to gain independence is to use the peaceful
tactics of India's Mahatma Gandhi. This advice couldn't be implemented
even if the Palestinians chose this direction. For Israel's occupation
of Palestinian lands has been a most violent, oppressive and dehumanizing
attempt to cleanse an entire population. Israel has no history of
tolerance for civil disobedience simply because it does not extend to the
Palestinians any rights of citizenship, or a venue for expression of
political dissent. A Palestinian stone thrower or peaceful marches are
always met with tanks, live bullets and collective punishment. Israel,
unlike Great Britain, occupied Palestine not only to benefit from its
resources but also to replace the indigenous population with new “more
civilized” settlers. Britain ruled India expecting one day to leave it;
Israel’s colonization of Palestine, was promoted by Zionists as a
fulfillment of” biblical prophecies”. Hertzel, the founder of Zionism,
wrote in 1895 that Jews must “ spirit the penniless (Arab) population
across the borders and deny it employment in our country”. The
indigenous Palestinian Arabs who owned more 95 percent of the land were
considered to being foreign and outside the designs of Zionism. Unlike
Britain, Israel has caused the expulsion of 5 million Palestinian refugees
off their native land. Israel has not built a regime of democratic
institutions, as what happened in India, to enable Palestinians to realize
their political, economic or cultural rights. Instead, Israel has
systematically destroyed Palestinian political and cultural institutions,
suppressed political and academic leaders who dare to voice their
objections to Israel’s inhumane treatment of the Palestinians people.
Palestinians acceptance of a two state solution is perhaps the most
sincere expression of nonviolence embodying the emerging Palestinian
thinking. A just and lasting solution, however, will require
Israel to end its illegal occupation of Arab and Palestinian lands and the
establishment of an independent, contiguous and economically viable
Palestinian state along side Israel. Non-violence will prevail between the
two states. Nonviolence cannot describe the relationship between occupier
and occupied. Occupation itself is violence.
Respectfully,
Aref Assaf, Media Committee |
