The third alternative
Mustafa Barghouthi explains why the international delegations visiting
Palestine are Israel's nightmare
Al Aharam, 30 January 2002
The Israeli government began the year by publicly launching its attack on a rapidly developing, third element of Palestinian civil society. Both my arrest and the assaults on myself and members of international delegations visiting the West Bank and Gaza Strip were the culmination of a series of difficulties facing us throughout the most recent visit of a 450-strong
delegation of internationals.
Ariel Sharon and his government have revealed -- in their extreme reactions to the work and presence of those involved in non-violent, grassroots activities -- their awareness that this movement weakens Sharon's racist type-casting of the Palestinian people and leadership.
Throughout the past 15 months, the Israeli government and media have attempted continually to polarise the Palestinians into two stereotypical categories: those under the umbrella of the Palestinian Authority, and those with Hamas and Islamic fundamentalists.
This definitive categorisation was vital for Israeli propaganda: through it, Palestinian society is divided into those supporting fundamentalism and those supporting an autocracy. This Israeli categorisation also enabled the Israeli government to portray an entirely militarised Palestinian resistance to the occupation, particularly in the visual portrayal of extremist groups. Such polarisation was also a vital means by which the Israeli government could realise its colonialist aims in the occupied Palestinian territories. By personalising the Palestinian resistance to occupation to focus on Arafat, and permitting only an extremist alternative, the Israeli government attempted to dehumanise the Palestinian struggle and to render impossible any potential for a peaceful resolution.
This Israeli polarisation omitted the possibility of a third, democratic alternative in Palestine. Such an element, however, is not only part of Palestinian society, but, in the face of Israeli colonialist policies, has gathered much support and strength. It has been increasingly vital that
Palestinians remain committed to democratic values and principles, and in recent months, supporters of these democratic elements have formalised themselves into a movement with much important local and international involvement.
Prominent Palestinian spokespersons developing and advocating a third democratic alternative in Palestinian society have recognised that a key to developing this lies in the growth of public participation in a struggle for freedom from Israeli occupation which focuses on non-violent resistance. Participation in such a struggle will simultaneously re-energise the Palestinian people with the hope that peace, security and independence are possible.
The presence and participation of international delegations to the West Bank and Gaza Strip has greatly facilitated the growth of public participation in a non-violent resistance movement. The presence of various delegations of internationals fulfills two important requirements of Palestinian civil society. Palestinians have been asking for an international protection force
to monitor events in the region for some time now. The US has twice vetoed a United Nations resolution asking for this. Faced with these vetoes, 10 months ago Palestinians began their own grassroots movement of international protection. Since then, delegations from a number of European countries, as well as Canada and the United States, have been brought over to witness and monitor the situation on the ground, reporting the reality back to their home countries.
On a second level, the presence of internationals has allowed the Palestinian public to participate in this non- violent struggle for independence. The international presence provides a degree of protection from Israeli attacks launched on those Palestinians involved in non-violent resistance. With an international element countering Israeli violence to some extent, public participation in the struggle has developed greatly in the last few months, as the value and power of non-violent struggle is realised, and people see external solidarity with their situation.
Public participation and international involvement have developed alongside one another, demonstrating the reality and strength of a unifying third movement. The Israeli government has revealed that it fears this democratic strength. Steady progress of the international movement -- known formally as Grassroots International Protection for Palestinians (GIPP) -- culminated over the Christmas period with a large delegation visiting the occupied Palestinian territories for a two-week period, during which internationals together with the Palestinian public were involved in marches, demonstrations, rebuilding of houses demolished by the Israeli army, symbolic re-planting of uprooted olive trees, and monitoring of checkpoints.
During their activities, the group came under continual attack from the Israeli authorities. They were denied entry to Hebron twice, and at Gaza, Israeli authorities refused their entrance, firing on them with tear gas and rubber- tipped steel bullets. In Nablus, the Israeli army fired high- velocity bullets over the heads of the group, and in the Ramallah area non-violent demonstrations by the group were met with rubber-tipped steel bullets fired by the Israeli army. In their final attack, when they arrested me, Israeli soldiers physically assaulted two members of the European Parliament, and several European participants.
The Israeli authorities clearly fear the growing strength of this movement -- not only for its representation of a real and solid democratic alternative for Palestinians, but also because it brings direct international attention to the reality of Israeli occupation, and the Israeli violence accompanying it. Ariel Sharon fears its power, which undermines his version of the two polarised and dehumanised stereotypes of Palestinians, which he would have the international community believe constitute Palestinian society. The existence of this movement demonstrates
the Palestinians' commitment to real peace and democratic values. Herein lie internal Palestinian unity and the key to a peaceful resolution to this conflict.
The writer is president of the Palestinian Medical Relief Committees and director of the Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute (HDIP) in Ramallah.
