Palestinians for nonviolence

In the wake of the second intifada and the increase in suicide bombings over the past four years, it’s tempting — particularly post 9/11 — to pidgeonhole all Palestinians as a feckless, violent people. Sheik Yassin’s assassination and the resulting protests in the occupied territories only reinforce that perception. That kind of easy stereotyping is ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

In the wake of the second intifada and the increase in suicide bombings over the past four years, it's tempting -- particularly post 9/11 -- to pidgeonhole all Palestinians as a feckless, violent people. Sheik Yassin's assassination and the resulting protests in the occupied territories only reinforce that perception. That kind of easy stereotyping is dangerous, because it obscures the complexities within Palestinian society that I've discussed in the past. I'm not saying that Palestinian civil society is in a healthy state -- merely that it would be a mistake to assume that Hamas/Islamic Jihad/Al-Aqsa = Palestine. On that note, the Chicago Tribune reports the following:

In the wake of the second intifada and the increase in suicide bombings over the past four years, it’s tempting — particularly post 9/11 — to pidgeonhole all Palestinians as a feckless, violent people. Sheik Yassin’s assassination and the resulting protests in the occupied territories only reinforce that perception. That kind of easy stereotyping is dangerous, because it obscures the complexities within Palestinian society that I’ve discussed in the past. I’m not saying that Palestinian civil society is in a healthy state — merely that it would be a mistake to assume that Hamas/Islamic Jihad/Al-Aqsa = Palestine. On that note, the Chicago Tribune reports the following:

Sixty prominent Palestinian political figures and intellectuals published a statement Thursday urging restraint and peaceful protest instead of violent revenge for Israel’s assassination this week of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, founder of the militant group Hamas. The unusual appeal came after Hamas and other armed factions vowed to strike Israel on an unprecedented scale in retaliation for the killing of Yassin in a helicopter missile strike Monday in the Gaza Strip. It also came a day after a 16-year-old boy wearing an explosives vest was disarmed in the West Bank, an event that shocked many, including the boy’s family. The Palestinian statement, published on half a page of the Al-Ayyam newspaper, called on Palestinians to break the violent cycle of strike and response, reflecting a growing assessment among mainstream leaders that armed attacks have hurt the Palestinian cause…. The signatories included senior members of the mainstream Fatah movement, lawmakers, academics and peace advocates. “We feel Sharon has dictated his agenda on both sides, condemning the Israeli people to acts of retaliation and more suicide bombings, and he has also forced the hand of the Palestinian organizations to exact revenge,” said Hanan Ashrawi, a lawmaker who signed the statement. “We want to expose Sharon’s policy and prevent the Palestinians from reacting constantly, and to say that there is a way to resist occupation through non-violent means,” she added. Another signer, Ahmad Hilles, the head of the Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip, said that “it is not in the Palestinians’ interest for the conflict to become an armed conflict, . . . the arena preferred by Sharon.”

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

Tag: Theory

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