The time was almost midnight, on Sept. 20, when a number of satellite television
stations interrupted their regular programming to announce that Israeli soldiers
had warned Palestinians living near Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah that
the building would be blown up in 15 minutes if those inside it didn't come out.
Within those tense minutes, the streets of Ramallah filled with ordinary Palestinians.
Marchers, often led by women, increased in number as people trapped in their homes
for days on end decided to shake off the injustice that had befallen them. Many
demonstrated more in defense of their national honor than in support of Mr. Arafat.
The popular uprising that began in the Ramallah neighborhood of Umm al Sharit
quickly spread to Nablus, Tulkarem, Gaza and Bethlehem. The next day, women and
men came out with pots and pans and beat on their household utensils as a sign
of anger and protest. The following day, a candlelight vigil was held as a way
to break what people considered a repressive curfew.
In 1987, Palestinians introduced the term intifada into the international
lexicon, when thousands of youths armed with nothing more than stones rose up
against Israeli guns and tanks. In the fall of 2000, when rioting broke out following
the visit of Ariel Sharon to the area around the al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem,
many called those protests the al Aqsa, or second, intifada. Now, with what happened
the evening of Sept. 20 in Ramallah, I believe we are witnessing the birth of
the third intifada.
Since that night, schools in many West Bank cities have remained open, defiant
of Israeli curfews. Some areas are organizing popular schools. Some of the more
affluent schools are sending homework to their students via e-mail. Curfew days
have become high traffic days on the Internet as most people are doing their office
or school work from their homes. A major culture is being written up, recorded,
photographed and spread on cyberspace about life under curfew.
What happened late that Friday night was not without warning. A week earlier,
the representatives of the Palestinian people did something unprecedented in Arab
politics: They forced a government appointed by Mr. Arafat to resign rather than
be shamed by a confidence vote. At about the same time, a public opinion survey,
commissioned by the Search for Common Ground, found that a majority of Palestinians
supported the idea of non-violent resistance. Hence the peaceful protests that
started 10 days ago.
In the two previous intifadas, those who favored more violent confrontation
soon came to dominate the protests. Such acts are not only contrary to the spirit
of non-violence, they also endanger those involved, quickly limiting the possibility
that large numbers of ordinary Palestinians might participate.
For a long time, many international critics of the Palestinians have been asking
why we don't use non-violent methods to effect change. They argue that if Palestinians
do that, a major change will take place in Israeli and international public opinion
that will eventually be translated in political terms. Many of us have doubts
about that, seeing that the Sharon government is only interested in a Palestinian
population that raises the white flag of surrender.
When Palestinians in Ramallah carried out their plans to hold a candlelight
vigil on Wednesday night, the Israeli army, which had said it would lift Thursday's
curfew, reversed its position and reimposed the curfew. Some people obeyed the
renewed order; most didn't. Schools in particular have decided that they will
no longer call off their teaching duties according to Israeli army dictates.
What is worrisome, however, is that the Israeli and international press have
ignored or belittled the non-violent nature of what happened in Palestine last
week. It seems that the long-awaited change in Israeli and U.S. public opinion
will not happen soon, as both peoples continue to be bombarded by news that fulfills
the aspirations of those wishing to end the conflict in a violent way.
Daoud Kuttab is director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al-Quds University
in Ramallah. dkuttab@ammannet.net
© 2002 Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc
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