'Third Intifada' flares up across the Middle East and on a Chicago campus
Reageer (0)18-5-2011
Palestinians commemorated Nakba Day on Sunday, protesting as part of the official start of the “Third Intifada.” Massive nonviolent protests took place in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt, West Bank, Gaza and even inside Israel. Indeed, these protests were unprecedented and undoubtedly influenced by the Arab brethren of the Palestinians who have recently risen up in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain and Syria.
But this isn’t the first time Palestinians have used nonviolence. Palestinians, long before the Arab Spring, have been practicing nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience. It made up the core of the First Intifada, before it was violently suppressed by Israel. The Second Intifada, on the other hand, was characterized by violent resistance. But once again, it was met with brutal violence. So for the past few years, Palestinians have reinvigorated the nonviolent struggle, more powerful than ever before.
Peaceful demonstrations, hunger strikes and sit-ins have been taking place weekly across Palestinian towns and villages like Bi’lin, Silwan, Shiekh Jarrah, Budrus and Beit Omar in recent years.
The Third Intifada is indeed similar to the First, encompassing nonviolent resistance once again. But this time around, it’s not just the Palestinians. International activists are standing up for Palestinian rights, both abroad and within the occupied territories.
If you go to West Bank or Gaza, you’ll find tons of people from all over the world. People just like Rachel Corrie and Vittorio Arrigoni. They work and volunteer in Palestine to organize and help build up Palestinian society while participating in creative nonviolent resistance against Israeli policies. Many Israelis even risk arrest by crossing borders and coming to stand in solidarity with Palestinians. Moreover, hundreds of internationals have risked their lives to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza through the Viva Palestina convoy and the Freedom Flotilla. It has become clear that this is no longer just a Palestinian issue; it is fundamentally a human issue.
It can be argued that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has been the catalyst in changing the Palestinian struggle into a struggle that people can engage in globally. In 2005, Palestinian civil society initiated a call for BDS from Israeli institutions, companies and academia. Today, the call has become an international movement, reigniting activism worldwide, especially on college campuses. Many campuses have divested from companies that support Israel, Hampshire being the first.
BDS campaigns come in many different forms. This week, there has been media buzz about Students for Justice in Palestine’s (SJP) campaign to replace Sabra hummus at DePaul University in Chicago, which I helped to launch. A campaign against hummus may seem harmless, but it was dubbed as one of the most “serious” cases of BDS in the US.
