The Palestinian Peace Movement

[ermoore]

So I was just wondering, I have a friend who swears that the vast majority of Palestinians are peaceful and not violent. I'm deeply skeptical. Here's the way I figure it.

First of all, I guess we have to define what she meant by the Palestinian peace movement. I mean, the terms of the peace would affect who is in favor of it. Even Hamas wants peace (just peace without Israel).

But what I was wondering is what are the numbers of the Palestinians who oppose using violence against Israelis, particularly citizens. Anybody seen any polls? I just would like a general idea. Obviously whatever their number they don't much coverage in the media (which doesn't necessarily mean a lot, I know).

[Fredda Weinberg]

1. The polls consistently show this

Majority of the voters, including a major chunk of the Hamas supporters were in favour of a compromise with Israel and was ready to accept its existence and identity, he said.

"The Palestinians today are the most moderate in their years long history of conflict. They are fed up with bloodshed and violence. The willingness to accept each other is now more and more visible among the Palestinians as well as the Isrealis" he noted.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=February2006&file=Local_News2006021934212.xml

[ermoore]

3. Good article.

That's an interesting article. It's a pretty upbeat and optimistic, but I have a couple more questions.


"A majority of the Palestinians who went to vote in the recent parliamentary elections, including one-third of the Hamas voters supported the Middle East "road map", according to an exit poll."

What exactly does it mean that they support the "Road Map"? I can't read the road map, so at this point what would following the road map entail? Is it a return to pre-1967 borders? What else?


This, however:

"Majority of the Palestinians, however, believe that their violent struggle, rather than efforts on the diplomatic levels helped achieve their national goals.
'Negotiation' which was the key asset of Fatah has lost credibility among them."

does not seem to bode so well for the peaceful intentions of the vast majority of the Palestinians. I don't know. Maybe I'm not reading it right, but oh well.

Oh yeah, and btw, Battlestar Galactica is frakkin' outstanding!

[Tom Joad]

2. See this story... AFSC nominates Palestinian for Nobel Peace Prize

http://www.imemc.org/content/view/16579/146

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker peace and social justice organization, has nominated two candidates for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize: Ghassan Andoni, ex-director and co-founder of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between People, (PCR) from Palestine and Jeff Halper, director and founder of the Israeli Committee against home Demolition (ICAHD) from Israel, for the work they do for peace.

The American Friends Service Committee is a faith-based organization working for peace, justice and reconciliation. With national headquarters in Philadelphia and offices in 22 countries of the world, AFSC emphasizes people, not politics or ideology - upholding the dignity and promise of every person.

"The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker humanitarian service organization, has nominated two candidates for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize: Jeff Halper from Israel and Ghassan Andoni from the West Bank and Gaza," the press release stated.
.....
Little is known about the nonviolent protests that have been taking place every week in the village of Bil'lin, in protest of the wall being built that will destroy their access to their farmland, and basically destroy their village. They are met with tear gas and sound bombs and even sometimes live ammunition, but still they preservere... and they are joined by Israelis and Internationals in their struggle. Many Palestinians have been jailed, tortured, and some even have been deported from their homeland for their role in resisting the occupation.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/category/bilin/

It really is an untold story.

I think the main question, for us, is what are we doing to stop the violence? Will we work to prevent our tax dollars to be used to destroy Palestinian homes (tens of thousands destroyed in the last few years alone), Palestinian olive trees from being plowed under (hundreds of thousands of these lost)? The question is what can we do to support the nonviolent resistance to the occupation. A real peace movement is about achieving some measure of justice, not merely an absence of visible violence. So if we want peace in the Middle East, we must work for justice.

[Lithos]

4. Locking per I/P guidelines

Not based on a recent news or op-ed article.

Lithos
I/P Forum Moderator