During the First Intifada, the Palestinian Communist Party argued
> strenuously - and successfully - within the Palestinian leadership
> against the introduction of weapons.
I'm not sure how this is supposed to be a defense of Gitlin. It seems more like an explanation of how he's full of shit. One cannot "introduce weapons" into an already armed struggle, no?
Your celebration of "[a] new generation ofyoung Palestinians ... turning towards nonviolence" may be misplaced. Participation in nonviolent demonstrations does not necessarily entail any objection to armed struggle under other conditions. And I am aware of no period in which the overwhelming majority of mobilized Palestinians have not participated in civil, rather than military, resistance.
-- "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað."