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Nonviolent protest gains in West Bank
A Supreme Court decision in favor of one protesting village has inspired others.
from the September 24, 2007 edition
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"We use nonviolence as a way of life.... We learned from many experiences: like India, Martin Luther [King], and South Africa," says Samer Jabber, who oversees a network of activists in the villages surrounding Bethlehem.
Every Friday in Bilin for the past three years the protesters have faced tear gas, rubber bullets, and beatings that have caused hundreds of injuries. Demonstrators sometimes threw rocks, one of which caused a soldier to lose an eye. (While leaders say they're against such violence, followers don't always hold the line.)
"The belief in one's rights is more important than anything else. If I am confident about my rights, nothing will make me despair," says Iyad Burnat, a Bilin resident and one of the protest leaders. "When you resist an Israeli soldier by peaceful means, their weapons become irrelevant."
The strategy paid off when the Supreme Court ruled that the current path of the fence around Bilin offered no security advantages. Villagers will now be able to reach their crops without having to pass through gates in the fence manned by soldiers.
In Al Walajeh, Ms. Alaraj says the protests would be meaningless without a challenge in the Israeli courts. Villagers fear that the construction of the separation wall – set to be more than 400 miles long total, affecting 92 Palestinian communities – will leave the hamlet completely surrounded.
Praise from the Palestinian press
Even though the Bilin ruling was not the first time the court ordered a portion of the barrier moved, it has resonated widely among Palestinians.
"It has become obvious that popular civil resistance has become the best way for national resistance from the occupation," wrote Waleed Salem in an Al Quds newspaper op-ed.
The civil disobedience taps into Palestinian nostalgia for the first intifada in the late 1980s, marked by grass-roots participation and stone-throwing.The current uprising is led by a network of underground militias, most of which have ties to political parties.
A way to heal Palestinian rifts, too
Just three months after Palestinians watched Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip from the Fatah-run militias, nonviolent protest against Israel is being seen as a way to heal rifts among Palestinians.
"Armed struggle has a side effect on the occupied people. Palestinians start to use this tool against the occupation, but in the end they use it against themselves," says Jabber. "Violence has become part of the culture. We realize that we have to reform."
In 2002, an open letter by Palestinian intellectuals against the use of suicide bombing failed to trigger a change in the uprising. Now, the demonstrations draw, at best, several hundred protesters – possibly because the protests are taking place in poor and isolated villages.Last Friday, only several dozen came out to move the boulders in Al-Walajeh. Palestinians say that after seven years of daily conflict, people are exhausted. "It's because of frustration," says Alaraj. "There's been real poverty in the last two years. And when you're not eating, then you don't think of anything else."
The opening of the road, organizers hope, will encourage more people to join the protests. "If everyone moves forward toward that objective it will be most effective," says Abdel Hajajreh, a demonstrator. "Don't forget, Gandhi liberated an entire country."
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