I was saying to a co-worker a couple months ago, during the most recent round of violence in Gaza, that the Palestinians needed some sort of Muslim Gandhi; someone to lead a non-violent opposition to Israeli occupation.

Could the latest events in Iran spark a non-violent Palestinian movement?  It’s impossible to tell at this point, and I think it will depend a large part on the success of the current “Green” movement in Iran.

A reader writes to Sullivan with similar thoughts:

I had a conversation at lunch yesterday with a friend, a neocon Jewish American, that fascinated me.  We were getting ready to get up from the table when he said, “Hey, wait a minute, do you want to talk politics for a minute?”  We proceeded to discuss the events in Iran and at one point I brought up my amazement at the protesters’ embrace of non-violence and their courage in the face of aggression.  I said, “I wonder if this will be a lesson to the Palestinians.  That perhaps if they renounce violence and embrace peaceful resistance they too could garner more international support for their cause, a la Gandhi.”  His reaction fascinated me.  He got this very serious, dour look on his face and replied, “That’s what worries me.  The biggest existential threat to Israel is that the Palestinians will realize the potential for non-violence and embrace it.”

I finally understood why some of the more cynical neocons cannot stand the Green Revolution.  Without a conflict, without a bogey man to demonize, they are scared to death.  In their minds their legitimacy comes from the fact that they are better than the bogey man, that they are necessary to keep the bogey man at bay.  I don’t think that the nation of Israel is so fragile that it could not come to terms with a peaceful movement for Palestinian statehood.

As soon as the Palestinians realize the power of a non-violent approach, the two-state solution will materialize in a flash.

Tags: iran, Israel, non-violence, Palestine

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