| http://reportersnotebook.com/newforum/indexforum.html On the Palestinian People's Right to use Violence to End the Occupation April 18 2002 at 7:31 AM Henry H. Lindner, MD On the Palestinian People's Right to use Violence to End the Occupation Henry H. Lindner, MD The laws of human interaction are as unavoidable as the laws of physics. If one chooses to live by violating other persons' lives and property, then one deserves to suffer violence. If one lives by the sword, one is liable to die by the sword. It is the position of Israel and the United States that the Palestinian people have no right to use violence to end the Israeli occupation. They are asked to surrender their right to resist and sit down with their overlords, hoping for a good offer. In fact the Palestinians did just this in 1993 at Oslo and got nothing but broken promises and more Jewish-only settlements. What are the rights of the Palestinians in this case? Do they have the right to use violence against Israeli civilians in order to bring the occupation to an end? Consider that there is a basic moral principle that underlies all human society: the non-initiation of violence. No one should initiate or maintain violence against another person. No one should control another person by force or the threat of force, or take anything of value from him without his consent. The violation of this law creates a state of violence among persons, and makes the perpetrator an outlaw. To return society to a state of peace, both the victim and other persons have the right to use violence to stop the perpetrator's aggression and force him to make amends. Most people recognize this principle, but there are subtle forms of violence to which persons can be blind. Indeed, there appears to be no violence as long as the slave obeys his master, the concentration camp inmates obey their guards, and the people under occupation obey their overlords. Such situations may appear "normal", the victims may even accept their state if they are raised from birth in the situation. The only way that these covertly violent relationships are exposed is when the victim refuses to obey. The perpetrator then must use violence to produce obedience; the victim fights back; etc. The covertly violent relationship becomes overtly violent. A vicious cycle of increasing violence occurs until one or the other party is completely victorious. This is the situation in the occupied territories of Palestine--territories Israel has chosen not to incorporate but to control and colonize. For society to function in peace and cooperation, all humans must condemn every form of violence, including relationships involving covert violence. The only moral solution, the only solution that maintains the principle of non-violence is to end the perverse relationship--be it slavery, imprisonment, or occupation. This is usually not within the victim's power; the relationship can be ended only by the perpetrator or by a person or group that is stronger than the perpetrator. It is therefore immoral, inhumane, and socially pathological for free persons to merely ask the victim to stop his violent opposition to the perverse relationship and negotiate better terms with the perpetrator. This is what is occurring as the U.S. demands that Palestinians stop attacking Israelis and negotiate with them. So why don't America and the rest of the "free" world insist, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 242, that Israel immediately withdraw to its 1967 borders? Why have Americans allowed this illegal, immoral, humiliating occupation to persist for 35 years? One is forced to conclude that Americans, who otherwise abhor racism and discrimination, have been blinded by their own religious desire to control the Holy Land and by the Zionist propaganda of their media. They believe a lie--that the occupation of the West Bank is benign and/or justifiable. They believe therefore that all Palestinian violence against the occupation and the occupiers is unwarranted and unjustified. They consider Israel to be the victim when it is in fact the aggressor. This is an error, and a costly one; not only costly to the Palestinians but to the entire world's morality. This cat is, however, out of the bag. The victim has decided to fight to the end. Thirty-five years of being treated like second-class humans and having all hopes dashed has created a state of complete desperation among the occupied Palestinians. They are willing to risk, indeed to sacrifice their lives to obtain justice and freedom. No ceasefire will hold unless the Palestinian people are convinced that an Israeli withdrawal is imminent. Israel can prevent attacks only by posting a 24hr. guard on every Palestinian. Indeed, the rest of the world will have to post a 24hr guard on every Arab or Muslim in the world who understands the criminality of the occupation. There is no going back for Israel, America, the Palestinians, or the rest of the world. The response of the Israeli and American governments has been to try to put the cat back in the bag. They have attempted to claim the moral high ground by ignoring the underlying perversity of the occupation and focusing attention instead on the sporadic violence of the Palestinian resistance to occupation, especially on its suicide bombers. They claim that because they kill Israeli civilians, the suicide bombings are unjustified, and even constitute sufficient reason to continue the occupation and make it more controlling and brutal. This argument, mouthed by every US official, media personality, and Zionist/Israeli commentator, is patently absurd, not to mention ineffective. Israeli citizens, as long as they support the occupation, are perpetrators, controlling and impoverishing the life of every Palestinian every day. How can they hope to live in security and comfort while they are brutally violating the rights of 4.5 million Palestinians? Are we not often reminded that Israel is a Jewish democracy? Being a democracy, who controls the government? Who serves in and supports the armed forces? Israeli civilians must admit the facts--their own actions have put them all at risk. They have no right to peace or safety until the Palestinians have peace and safety. Allow me use just one illustration to show that civilians have never been considered innocent of their government’s actions or immune from attack. In 1941, America was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor. America declared war and obtained victory by killing over 100,000 Japanese civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If this slaughter of "innocent civilians" was justified by their support for their government, consider how much more justified this act would have been 35 years later if, like the Palestinians, America had lost the war, suffered under a brutal, colonizing Japanese occupation for a generation, and had no other means to end the occupation! A suicide bombing, however horrible, is a small thing compared with the destruction of entire cities. War is just one form of violence. Occupation is another. All violence is hell. So what must the rest of the world do now? Do we continue to insist that the victim stop resisting and accept whatever terms the perpetrator wants to impose? Of course not. This would condone the occupation and guarantee an unjust "settlement". Calls for ceasefires and confidence building measures, such as the Tenet and Mitchell plans, are completely inadequate and inappropriate, as has been amply demonstrated. There is only one morally acceptable response to the occupation: Demand that it end at once! Israel should be asked and then forced to withdraw unconditionally and completely from East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan heights consonant with Arab League proposal. Then and only then should negotiations begin between the equally uncoerced Israelis and Palestinians. Any other approach, since it does not conform to moral principles, will not work, will only prolong the crisis, and will lead to more death and destruction. Israel has chosen war for over 50 years. It will have peace only when it chooses to live in peace with its neighbors. Dr. Lindner is an American general practice physician who has lived in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon. |
