Jun. 07, 2021
The Palestinian's Dilemma: Resistance or
moral Persuasion
In his “Fareed Takes” of May 24, recorded, that is, in the
middle of the latest confrontation between the Palestinians, led by Hamas, and
Israel, Fareed Zakaria argued that the Palestinians of Gaza and the occupied
territories were wrong using force against Israel. The reasons he gives are
familiar and, at first sight, reasonable: Israel’s economy (as measured by GDP
and foreign reserves) is stronger than that of any Arab country; Israel has a
very advanced technology sector; it is militarily strong and has a 100 atomic
bombs in its arsenal; in 1967 it defeated a combined Arab force in six days; in
past military confrontations with Gaza, the ratio of Palestinian to Israeli
kids killed was 20 or 30 to one; and the administration of Mahmoud Abbas is
widely considered as corrupt. Since the Palestinians cannot get their
legitimate rights through the use of force, ends the Zakaria argument, the only
way for them is to resort to the admittedly remote goal of “moral persuasion.”
This position, it must be added, is held by many Western observers,
particularly in the United States.
But to begin with, the facts, as presented, are eclectic and
tend to obscure reality. For example, while it is true that in 1967 the Israeli
army defeated a combined Arab force in six days, six years later, during the
Yom Kippur War in 1973, that same army nearly collapsed against the coordinated
assault from the armies of Egypt and Syria, were it not for the last minute
strategic US airlift, the operation Nickel Grass, that delivered weapons and
supplies to Israel ensuring its survival.
Furthermore, while it is also true that the Palestinian
administration of Abbas, a rival of Hamas, is considered corrupt, the Israeli
administrations have not always been known for their high ethical standards
either. Ehud Olmert, who conducted the war against Lebanon in 2006, and ordered
a ground invasion of Gaza in 2009, was later indicted on charges of corruption
and bribery and was sentenced to prison in 2015. The present prime minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu, is under trial, accused of bribery and fraud, and widely
expected to go to jail if he loses his immunity as prime minister.
Let’s go back to the main Zakaria proposition: Israel is
economically and militarily so strong as to make military Palestinian resistance
futile. The Palestinians should await a change of leadership in Israel that
will realize that it is in Israel’s national interest to give the Palestinians
their basic rights, a remote possibility as Zakaria admits.
This Israeli military superiority argument holds true, of
course, if the war that is being waged by the Palestinians against Israel was a
classic war of two regular armies in combat. But this is not the case. This is
not a classical war but an asymmetric one. The latest confrontation has to be
seen in this light, a link in a chain of the asymmetric warfare between the
Palestinians and the Israelis. “Against a superior foe,” wrote naval historian
Louis Arthur Norton in US Naval Institute’s Naval History Magazine in 2017,
“modern History has shown [that] asymmetric warfare can be quite effective.”
The asymmetric war of liberation is known throughout history.
Americans know it from their own experience in the wars of independence, and of
1812, when they defeated the British who had an overwhelming superiority on the
economic, technological and military fronts. They also know it, in reverse if
you will, from their war in Vietnam. The US GDP, at that time, was probably
more than 1,000 times that of Vietnam, the US had thousands of atomic bombs and
deployed, at one time, more than half a million soldiers equipped with the
latest and most lethal weapons known. But America lost the war, nevertheless.
The Arabs have also similar experiences in their recent history. The Algerian
war of independence (1954-1962), for example, pitted a scantily financed and
primitively equipped National Liberation Front (NFL) against France, an
economically advanced country and a major colonial power that had colonized
Algeria since 1830. The men and women of the NFL, after almost 8 years of
untold sacrifices, succeeded in “morally persuading” the French administration,
then under de Gaulle, to agree to Algerian independence.
Asymmetric warfare may be long and particularly costly to the
weaker side. The wars of independence and of 1812 together lasted over 10 years
and the number of dead among Americans was four to five times that among the
British. The Vietnam War lasted 20 years and was incredibly devastating to the
Vietnamese resistance and its supporters. The defeat of the Americans was
humiliating and enduring.
The American death toll in the two wars was probably three times
that of the British. The Vietnamese death toll in the Vietnam War was more than
20 times that of the Americans, however it is calculated. The Algerian death
toll in their war of independence was 100 to 300 times that of the French.
Nevertheless, Americans, Vietnamese and Algerians overwhelmingly agree that the
results were well worth the sacrifice.
The life of Palestinians in the occupied territories (OPT) and
Gaza is indescribably bad and has been documented by the international media
and by visitors of all persuasions, including those who are political
supporters of Israel. Demolition of Palestinian homes by Israeli authorities,
about 850 last year alone, as well as arbitrary confiscation of Palestinian
property, have been documented by the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Movement in OPT area is extremely
restricted. Amnesty International, in its 2020 report, counted 593 checkpoints
in the occupied territories that “heavily restrict the movement of
Palestinians” living there, including those going to hospitals, schools and
work. The humiliation of Palestinians at these checkpoints is blatant,
unconscionable and systemic.
One of the worst things facing Palestinians living in OPT, is
the Israeli detention system. At the end of last year, according to Amnesty
International, the number of Palestinian prisoners from the OTP was 4,300,
including 157 children. Most were “administrative detainees” that, under
Israeli law, can be held, without charges, indefinitely. Torture and ill
treatment are commonly committed by the Israeli prison authorities, including
beating, sleep deprivation and prolonged solitary confinement. The “knock at
the door,” in the middle of the night, is not an uncommon feature of
Palestinian life.
In Gaza, though not occupied territory, the situation is much
worse. In addition to the four devastating Israeli bombardments in the past 15
years, Gaza is under complete sea, air and land blockades by Israel (land
blockade also by Egypt) that restrict movement of persons and goods to and from
the area. Shortages are a way of life, including building material, fuel and
other essential commodities. Half of the labor force is unemployed, and more
than half of the population lives under the poverty line. The blockade limited
the spread of COVID-19 at first, but the disease has now spread to the point
that lead the local health authorities to declare the entire area “red zone,”
meaning that community transmission is high. Shortages of equipment (testing,
respirators) and needed infrastructure (electricity, backup generators) due to
the blockade is threatening a health disaster, according to the Lancet.
As for the Israeli Arabs, finally, many observers, as well as
international human rights organizations (lately Human Rights Watch and the
leading Israeli human rights organization, B’Tselem ), have called the Israeli
regime “Apartheid.” This was openly declared in a recent tweet by Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself: “Israel is not a state of all its
citizens,” he tweeted. “According to the basic nationality law we passed,
Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people – and only it.”
And this is only a snapshot of reality. To live under these
conditions, whether in the occupied Palestinian Territories, Gaza or inside
Israel, is not bearable. Fighting to change them and offering painful
sacrifices in the process, is not surprising. And, as we learned from the
Apartheid experience of South Africa and other asymmetric wars of liberation,
changing them is not impossible.
Riad Tabbarah is a former Lebanese ambassador to the United
States.
