Nicholas Kristof has an interesting column questioning whether the Palestinians can organize a non-violent protest against Israel. Turns out from the Palestinian perspective, youths throwing rocks is a non-violent protest. Kristof writes:
Despite being stoned and tear-gassed on this trip, I find a reed of hope here. It’s that some Palestinians are dabbling in a strategy of nonviolent resistance that just might be a game-changer.
No doubt about it that it would be a game changer, but the Palestinians are a long way away from non-violent protests.
But imagine if Palestinians stopped the rock-throwing and put female pacifists in the lead. What if 1,000 women sat down peacefully on a road to block access to an illegal Jewish settlement built on Palestinian farmland? What if the women allowed themselves to be tear-gassed, beaten and arrested without a single rock being thrown? Those images would be on televisions around the world — particularly if hundreds more women marched in to replace those hauled away.