So Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will not meet with Palestinian President Yasir Arafat unless the “violence” stops. In response, we should halt the Intifada, invite the world moral leaders to a nonviolent march from Nablus to Khaleel, marching through Israeli checkpoints. If nonviolence is what the Israelis want, we should give them all the nonviolence headaches they can tolerate.
Let us invite Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Coretta Scott King, Bishop Saliba, Reverend Billy Graham, Jr., Israeli Peace Now leaders, and other world leaders to this nonviolent march. Let the Israeli army and the illegal warmonger Uzi taunting Israeli settler try to stop the march on Palestinian land and if they do, they will be “exposed.”
The need for “exposure” of the Israeli brutality and illegal occupation of Palestinian land needs creative and thought provoking ideas along the lines of this Nablus to Khaleel march with world moral leaders. The great moral leader of India, Mohandas Gandhi “exposed” the cruelty of the British tax on salt by marching 230 miles (320 km) to extract salt from the sea. The Reverend Martin Luther King “exposed” the inequities imposed on the right of African-Americans to vote with his Selma to Montgomery Freedom March. We need to “expose” the Israelis.
Exposure is media coverage that will show the world what Israel is really like and will hurt Israel more then just in publicity.
Lack of tourism dollars has hurt Israel more then the negative publicity. Since the beginning of this Intifada, (which, with all due respect, should be called the “Intifada for Independence” as this term is understood and appreciated by the world rather then the term “Al-Aqsa Intifada”) Israeli tourism has plummeted. Money is not going into the coffers of Israel merchants.
Other creative nonviolent actions should be thought out.
Hanan Ashrawi, a woman who is respected, revered and recognizable by the West, should be in the forefront of this nonviolent movement. Mrs. Ashrawi is well spoken and eloquent. She speaks with a moral conviction and determination and speaks to Westerns in a language they understand. And because of her celebrity status and leadership capabilities, if the time is right, she should be willing to get arrested and jailed.
Will the Israelis jail her? I think not, however, if they do they will fall into our trap. Thus, whether Mrs. Ashrawi is jailed or not, either way she can expose Israel like no other Palestinian can.
We need a leader with the eloquence and moral conviction of Mrs. Ashrawi to lead such a movement.
The time is now for a moral Palestinian leader to step forward to lead a creative nonviolent movement that will expose Israel.
(Mr. Fadi Zanayed, is an attorney practicing in Chicago, Illinois; a writer and poet (author of “Cycles of Frustrations” a collection of his poems about Palestine. He is currently working on a poetic fictional novel of a Palestinian born in Palestine in 1948 under an olive tree as his mother dies. The story is all in rhyming poetry which will tell the story of the plight of the Palestinians.)
Like this ? Vote for it to win in MMN Contest
