The suffering of people on both sides increases daily and the violence shows few signs of abating. Observers in the West, horrified by suicide bombings, often ask why there is no Palestinian Gandhi. They question why the Palestinians have failed to develop a nonviolent liberation movement more capable of winning the sympathy of the international community and liberal Israelis alike. They wonder what kind of society this is in which young men and women in the prime of life line up for the chance to kill themselves and innocent civilians in suicide attacks and the majority of the public supports their deeds.
The absence of Gandhi has pained progressives and liberals in America who think a Palestinian Gandhi could bring an end to the horror. But, those who yearn for a Palestinian Gandhi fail to realize that those similar to Gandhi could exist in Gaza and never become a lightning rod for attention like Gandhi might have been because of the control that Israel has over media in the Palestinian Territories. Also, the U.S. has considerable control over the messages that reach people here in America and that has a way of letting those in U.S. government get away with supporting occupation in Israel by offering arms and more to Israel.
Again, many Gandhis could exist and never become anything like the Gandhi the world remembers. Israel would not want any Palestinian to become a martyr.
U.S. and Israel would never let Palestinian revolutionaries use their spirituality like Gandhi. And, I suggest that what we think a Palestinian Gandhi would be is wrong; a Palestinian Gandhi would be more like a Nizar Rayan than the Gandhi we remember. (Gandhi was a Hindu and those who are revolting in Gaza are primarily Muslim.)
Obviously, the U.S. and Israel would not allow a Nizar Rayan to live freely.
But, let's say the U.S. and Israel began to do right all of a sudden. The people of the world especially those in America will not sympathize with a Nizar Rayan (or Gandhi) if they continue to lack an understanding of Palestine life under Israeli apartheid.Pearlman states a few pages later:
“…History has proven that Israel cannot pound the Palestinians into submission. No amount of military force can restrain a people committed to the justice of the cause. Neither security walls nor checkpoints will stop those who feel that they have nothing left to lose and no other way out of intolerable oppression.”
Israel’s leaders know this reality and with Bush still in power and with a propaganda machine working magnificently, Israel presses on. Israel creates pockets of purgatory here, there, and everywhere thinking eventually they will get rid of Hamas.
Media outlets are now suggesting Israel is going for a full-blown regime change, but what is regime change? Palestinians have never controlled the state which brings horror and humiliation to their families each and every day.
Still, President-elect Barack Obama clings to the idea that there is one president at a time.
I will continue to insist that when it comes to foreign affairs, it is particularly important to adhere to the principle of one president at a time, because there are delicate negotiations taking place right now and we can't have two voices coming out of the United States when you have so much at stake. [emphasis added]
Obama's voice could bring a halt to the Inferno being created by Israel. But, alas, he silences himself.
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