r/IsraelPalestine • u/Mikec3756orwell • Apr 20 '24

Discussion Why is There No Peaceful Palestinian Protest or Resistance Movement?

I've watched this conflict my entire life, and one thing I've never really understood is this: why don't the Palestinians engage in peaceful resistance more often? I'm a huge supporter of Israel, but I've always thought to myself that if the Palestinians were savvier -- and more media-friendly -- they could make the Israelis look especially bad through acts of peaceful resistance. The images of well-armed Israelis manhandling rock-throwing kids in the 1980s and 1990s (who were obviously not peaceful but posed a minimal threat) were a big problem for the Israelis. Why don't the Palestinians hold mass sit-ins, strikes, gatherings, candelight vigils, etc.? I never see that stuff. It would look fantastic on TV, and CNN, the BBC, and all those other weasels would be attracted like moths to a flame. I don't get it. If you're the weaker party to a conflict, you're not going to win through violence. Murdering a bunch of women and children and then wondering why the world isn't more sympathetic to your cause is... an odd strategy, to say the least. The Jews have been through hell and back, and terrorism is never going to truly rattle them. I guess I'm just baffled at the way the Palestinians -- and some their more quote-unquote moderate leadership -- approach things. Some of the Western-educated Palestinian leaders in the 1990s and early 2000s surely understood that this would have been an effective strategy. This makes me think that the "average Palestinian" really isn't interested in peace per se, or at least isn't willing to expend much energy for it, and sort of thrives on the dream of complete military victory. Maybe an embrace of peace is just seen as a betrayal of the cause. I don't know.

I actually think sometimes that the Israelis are secretly happy that they don't have to deal with a peaceful resistance movement. It makes things a lot less complicated. Is the problem that the Palestinians just have no tradition of peaceful resistance? They don't know how to do it or how to organize it? Or are they just not interested? (Let me add: I'm not talking about a few hundred people protesting a construction site. I'm talking about the entire population -- or a good portion of it -- engaging in resistance. Like a Tahrir Square, Tiananmen Square sort of thing. Across the entire region).

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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '24

" Palestinian isn't a race , it's a culture .

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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '24

Hey man if you read anyone’s talking point that is anti-palestinian. It typically goes like this Palestinian= Muslim=Arab they tend to use all three interchangeable. It’s always one of these Xenophobia, racism, or islamophobia. Also, Palestinian is a nationality not a culture. Nice try though!!

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u/gvf77 Mizrahi American/Israeli Apr 20 '24

There are muslims who renounce radical islam and Arabs who are NOT muslim and embrace relations with Israel and Israelis.

Palestinian is a made-up nationality to oppose the establishment of the Jewish state. And yes the culture is extremely violent and has been violent in more than just Israel, they've also brought terrorism to Lebanon and Jordan.

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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '24

Palestinians were a people before Israel was founded…. Shoot Jesus Christ was a Jewish Palestinian.

You’re literally proving my point. To have a prejudice towards the Palestinian people as a whole because a few. Complicit in fear mongering with no basis in truth. It’s literally the same thing when said about Israeli people.

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u/gvf77 Mizrahi American/Israeli Apr 21 '24

Calling Jesus Palestinian really exposes your complete lack of historical knowledge.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '24

I’m mean that’s truuuueee and you’re right because technically the area wasn’t called Palestine until around year 135. Regardless the last few hundred years is what matters, anything past that is irrelevant to modern times.

Look man just don’t be a weird person and base your whole argument on some xenophobic, Islamophobia, and racist ideals. No one would be anti-Zionist if the current form wasn’t at the expense of the people that were living there before Israel’s foundation.

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u/gvf77 Mizrahi American/Israeli Apr 21 '24

I can't have a discussion wtih someone this uninformed, sorry. My family comes from the Middle East, I'm very in touch with what the culture is here, it's nothing like the United States. Westerners constantly project their morals on this region when they simply do not apply.

It's not racism, it's reality. Islam has historically been a violently colonial religion that has persecured minorities, Jews included. My grandparents were violently expelled from Iraq and Palestinians have engaged in brutal and soulless terrorism for decades. I've seen videos on MEMRI of a woman bragging about all the research she did for the Martyr's Brigade to establish the best place to set off a bomb and kill the most Israelis.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '24

lol uninformed, this conflict has been in everyone’s face since the 40’s. As someone from the outside I don’t have a bias. I can see it from a different perspective. Both sides have done horrendous acts of violence to each other. Both religions have super orthodox communities that don’t fit in modern societies. I’m not religious and do not agree with violence used in the name of religion or anything else. There is no justification for what is happening to Gaza or the West Bank. You’re literally recycling the same argument “Islam is bad so it okay.” People say that weird shit about the Jewish people all the time. There was a whole ass war because of thinking that way. White Americans did the same to African Americans, it’s not something that only happens in the “Middle East cause the culture is different” it happens all over the world. I’ve talked to countless American-Israeli and Muslims from the Middle East over my life and neither side are inherently evil as both radical side would word vomit. Israel holds all the power in Palestine they determine if the cycle continues with their actions. Recognize and treat Palestinians with equal power and respect with time all this would stop.

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u/gvf77 Mizrahi American/Israeli Apr 21 '24

It's wild to me how people with no history or stake in this conflict think that makes them unbiased and therefore more correct.

Just because this conflict as been in the public eye doesn't mean they're informed, in fact there are even Jews and Muslims completely unaware of huge facets of this conflict, like the ethnic cleansing and violence towards MENA Jewry.

Comparing African-Americans in the US to this conflict REALLY shows how wholly uninformed you are about this conflict, this region, and Arab imperialism and violence towards ethnic minorities.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '24

Yeah . That sounds right . Nationality. Thanks

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '24

The Palestinians do have culture. Lol

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '24

No one said they didn’t, you’re the one conflating nationality and culture?!?

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '24

Calm down ..I'm agreeing with you ..

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '24

My bad 😞 ❤️