In the past Palestinians depended on violence and terror. Since then the PLO has denounced terror and accepted the two state solution. Even Hamas, which is still a violent terrorist organization, has renounced suicide bombing recently. Nicholas Kristof is now urging them to take it a step further:
The Palestinians’ best hope would be a major grass-roots movement of nonviolent peaceful resistance aimed at illegal West Bank settlements, led by women and inspired by the work of Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A growing number of Palestinians are taking up variants of that model, although they sometimes ruin it by defining nonviolence to include stone-throwing and by giving the leading role to hotheaded young men.
The Israel Defense Forces can deal with suicide bombers and rockets fired by Hezbollah. I’m not sure that they can defeat Palestinian women blocking roads to illegal settlements and willing to endure tear gas and clubbing — with videos promptly posted on YouTube.
(something to keep in mind is that it is the moderate Palestinian organization Fatah that is in charge of the Palestinian political infrastructure in the West Bank)
More writers and intellectuals need to echo this call for non-violent resistance. Israel would be utterly incapable of dealing with all the negative PR that would come out of it. Israel is almost completely isolated from the rest of the world because of its extreme policies as of late. But after something like this Israel could end up isolating itself from even the American public, which has been very forgiving of Israel's indescretions towards the U.S. Including patronizing our President in the oval office, emasculating our Vice-President, and recently thumbing their noses at us by ignoring our calls to stop building the settlements.
This would eventually force Israel to freeze all settlement building, or risk isolating itself from the entire world - including the U.S. But until a Gandhi or MLK figure emerges, the peace process will be in a holding pattern:
So where do we go from here? If a peace deal is not forthcoming soon, and if Israel continues its occupation, then Israel should give the vote in Israeli elections to all Palestinians in the areas it controls. If Jews in the West Bank can vote, then Palestinians there should be able to as well.
That’s what democracy means: people have the right to vote on the government that controls their lives...
Is Israel a democracy at this point? Based on the facts it is hard to say it is. So the argument that we must support Israel because it is a beacon of freedom and democracy in the Middle East rings a little hollow...