Said on American Zionism

[Brad DeLong]

>Brad,
>
>>>Why do you believe a sudden pledge of non-violence on the part of the
>>>Palestinians would somehow eliminate the pro-Israel bias in the Western
>>>press?  Why should the Palestinians believe this will help them achieve
>>>their goals, rather than be an effective capitulation to Israeli
>>>domination?
>
>>What's the goal?
>>
>>Is the goal to push the Israeli's into the sea? Is the goal to kill a
>>bunch of people or blow up a bunch of buildings? Or is the goal to
>>convince the center of the Israeli electorate that nothing bad will
>>happen if the Palestinian authority is sovereign over parts of Temple
>>Mount?
>
>The Palestinian goal is to be granted an independent state.  Perhaps there
>are other options, such as a single, secular, multi-ethnic state that J.
>Hearfield mentioned.  But in any case the Palestinians want to be full
>citizens with the same rights and voice in their communities as other
>people in the region.  And they deserve to have their wishes granted -
>Palestine is as much their homeland as it is for the Israelis.
>
>The question is, how to accomplish this goal.  I believe your claim is that
>they should renounce violence and resist peacefully.  If the Palestinians
>would just stop bombing buses and keep the Intifada in line, then Israeli
>repression would somehow stand out to such an extent that Israel would be
>pressured to give in to Palestinian demands for autonomy...

Say, rather, that the Israeli government would decide that it is in 
its own interest to give in to Palestinian demands for autonomy over 
essentially all of Gaza and the West Bank. Weapons are, after all, 
ultimately useful only as ways of changing other people's minds...

Brad DeLong