Opinion Why Flotillas and Protests Threaten Israel More Than Rockets From Gaza
Opinion Why Flotillas and Protests Threaten Israel More Than Rockets From Gaza
Two major incidents in Gaza this week
demonstrated the stark choices being made by those opposed to the
Israeli blockade of the territory: the non-violent way of the olive
branch, or of the bomb. During this break from successive Israel-Gaza
wars, the efforts of non-violent alternatives are quashed or are seen as
marginal phenomena. Can this ever change?
Rockets vs. flotillas vs. bombing raids
The
first involved a group of 13 courageous international peace activists,
including an Irish Nobel peace laureate, a former South African Olympic
athlete and a retired American colonel. They were on board a small yacht
with the grand name of the Zaytouna-Olivia flotilla, which sought “to break the blockade and celebrate on the shores of Gaza,”
according to Wendy Goldsmith, a Canadian on board. Instead, and as was
expected, the Israeli navy intercepted the flotilla while it was still
in international waters and forced it to dock in Ashdod.
Meanwhile, a previously unknown Salafist group fired a rocket into Israel,
which landed claiming no casualties, in the name of "oppressed brothers
and sisters" living under Israeli occupation. As has become routine in
such incidents Israel struck back hard, bombing numerous targets in
Gaza, also with no casualties.
But neither of these incidents would have occurred had Israel and Hamas reached a fair deal to lift the blockade on Gaza.
Israeli and Palestinian hawks see opportunity in war
For
all the efforts of mediators and go-betweens and all the reports of
planned or indirect negotiations, there has been little or no
perceptible change to the status quo since the cease-fire of 26 August
2014, except for the continually deteriorating humanitarian and economic
situation in besieged Gaza. War has cost the Strip at least three times its annual GDP and the Israeli blockade has shrunk the economy to a quarter of the size it would have been.
Even
these pitiful efforts to carry out a dialogue have been condemned by
the hawks, such as far-right Israeli politicians, including current
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and fringe militant groups in Gaza,
who prefer war-war to jaw-jaw. Sadly, the ingredients for an explosive
new war are packed into a rapidly decaying toxic status quo; all that is
missing is the spark.
At
the core of the Gaza quagmire is a fundamental misunderstanding of what
war and political violence can achieve in the Israeli-Palestinian
context. Whenever violence flares up or war unleashes its ugly
devastation, Israeli and Palestinian hawks take wing to persuade large
portions of their populations that there is no choice but to take up
arms and that, this time, a decisive blow, which never actually
materializes, will be dealt to the enemy and victory assured.
This attitude is particularly prevalent when it comes to Gaza. For instance, the 2014 war enjoyed almost universal support in Israel, as did the earlier 2012 conflict.
On the other side of the divide, not only did a majority of Palestinians believe,
shortly after the end of the 2014 war, the Hamas rhetoric that it had
defeated Israel, 86% supported the resumption of rocket attacks if
Israel did not lift its blockade of Gaza.
This
jingoistic attitude was not just the statistical quirk of overzealous
pollsters but reflected a palpable reality. I was taken aback by the
antagonism and hostility expressed by normally sensible and moderate
Israeli and Palestinian voices I knew, or the wave of attacks my criticism of the war and my advocacy of non-violence provoked at the time.
And
these polls hint at one war aim that is never publicly articulated.
Both Hamas and the Israeli government may shoot at each other, but these
are only proxy targets for the enemy they seem to hate even more than
the other side: the Israeli left and center, on the one hand, and Fatah
and the non-Islamist parties, on the other. There's nothing like a war
to silence Netanyahu’s and Hamas’s critics and boost their popularity –
at least for as long as the war lasts.
Beyond
the cynical manipulation of fear and hatred for short-term gain, there
also exists a fundamental misunderstanding of the other side’s mentality
– and of human nature itself.
'They only understand force'
There
is a widespread conviction among Israelis and Palestinians that the
other side only understands the language of violence and, hence, the
only way to get them to prick up their ears is to give them a bloody
nose, or worse.
But
all this achieves is that it breeds a surfeit of bitterness, hatred and
outrage on the other side – and the greater the devastation, the
greater the resulting determination to seek vengeance. Peaceful
resistance and activism, on the other hand, are far more powerful
weapons, as was demonstrated on Wednesday.
While
the Salafist rocket unlawfully targeting civilians provoked destructive
airstrikes and gave Israel a fig leaf for its militarism and unjust
blockade, the flotilla caught the entire world’s eye and made Israel
look like a bully. This may help explain why some on the Israeli right
seem to fear peaceful activism more than violent extremism.
Paradoxically,
although this cyclical violence almost invariably fails, its
credibility remains undiminished. This is because every shot fired at
the enemy eliminates the doves at home who are either shot down in the
crossfire or morph into hawks. Bloodshed also strengthens the hands of
extremists and fragments the political landscape, until violence becomes the path of least resistance, rather than last resort.
Resisting the occupation without violence
However,
if Israelis and Palestinians are to consider abandoning the way of the
sword and pursue the way of the word, this moral murkiness and
relativism needs to be abandoned by the people who should constitute
society’s living conscience.
Just
as the ingredients for devastating, outright war are there awaiting yet
another spark, the components for navigating a relatively non-violent
path out of the impasse are also in place.
Despite
the impulse of closing ranks during times of war, a minority of Israeli
and Palestinian activists and individual citizens opposed both Israel
and Hamas during the Gaza war. Enduring allegations of being sellouts
and traitors, not to mention threats to their person, some went as far
as to make their criticism public in a number of small anti-war
protests.
In addition, movements like Combatants for Peace (which was the subject of a moving documentary),
which brings together Israeli and Palestinian refuseniks, reject
violence perpetuated by both sides and believe not only that the
occupation must be resisted peacefully but that it must be actively
opposed by Israelis of conscience as much as it is by Palestinians.
And
despite the risks involved and the increasingly shrill opposition to
co-operation and co-resistance, Palestinians and Israelis of conscience
continue to stand shoulder to shoulder against the occupation in myriad
ways, from collaborations to improve daily life to the weekly joint protests in villages like Bil’in.
I
regularly pass and, on occasion have joined, the small group of joint
protesters in Sheikh Jarrah who come together every Friday, come rain or
heatwave, violence or quiet, to oppose in silence the settlement
enterprise in East Jerusalem.
The alternative? To become another Syria
So
long as these courageous, determined voices remain, no matter how
relatively few, hope will continue to flicker. However, I, like so many
disillusioned observers, fear that its weak heat may be extinguished,
with the worst-case scenario being a multi-fronted Syria-like conflict,
involving not just war between Israelis and Palestinians, but also
violent civil conflict within each society, as growing polarization and
animosity tears them apart.
Nevertheless,
I still hold out hope. As war and violence continue to prove their
ineffectiveness, the ranks of those seeking a peaceful alternative path
to peace will likely swell over the coming years. Their power will be
unwittingly amplified by the crumbling of the ossified occupation.
Although it may appear solid and durable today, the reality of the
occupation is more that of a wall of cards than an impenetrable
fortress.
As
has occurred so many times in the past, once enough people decide,
together, to act as a popular opposition, it’s enough to bring the
edifice crashing down. This will clear the way for a future founded on,
rather than undermining, the potential of two gifted and diverse
peoples.
Khaled Diab is an award-winning Egyptian-Belgian journalist, blogger and writer living in Jerusalem. He is the author of "Intimate Enemies: Living with Israelis and Palestinians in the Holy Land." Follow him on Twitter: @DiabolicalIdea
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