Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Gandhi and the Middle East Redux
To follow up on my previous post on the subject, the BBC is reporting that Arun Gandhi, the grandson of the Mahatma is on a peace mission in the occupied territories to preach non-violent struggle in order to achieve a settlement and reconciliation with the Israelis.
"I am going to tell the people about the value of non-violence. I am going to tell them that 55 years of violence has achieved nothing but more agony and heartaches and that it is time for them to try new ways of dealing with the issue," Arun Gandhi told BBC News Online. He feels that the Palestinians have no alternative but to pursue peaceful methods of resistance to Israel in the long term. "It is the safest and sanest alternative. Violence has not achieved anything. The Palestinians do not have the capacity and the ability to match the weapons of mass destruction that are available to Israel. So it is virtually suicide for them," says Arun Gandhi.
Non-violence is not alien to the Palestinian resistance, says Mohammed al-Atar, director, Palestinians for Peace and Democracy. "In the first intifada the Palestinian people called the shots and the occupation reacted to it," he says. "We boycotted their (Israeli) products. We called labour strikes when we wanted. They closed our schools. We opened our homes as schools. We refused to pay their taxes. We were in charge."
Now, if only al-Atar (or Arun Gandhi, for that matter) could sell the same ideas to Hamas, Hezbollah and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. No harm in hoping, I guess.
"I am going to tell the people about the value of non-violence. I am going to tell them that 55 years of violence has achieved nothing but more agony and heartaches and that it is time for them to try new ways of dealing with the issue," Arun Gandhi told BBC News Online. He feels that the Palestinians have no alternative but to pursue peaceful methods of resistance to Israel in the long term. "It is the safest and sanest alternative. Violence has not achieved anything. The Palestinians do not have the capacity and the ability to match the weapons of mass destruction that are available to Israel. So it is virtually suicide for them," says Arun Gandhi.
Non-violence is not alien to the Palestinian resistance, says Mohammed al-Atar, director, Palestinians for Peace and Democracy. "In the first intifada the Palestinian people called the shots and the occupation reacted to it," he says. "We boycotted their (Israeli) products. We called labour strikes when we wanted. They closed our schools. We opened our homes as schools. We refused to pay their taxes. We were in charge."
Now, if only al-Atar (or Arun Gandhi, for that matter) could sell the same ideas to Hamas, Hezbollah and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. No harm in hoping, I guess.
