> On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 5:16 PM, Robert Naiman <
> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org> wrote:
>
> 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?
>
How it's supposed to be a defense of Gitlin: not at all. How could you think I have any interest in that? On the contrary: my point is: ignore the totally irrelevant Gitlin, focus on supporting Palestinian nonviolent resistance. Don't let the fact that Gitlin is a pompous ass distract attention from what is important: supporting Palestinian nonviolent resistance.
>
> 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.
>
Why should I care if they object to "armed struggle under other conditions"? Like, if they lived on Alpha Centauri, maybe they would have a different opinion, so? The question is what they do in Palestine, under actually existing conditions. The villagers in Budrus successfully used nonviolent resistance to defeat the separation barrier. Did anyone ask them to sign an oath that they were pacifists?
> And I am aware of no period in which the overwhelming majority of
mobilized Palestinians > have not participated in civil, rather than
military, resistance.
Is this in dispute? It is besides the point. This statement doesn't distinguish, for example, between the First Intifada and the Second Intifada, which represented real and different political choices with real political consequences - including, in the latter case, a significant reduction in the number of mobilized Palestinians - as previously noted.
> --
> "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen
> lytlað."
>
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-- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org naiman at justforeignpolicy.org