On violence and the Intifada

"It has now become standard to say that the Palestinians will make no progress unless suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians end," declares Ali Abunimah. "Increasingly, Palestinians correctly acknowledge that attacks targeting civilians are a cruel and illegitimate reaction to Israel's aggression. In addition to the toll in innocent lives, there is growing recognition that suicide bombings have harmed the image of the Palestinian people and their just struggle for freedom." But, he concludes,

To pretend that unilaterally ending violence by Palestinians -- were that even possible -- while Israel's occupation -- by definition also violence -- is allowed to continue effectively unchallenged by the international community, would suddenly produce an Israel willing to withdraw behind its borders, is to ignore everything all Israeli governments have worked for throughout Israel's existence.

All Palestinians have an interest in immediately ending attacks on Israeli civilians, just as they have a genuine self-interest in developing democratic governance. But those who have seized on these two issues and made them the litmus test for further progress, as well as an excuse to avoid talking about the urgent need for international action to end the occupation, are not helping either the Palestinians or Israelis who want peace. These goals -- unattainable while Israel's daily assault on Palestinian civil society continues -- have been deliberately emphasized in order to provide Israel with cover to continue a colonial occupation that guarantees the death count will continue to climb on all sides, with no end in sight.