Gorenberg on the Need for a Palestinian Ghandi

In April, Israeli author and blogger Gershom Gorenberg published an article in The Weekly Standard in which he argued that, as Israeli politics is now essentially bankrupt, any genuine movement toward peace will have to come from the Palestinians. The opening of the article imagines the source of this as a "Palestinian Ghandi."

Gorenberg also describes figures such as this who have emerged. But, he tells us, they have ultimately lost out both to a Palestinian elite that is opposed to their means and an Israeli state oppossed to their ends.

He also suggests that the first Intifada also contained the seeds of a nonviolent revolution .

The idea . . . was to end Israeli rule simply by ceasing to obey it, and by building a network of Palestinian committees that would govern instead. Involving everyone, unforgettably altering daily life, this was, in fact, a "popular" rebellion--tired as that term today sounds in English. It stood in singular contrast to the PLO's armed attacks from across the borders.

And indeed, the ultimate result of this uprising was the Oslo Accords, the creation of the Palestinian Authority and the very limited bit of self government that was acheived. Perhaps more important, Gorenberg suggests, it exposed a fissure in Israeli society between those who were comfortable with violence and repression and those who were troubled by it. And it is this fissure that is perhaps the last remaining hope for peace.