On Fri, 13 Oct 2000, Brad DeLong wrote:
> >I'm flabbergasted, Brad. Do you know any Israelis? Suggest to any of
> >them, anywhere on the political spectrum, that mass non-violent resistance
> >would have ever worked even to a minimal extent and they will look at you
> >like you are talking about your past lives.
> >
> >Michael
>
> Worked for them: no. Worked on them: probably. Worked on the U.S.
> Congress: certainly...
I'm kind of curious, Brad. What kind of action are you thinking of? The Palestinians could have sat down in Gaza until they were blue in the face and nobody would ever have noticed. If they tried to stage such things in Israel, and had any success (which they would not have), Israel would simply have sealed the border, a common occurrence that has never caused them any PR problems in this country.
As for the US Congress noticing, I don't know what you're thinking. Not only is Congress congentially oblivious to anything happening overseas that is both nonviolent and unsupported by a key domestic lobby. But what we call liberal on Palestinian rights is what Israelis call hawkish.
And as far as it working on the Israelis, which was my original point, no. If anything could ever have set off a politics of compassion in Israel it would have been the video of Muhammed al-Dura. And two weeks ago Israel was probably more susceptible to such feelings than at any previous time in its history.
Had there not been an intifada, there would never have been a peace process. Sad but true.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com