What the Palestinians should do

What the Palestinians should do

http://arabnews.com/opinion/letters/article31391.ece

Arab News

By Seif A. Somalya, Mar 17, 2010

Nothing will come out of the so-called US-Israel crisis. Even if it is a crisis, soon the Zionist lobby will rein in the Obama administration.

For Palestinians, the notion of two states living side by side is just a hogwash and they need to try something which is practical and achievable, which will usher in a new political framework where Palestinians and Jews will live together under a new setup, followed by Truth and Reconciliation Commission which will try to heal the deep wounds inflicted over 62+years. Except the right of return of refugees, all other core issues will melt away. The refugee problem should be frozen, say, for another decade.

Even if the Hamas doesn’t support the Palestinian Authority, the latter now should declare a new struggle which is one of nonviolence, civil disobedience and noncooperation — called Satyagraha, very well enunciated and practiced by Mahatma Gandhi which won India independence without much hatred or sense of revenge. Satyagraha helped both Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela win the hearts and minds of their oppressors, and the passive onlookers — the Western world.

Zimbabwe won independence through armed struggle. This struggle brutalized both the leadership and the people and is still suffering from a persecution complex.

The front-line Arab states should chip in, by opening up their borders and helping the Palestinians economically, now that the PA has renounced violence. Slowly but surely all Palestinians should stop working for the Jewish state and boycott Israel in all spheres of their daily lives. Arab states too should boycott Israel diplomatically and economically, and the whole world will support the Palestinians because their struggle echoes the days of civil rights movement in the US and the freedom struggle of black South Africa.

It will mark a paradigm shift in the Palestinian pride and ego. Once Palestinians occupy high moral ground, the Jewish state will wilt under global pressures, realizing that their own survival and peace depends on making just and comprehensive peace with their fellow inhabitants. Extremism on both sides will be defeated too.