SOTN Editor’s Note: The following article lays out the most comprehensive plan to stop the horrendous war on Gaza.
In fact, there are so many proposed ways to terminate this hideous war that every person who reads this “Nonviolent Strategy to Halt the Genocide” can find at least one if not several ways to directly participate in this global peace movement.
Please pass this link around far and wide to further advance this anti-war initiative for the sake of the Palestinian who are now suffering a truly terrible fate. Remember, it’s the women and children, elderly and infirm in Gaza who are experiencing the greatest agonies from this ongoing invasion of their ancestral lands.
State of the Nation
February 2, 2024
Nonviolent Strategy to Halt the Genocide in
Gaza, Liberate Palestine and Defeat the Global Technocracy
By Robert J. Burrowes
Global Research
In accordance with its long-planned, detailed and comprehensive blueprint labeled ‘The Great Reset’, the Global Elite is currently implementing its program to reshape world order, kill off a substantial proportion of the human population, enclose the Commons ‘forever’, transfer all remaining wealth to the Elite and enslave those left alive in one of their technocratic ‘smart city’ prisons.
The methods for killing off people include the mandatory ‘Covid-19’ injection, which has killed at least 17,000,000 people worldwide so far – see ‘Global Study Links 17 Million Deaths to COVID-19 Vaccine, Reveals 0.126% Mortality Rate’ – and manipulation of the world economy, which has killed tens of millions historically, with the death rate now being dramatically accelerated as it is ransacked and dismantled. See Historical Analysis of the Global Elite: Ransacking the World Economy Until ‘You’ll Own Nothing.’
Beyond these methods, there are other more insidious killers such as electromagnetic radiation (with deaths rapidly accelerating as 5G is rolled out) – see ‘Deadly Rainbow: Will 5G Precipitate the Extinction of All Life on Earth?’ –
and geoengineered disasters – see ‘Geoengineering Watch’ and the trilogy of books by Elana Freeland culminating in Geoengineered Transhumanism:
How the Environment Has Been Weaponized by Chemicals, Electromagnetism & Nanotechnology for Synthetic Biology – as well as old and reliable favorites such as war and genocide currently being illustrated, respectively, by the ongoing war in Ukraine and the genocides against the Amhara in Ethiopia –
see ‘We’re Still Breathing: Amhara Genocide in Ethiopia’ – and the Palestinians in Gaza.
While this article will focus on the genocide in Gaza, it is important to recognize that this genocide against the Palestinians – second only in its severity to the original Nabka in 1948 – is simply exploiting longstanding Zionist aspirations to play a key part in fulfilling a wider Elite program.
Thus, in accordance with its Dahiya Doctrine – see ‘The Dahiya Doctrine and Israel’s Use of Disproportionate Force’ – the rapidly developing technocratic state of Israel, financed and weaponized by the United States, is fulfilling its role in the Elite program by genocidally attacking the Palestinian population of Gaza to kill as many people as possible –
see ‘Law for Palestine Releases Database with 500+ Instances of Israeli Incitement to Genocide – Continuously Updated’ – displace the remainder and fully technocratize Gaza.
Since long before its establishment on Palestinian land in 1948, Zionists committed to creating a Jewish homeland (‘Israel’) have wanted the entire land (and resources) of Palestine; they have never wanted the people. For brief accounts, see
‘The long history of Zionist proposals to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip’,
‘The War in Gaza: It’s Not About Hamas. It’s About Demographics’ and Amir Nour’s five-part series culminating in
‘The War on Gaza, Part V: How We Got to the “Monstrosity of Our Century”’.
For detailed scholarly treatments, see Professor Nur Masalha’s
Expulsion Of The Palestinians: The Concept Of Transfer In Zionist Political Thought 1882-1948,
Professor Walid Khalidi’s books All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 and Palestine Reborn,
Professor Rashid Khalidi’s The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance as well as the classic Israeli work on the subject by Professor Ilan Pappé The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.
If you prefer watching film, this four-part series does an excellent job with archival footage to also illustrate the long history of Zionist planning, political manipulation and imperial collusion that generated and maintains the extraordinary violence inflicted on the people of Palestine.
See ‘Al-Nabka: The Palestinian catastrophe – Episodes 1-4’.
But whichever way(s) you acquire a deeper understanding of what has taken place and why it is still taking place, several things will become clear. Most notably for me was (again) perceiving the sheer terror and insanity (and thus warped worldview and predisposition to violence) of those ‘behind’ the entire enterprise from the beginning right through to those responsible for imposing it now.
I have discussed this issue many times previously, including here:
‘The Global Elite is Insane Revisited’.
And if you would like to read the 23 emotional characteristics that define the psychological profile of ‘archetype perpetrators of violence’ (such as people like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and the Elite figures who put people like this in place), you can do so in the document ‘Why Violence?’ pp.12-15.
This partly explains why the amount of time it takes to kill or displace the bulk of the Palestinian population is of no consequence to Elite agents, including the Israeli and US governments, despite some authors expressing concern that the death of Israeli soldiers is costing the Israeli government support for its genocidal invasion.
See ‘Industrial Killing of Civilians in Gaza Won’t Defeat the Armed Insurgency’.
This is because it is neither the Israeli government nor the government of the United States orchestrating this genocide, even though it appears to constitute the latest manifestation of C19th Zionist aspirations to create a Jewish ‘homeland’ in an ethnically cleansed Palestine. Hence, what the respective electorates of Israel and the United States think of this genocide is inconsequential to their governments. The governments answer to a higher power.
Moreover, beyond killing or displacing the Palestinian population, the Israeli government will pursue one of two possible courses of action (or a combination of both): it will facilitate construction of the Ben Gurion Canal through Gaza – as discussed in:
‘Will Palestine Ever Be Free? Understanding Elite Strategy in the Global Context’ – and/or it will impose the necessary ‘smart city’ technologies on the predominantly Israeli-settler population that they intend will be living in Gaza when the war is concluded –
see ‘As genocide unfolds, Israel settlers plan “dream” beach house in Gaza’ and ‘Israeli company announce controversial housing project in devastated Gaza’ – and the inevitable technocratic rebuilding commences.
See ‘Palestine: “Peace to Prosperity” Through Technocracy’.
Having written that, however, it is worth noting that Gaza was already significantly technocratized, with several studies documenting that fact. See
‘The Reality of Gaza Strip Cities towards the Smart City’s Concept. A Case Study: Khan Younis City’,
‘The Smart City of Gaza: Technologies of Containment and the Urban Condition’ and
‘Why The Gaza Strip May Be The City Of The Future’.
But with Elite plans for all cities extensively documented in the ‘smart city’ literature readily available, there remains much more to make Gaza, particularly following its recent substantial destruction, into the technocratic prison that Elite planners envisage for us all.
This was highlighted by Elon Musk’s latest visit to Israel to discuss ‘the operation of Starlink satellite internet in Gaza’ with Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, during which it was made clear that deployment of the satellites – a critical foundation stone that enables creation of the new technocratic surveillance and control-oriented ‘smart cities’ – is already being planned even while the genocide is still being conducted and whatever ‘humanitarian’ slant might be attached to their deployment in the short-term. The agreement between Musk’s company SpaceX and Israel allows the company’s Starlink Internet satellites to operate in the Gaza Strip ‘with the approval of the Israeli ministry of communication’.
See ‘Has Power of Starlink Turned Elon Musk Into Tech Oligarch?’ and
‘Elon Musk’s Power as Geopolitical Arbiter Signals “Decay” of US State’.
Given that Israel agreed to it and there is no record of any Palestinian being consulted on this development, it is a straightforward conclusion that the satellites will be used to enhance Israeli surveillance and control (which is already substantial) of Gaza –
see ‘The Weapons Israel Tests on Palestinians Will be Used Against All of Us’ – and will, for example, presumably include deployment of AI-controlled machine guns, like those already deployed in the West Bank.
See ‘Israel deploys AI-powered robot guns that can track targets in the West Bank’.
After all, even with Gaza largely populated by Israeli settlers, Elite plans to imprison us all in ‘smart’ cities means that there is no distinction between Palestinians and ‘ordinary’ Israelis when it comes to how the future population of Gaza will be treated.
If you would like to read an account of how the televised genocide in Gaza is being used to advance the Elite program – including the extensive interests of the Rothschild family – while some sections of the world (including the UN, various national leaders, some Islamic and Arabic organizations and members of the protesting public) complain powerlessly, even while Hamas and its allies within Gaza and the West Bank as well as in the Axis of Resistance (Iran, Syria, the Ansar Allah [Houthis] in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq) offer military resistance, you can do so in this article: ‘Will Palestine Ever Be Free? Understanding Elite Strategy in the Global Context’.
But before departing this subject, what about those who argue that Israel is already suffering, or at least facing, strategic defeat in Gaza?
See ‘What Does Pentagon Chief’s Warning of Israeli “Strategic Defeat” Mean?’
and ‘Israel Headed for Strategic Defeat in Gaza’.
The problem is simple. Whether in politics or in other domains, while listening to what people say it is imperative to observe what they do. While articles such as these document a range of actors from the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, prominent actors in West Asia such as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and others in key Arab and Muslim states suggesting what Israel should do to end the genocide, none of them is willing to take any action that would force Israel’s hand, such as cut off weapons supplies, or even take action that would seriously impede Israel’s genocidal assault. The unspoken message to Israel is as follows: ‘We will make ourselves look good by calling on you Israelis to take some token action to end the genocide but we won’t get in your way. So go ahead.’
And it has never troubled the Elite (and thus its agents) about what might appear to be happening. To reiterate, it is no ‘strategic defeat’ for Israel, as some commentators have argued, or even a ‘political defeat of Israel on the global stage’ because it ignored ‘the fundamental precepts of international humanitarian law’ and allowed itself ‘to be characterized as a practitioner of genocide, and its actions against Gaza as war crimes’.
See ‘Israel Headed for Strategic Defeat in Gaza’.
So why don’t these issues concern the Elite and its agents? The answer is simple: As explained below, at the superficial level, the Elite knows that it cannot be held accountable (and it can protect those of its agents that it chooses for as long as it chooses). But there is a more fundamental reason which I will explain after briefly elaborating why the Elite knows it cannot be held accountable.
First, international law is a toothless tiger. Moreover, there is no national jurisdiction that can hold the Elite accountable either. The Elite is immune from prosecution in any court, anywhere.
Which means that even when international law is violated by Elite agents, efforts to prosecute them will fail.
See ‘ICJ Application Instituting Proceedings by South Africa against Israel in Gaza’,
‘Westerners believe in international law but there’s really no such thing’ and
‘The Criminalization of International Justice [both the ICJ & the ICC],
Second, the United Nations is powerless to enforce its resolutions when they run counter to Elite interests.
See ‘UN General Assembly votes by large majority for immediate humanitarian ceasefire [in Gaza] during emergency session’. Who is paying attention to this resolution?
Third, public opinion is worth nothing when merely expressed in the form of statements, petitions and demonstrations.
See ‘The Elite Coup to Kill or Enslave Us: Why Can’t Governments, Legal Actions and Protests Stop Them?’
So don’t be impressed/deceived by governments ‘calling for a ceasefire’ or its various equivalents, UN resolutions, scholars and others signing statements, calls for accountability under international law and large numbers of people signing petitions or protesting. Whatever the level of revulsion expressed, history teaches us that such actions mean nothing but are useful in convincing the ill-informed wider public that ‘something is being done’. It isn’t.
And this brings us to the most fundamental issue: For the Elite, ‘winning’ or ‘losing’ in limited contexts such as Gaza is not important. Killing as many people as possible, enslaving those left alive (these days, technocratically), redistributing wealth and reshaping world order to enhance Elite control are the desired outcomes. As has been the case for the past 230 years at least.
This is why, for example, the United States has been engaged in perpetual war since World War II, has conducted a wide range of coups d’état (‘regime changes’) or otherwise militarily intervened in other countries.
See Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II.
But it hasn’t mattered, from the Elite perspective, when the US lost, as it did in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
See ‘Despite Trillions Spent, the US Military Hasn’t Won a Real War Since 1945’.
The point is this: These wars killed millions of people (mainly civilians), enslaved many people (by forcing them into the periphery of the world economy), transferred enormous wealth to the Elite in a wide range of ways and consolidated Elite control. So it matters nought to the Elite if the US government is $34trillion dollars in debt – see US Debt Clock – and much of the US population impoverished.
But to return our attention to Gaza: If you want an accurate understanding of what is actually being done, just keep an eye out for any individual, government, international organization or other entity taking action that actually impedes the genocide and/or moves Palestine closer to liberation.
By this measure, the actions of Ansar Allah in Yemen – see ‘The Houthis Have Biden By the Shorthairs’ – and Hezbollah in Lebanon – see ‘Hezbollah Hit Israeli Gatherings on Border with Rockets, Artillery & Drones’ – constitute the forefront of solidarity action, in the military realm, being taken by third parties in defence of Palestine.
And people participating in the ongoing Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement – see ‘Act Now Against These Companies Profiting from the Genocide of the Palestinian People’ – are leading the resistance to the Israeli occupation and genocide in the nonviolent realm, although a great deal more needs to be done in this realm for it to have the strategic impact necessary to succeed.
My point is straightforward: After documenting ‘this catastrophe for the Palestinians’, long-time and highly regarded scholar Professor John Mearsheimer poses ‘one simple question for Israel’s leaders, their American defenders, and the Biden administration: have you no decency?’
See ‘Death and Destruction in Gaza’.
The answer, of course, is ‘no’. Elite agents, whether in Israel or the US (or elsewhere), do as they are directed, and morality of any kind is not a consideration. If wars and genocides throughout history, including the C20th, have taught us anything, it is that ‘decency’ is not a factor that enters into Elite deliberations when mass killing is organized and perpetrated to serve Elite ends. And anyone with a cursory knowledge of history and the capacity to analyze should know this too.
Because what other conclusion can be drawn from 5,000 years of war, genocide, human sacrifice, slavery, imperialism, colonialism, exploitation in a vast range of ways, and all of the other forms of violence?
The truly great tragedy is that vast numbers of ‘ordinary’ people, as emotionally-damaged as the Elite agents who ‘order them into battle’, carry out the orders they are given without reflection, as Israeli soldiers in Gaza are doing now.
See ‘Why Violence?’ and ‘Fearless Psychology and Fearful Psychology: Principles and Practice’.
In essence, if the primary objectives of Hamas – notably including statehood for Palestine, the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and an end to Israeli settler and police incursions into the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem: see the Hamas document ‘Our Narrative… Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ – are used as the measure of progress (as they should be), then the results are little short of catastrophic so far.
How even ‘winning’ the war in Gaza, assuming this ultimately occurs, achieves Palestinian statehood is problematic, to put it mildly; so far only about 240 Palestinian detainees and prisoners out of 5,000 – see ‘Statistics on Palestinians in Israeli custody’ – have been released in exchange for over 100 Israeli hostages; and there is no mention in anything I have read that suggests that any progress has been made on putting in place a protocol for ending Israeli civilian and police incursions into the al-Aqsa mosque, with the latest Good Shepherd Collective report advising ‘Settlers continue with their program to change the status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, with armed incursions.’ See ‘Weekly Report’.
So the only clear tangible gain for Hamas so far (in relation to its apparent objectives) is some 240 released prisoners.
The cost, on the other hand, is in excess of 30,000 deaths (of mainly children and women), the kidnapping of nearly 3,000 Palestinian civilians – including children and women – as part of Israel’s policy of ‘enforced disappearances’, the substantial physical destruction of Gaza including much of its key infrastructure as well as sites of profound historical and cultural significance including the al-Omari (Great) Mosque (which was of comparable age to al-Aqsa), ‘the destruction of countless olive groves’, contamination of aquifers and the environmental degradation of Gaza creating an ‘unlivable hellscape’. See
‘On 100th day of Gaza genocide: 100,000 Palestinians killed, missing or wounded’,
‘1,000 children have undergone amputations without anaesthesia in Gaza’,
‘Israel required by law to reveal the fate of dozens of women arrested in Gaza, intl. community must investigate images and claims of torture, harassment’, ‘The wanton destruction of mosques and churches’, ‘Israel’s war on Gaza silences its historic mosques’,
‘The Killing of Gaza’s Environment: Or How to Create an Unlivable Hellscape on One Strip of Land’ and
‘In Gaza, Israel has turned water into a weapon of mass destruction’.
And while there is the intangible gain of considerably greater sympathy for the Palestinian plight among the general public around the world, the bulk of this support is being frittered away on appeals that will have no consequence, such as the signing of public statements directed at Elite agents – see for example,
‘Public Statement: Scholars Warn of Potential Genocide in Gaza’ and
‘International Coalition of Human Rights and Antiwar Organizations forms to Demand End to Genocide in Palestine’ – and on demonstrations, again directed at Elite agents, such as the hundreds that have occurred widely around the world already.
See ‘Pro-Palestine protests held around the world as Gaza war nears 100 days’.
The strategic reality is that halting the genocide in Gaza and, ultimately, liberating Palestine while also defeating imposition of the global technocracy which this conflict is facilitating, will not be achieved by such tactics.
Similarly, the tactics articulated by various Palestinian groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine which called for ‘weekly global strikes’ –
see ‘PFLP calls for weekly global strikes on Mondays’ – or the Gaza Coalition which called for a ‘general range of actions’
– see ‘Escalate the Struggle against 75 Days of Genocide NOW: #CeasefireNow #EndTheSiege’ – have no value, in a strategic sense, unless they also are used to mobilize strategically-oriented resistance.
And the genocide will not be halted, Palestine liberated or the advancing global technocracy impeded by those solidarity groups, such as Palestine Action in the UK, that campaign against Elbit (Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer) by encouraging secretive acts of sabotage by individuals or small ‘cells’ – see ‘The Underground Manual’ – despite occasional apparent ‘victories’.
See ‘Palestine Action Campaign Leads to Fisher German Ending Ties with Elbit’.
Nor can anything worthwhile be achieved by groups such ‘It’s Going Down’ in the United States, despite their admirable intentions.
See ‘Lacey, WA: Report Back From “Blockade The Genocide” Action’ and ‘Amazon Construction Site Disrupted By Pro-Palestine Activists In Central Point, Oregon’.
Halting the Genocide in Gaza and Ending the Occupation of Palestine using Nonviolent Strategy
If the genocide is to be halted and the occupation ended, it will require a substantial mobilization of people to participate in a comprehensive strategically-oriented campaign that precisely identifies the tactics to be undertaken (not just a random list of actions) and, as the historical record demonstrates, not by using secrecy and sabotage in their execution. For detailed explanations of these points,
see The Strategy of Nonviolent Defense: A Gandhian Approach.
Before proceeding, if you doubt that a nonviolent strategy can halt a genocide in progress, you can read a solid account of when this has occurred historically and how it was accomplished in the section titled ‘Nonviolent Defense Against an Extremely Ruthless Opponent’ on pp.238-245 of the book just cited.
But if we are able to mobilize enough people to halt the genocide, we will be in a stronger position to keep struggling to end the occupation as well so, strategically speaking, it is useful to see these two political purposes as related.
And while defeating the attempt to impose a global technocracy on us all will require a worldwide mobilization far beyond what has even begun yet, success in Palestine could bolster these efforts. After all, what is happening in Gaza is coming to us all, one way or another, although few people are aware of this yet.
Anyway, to illustrate what both a nonviolent strategy to halt the genocidal assault by Israel against Gaza and a nonviolent strategy to liberate Palestine would entail, I have reproduced below just nineteen ‘consolidated’ strategic goals, written in a form appropriate for this particular context, taken from the comprehensive but generalized list of 50 ‘Strategic Goals for Defeating a Genocidal Assault’.
In most cases, I have also briefly explained the value of that strategic goal and perhaps offered examples, either historically or in the current context, where tactics in pursuit of that goal have been undertaken.
Identification of the strategic goals is one component of a comprehensive nonviolent strategy explained on the website Nonviolent Defense/Liberation Strategy. You can see a diagram illustrating all twelve components of a comprehensive nonviolent strategy here:
Nonviolent Strategy Wheel. And you can read a brief explanation of why nonviolent action is so powerful here:
‘Nonviolent Action: Why and How it Works’.
This incomplete/consolidated list of strategic goals is based on principles not explained here but carefully elaborated on the website just identified. Needless to say, it is a straightforward task to consult the full list of strategic goals (to halt a genocide or liberate an occupied country) and reword each of the remaining goals to make it appropriate to the Palestinian situation and nominate the specific groups that should be mentioned where appropriate.
And, for example, the American Friends Service Committee has compiled a valuable resource that can be used in planning this strategy by identifying
‘The [Weapons] Companies Profiting from Israel’s 2023 Attack on Gaza’.
Thus, just nineteen strategic goals that would contribute both to defeating Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza and liberating Palestine (which conform to the formula described on the website) are listed below (with brief explanations and historical examples where appropriate). It should be noted, however, that the list would be considerably longer as individual organizations – such as each organization involved in inciting, facilitating, organizing, conducting and/or benefiting from the genocide (for whatever reason but including national and religious groups with competing perspectives as well as corporations involved in media, banking and resource extraction) – should be specified separately.
Of course, individual groups within the defense would usually accept responsibility for focusing their work on achieving just one or two of the strategic goals. It is the responsibility of the struggle’s strategic leadership to ensure that each of the strategic goals (identified and prioritized according to local circumstances) is being addressed (or to prioritize if resource limitations require this).
If there is no identified strategic leadership, individuals and local groups should proceed to tackle those strategic goals most relevant to their circumstances, interests and capacities.
(1)
To cause the people of Palestine (men, women and children) to identify
their support for, and participation in, the Palestinian resistance
strategy by wearing a symbol of Palestinian unity (a keffiyeh, as a head
covering or scarf, or the colors of the Palestinian flag: black, white,
green and red) and by boycotting all corporate/government media and
social media outlets that support the genocide in Gaza and/or the
occupation of Palestine.
For this item and many subsequent, see the list of possible actions in the article
‘198 Tactics of Nonviolent Action’.
(2) To cause the people of Israel (men, women and children) to identify their solidarity with the people of Palestine and opposition to the genocide and occupation by wearing a symbol of solidarity (a keffiyeh, as a head covering or scarf, or the colors of the Palestinian flag: black, white, green and red) and by boycotting all corporate/government media and social media outlets that support the genocide in Gaza and/or the occupation of Palestine.
Government and corporate media and social media have long been used to control the narrative regarding what is happening in Palestine. If you choose to boycott these outlets, in favor of outlets committed to telling you the truth, you play a valuable role in holding media that lies accountable and supporting those telling the truth who are often suppressed.
(3)
To cause people elsewhere in the world (men, women and children) to
identify their solidarity with the people of Palestine and opposition to
the genocide and occupation by wearing a symbol of solidarity (a
keffiyeh, as a head covering or scarf, or the colors of the Palestinian
flag: black, white, green and red) and by boycotting all
corporate/government media and social media outlets that support the
genocide in Gaza and/or the occupation of Palestine.
With virtually all government and corporate media and social media owned and/or controlled by Elite agents and much of it acting on behalf of powerful Israeli interests, Gaza’s inhabitants have been treated as nonpersons for decades ‘and daily life in Gaza as non-news’. Consequently, the ‘shameful legacy of narrow, pro-Israel coverage indirectly laid the groundwork for the atrocious human suffering taking place there now.’
See ‘How Corporate Media Helped Lay the Groundwork for Israel’s Genocide in Gaza’, ‘Are social media giants censoring pro-Palestine voices amid Israel’s war?’ and, for an example,
‘Facebook Approved an Israeli Ad Calling for Assassination of Pro-Palestine Activist [in the USA]’.
(4) To cause young people in Israel to resist conscription and recruitment into the military, police, intelligence services and other forces/organizations inciting, facilitating, organizing and/or conducting the genocide or maintaining the occupation of Palestine.
This is already happening, given long-standing and significant Israeli opposition to the occupation but it would be invaluable to focus more effort in this realm. See
‘“Youth Against Dictatorship”: Meet Israel’s new class of conscientious objectors’ and watch ‘
Young Israelis refuse to participate in Gaza “genocide”’.
For example, prior to the current genocide and despite four stints in prison, 19-year-old Israeli woman Hallel Rabin resolutely stood her ground, refusing to serve in the Israeli army occupying Palestine. This article includes a video of Rabin speaking eloquently about her reasons for resisting.
See ‘Refusing to serve in the army is my small act of making change’.
Just recently and despite knowing he would be imprisoned, 18-year-old Tal Mitnick conscientiously chose jail rather than being responsible for killing Palestinians in Gaza.
See ‘“I refuse to take part in a revenge war”: Israel jails teen for opposing army draft’.
And despite the risk of a significant jail sentence, Ariel Davidov, a 19-year-old Israeli ‘refusenik’ believes that ‘not joining the army is one of the most effective things you can do’ to ‘end the cycle of violence’.
See ‘Why Israeli army refusers are crucial to ending the cycle of violence’.
These intelligent and conscientious young people are far from alone and highlight the possibilities open to those of us who choose to mobilize an effective nonviolent resistance to violence, wherever it occurs in the world.
We just need their commitment and courage.
(5) To cause soldiers, airmen, sailors, intelligence personnel, drone pilots and others in the Israeli military to refuse to obey orders that will lead to the arrest, assault, torture, shooting, bombing and other forms of harm to Palestinians, medical personnel, foreign aid workers, journalists, solidarity activists and others in Palestine.
There are precedents of conscientious objection at various levels in Israel where the human right to conscientious objection is only allowed in extremely limited circumstances.
See, for example, ‘Who are the Israeli refuseniks who refuse to fight the Palestinians in Gaza’.
Of course, the right and duty to make decisions based on conscience were enshrined in international law a long time ago, including in Principle IV of the Nuremberg Charter: ‘The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of [their] Government or of a superior does not relieve [them] from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to [them]’.
The importance and potential of military personnel (and anyone involved in the genocide) making moral choices has been discussed by Professor Michel Chossudovsky as part of a review of what he identifies as ‘the criminalization of international justice’ during the US-sponsored Israeli genocide in Gaza.
See
And the historical record demonstrates that dialogue and nonviolent action designed to convince troops to disobey their orders have sometimes been successful. For example, it was a vital element of the Czechoslovakian resistance to the Warsaw Pact invasion during 1968, it was the defining feature of the nonviolent revolution in the Philippines in 1986, it was the crucial factor in thwarting the Chinese government’s first attempt to clear Tiananmen Square on 20 May 1989, and it was fundamental to the defeat of the Soviet coup in 1991.
See The Strategy of Nonviolent Defense: A Gandhian Approach. pp.256-8.
Individuals in Israel who make such conscience-based choices are supported by Mesarvot, one of the organizations that supports Israeli ‘refuseniks’ in a campaign against the occupation of Palestine.
[An earlier organization – Yesh Gvul (‘There is a limit’) – was founded in 1982 ‘as a political movement aimed at supporting refuseniks and conscientious objectors’. It now appears to be inactive.]
But the potential for something more significant might be inferred from this article by Shimri Zameret, a soldier who conscientiously resisted participation in the Israeli military response to the Palestinian second Intifada, spending 21 months in prison as a result, and now comments on disquiet within the military for the anti-democratic ‘reforms’ pursued by Netanyahu in 2023.
See ‘A mass wave of Israeli army refusal could be a transformative moment’.
Zameret and many others are part of another organization – the Refuser Solidarity Network – that also supports soldiers opposed to the occupation and the policies (genocidal and otherwise) that derive from it.
A version of resistance of this type – not reported as based on conscience or international law – has just occurred when ‘half the soldiers of an Israeli reserve battalion refused to fight in the Gaza Strip and were released from duty by their commander… after the army tried to send them to fight and carry out combat missions within Gaza for which they were not qualified or adequately equipped’.
In any case, there is enough evidence of disquiet among young Israeli conscripts and serving soldiers (and possibly personnel in other services, such as the intelligence services) concerned about participating in the genocide and occupation to make it strategically worthwhile for people, whether in Israel or elsewhere, to contact serving personnel with encouragement to consider their conscience about the moral path in this context and offers to listen while they deliberate.
(6) To cause the private military contractors (mercenaries) employed by the Israeli Army to refuse to participate in the genocide in Gaza and/or in maintenance of the occupation.
One way in which Israel minimizes Israeli deaths in Gaza (and conceals the extent of the overall death toll) is by employing mercenaries to fight on the front line of the genocide. See ‘Israel’s use of thousands of foreign mercenaries in attacks on Gaza sparks debate’.
According to one source, there are an estimated 28,000 mercenaries in the Israeli military. This constitutes a heavy drain on the Israeli economy, which is now being threatened by various measures. See ‘Gaza Exhausted Israel’s Economy’.
Apart
from efforts to dissuade foreign soldiers from joining the Israeli
military, increasing pressure on the Israeli economy will make it
difficult for ordinary Israelis impacted – as Mohandas K. Gandhi understood
the Indian boycott of cloth imports from Manchester in defence of the
indigenous khadi industry would make it difficult for workers in England
– but the Israeli leadership will endeavour to hold out against
enormous pressure as it will be directed to do. Nevertheless, there are
many measures that can be taken, including those outlined below, to keep
this pressure building.
(7) To cause the officers in the Israeli police and Shin Bet (the security agency) in Israel to refuse to obey orders to inflict violence on Israeli nonviolent activists and to arrest, assault, torture and shoot Palestinians, medical personnel, foreign aid workers, journalists, solidarity activists and others in Palestine.
Again, there are many historical precedents around the world of police refusing orders to inflict violence on populations they police, including during the lockdowns imposed as part of the restrictions enforced under the recent Covid-19 regime. See ‘Policing the Elite’s Technocracy: How Do We Resist This Effectively?’
And there is already substantial dissatisfaction within the Israeli Police for various reasons, leading significant numbers to leave the force. A key reason for the dissatisfaction is that senior officers are often abusive of lower ranks (in various ways) and, whether in the police or Shin Bet, punishment of these officers is virtually non-existent (or trivial when it happens). See ‘Why do so many Israel Police officers quit?’
Nevertheless, there is enormous pressure on Israeli activists against the genocide and occupation with police beatings and recent bans on protests just two of the hurdles.
See ‘Israel Police Bars Protests Against Gaza War, Citing Inability to Protect Public, Prevent Violence’.
Despite this, key personnel in the Israeli anti-occupation movement are not bowed as the short video of 23-year-old Gaia Dan clearly demonstrates.
Fortunately, the long legacy of nonviolent struggle in extremely violent contexts has much to teach nonviolent activists about dealing powerfully with such situations. This article offers 20 ideas of use in both the Israeli and Palestinian contexts:
‘Nonviolent Action: Minimizing the Risk of Violent Repression’.
Not every police or Shin Bet officer will follow orders to be violent unthinkingly. Our challenge is to amplify their inclination to do what is right, irrespective of the orders they are given.
(8) To cause military personnel in the military forces of Israeli-allied countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere to refuse deployment to the conflict zone near Israel and Palestine.
In immediate response to Israel’s attack on Gaza, the United States deployed military forces – including two aircraft carrier strike groups, a range of aircraft and troops – to the Middle East.
See ‘2,000 US Troops Ordered to Prepare for Deployment in Growing Response to Israel War with Hamas’.
Since
then, the United States has set up and deployed ‘Operation Prosperity
Guardian’, a multinational coalition supposedly intended ‘to help
protect merchant ships in the Red Sea area from drones and missiles’
fired by Yemen’s Ansar Allah against vessels perceived to be supporting, directly or indirectly, Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
See ‘US unveils international force to defend Red Sea. Here’s what we know’.
But deployments of this nature increase the risk of the war escalating in Palestine or expanding into the region, as the US foreign policy elite has long planned –
see ‘Expanding Middle East War. Planned US-Israeli Attack on Iran, the War on Energy, Strategic Waterways’ – and is now happening. See ‘Three Hours of Fire and Fury: How US and UK Unleashed Over 100 Missiles on More Than 60 Houthi Targets Using Jets, Warships and a Sub in Meticulously Planned Strikes on Iran-backed Rebels in Yemen’.
This can also be resisted by people, including anti-war activists, in the various countries (the United States, United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain) that are deploying troops and weapons systems to the region by taking targeted nonviolent action against weapons producers and the troops facing deployment to the region.
As always, see the list of possible actions in the article ‘198 Tactics of Nonviolent Action’.
(9) To cause members of trade unions and professional associations, activist groups, religious bodies, women’s organizations, student bodies, consumer groups and ethnic groups, as well as artists, musicians, intellectuals and members of other key social groups in Israel to resist the genocide and the occupation by encouraging their members to boycott all government/corporate media and social media that support the genocide or occupation and to withdraw their labor [temporarily/permanently] from any organization complicit in the genocide and/or occupation.
It is clear that there is disagreement among key Israelis about the genocide in Gaza and this is already manifesting. For example, lawyer and human rights activist Michael Sfard, ‘on behalf of a group of lawyers and Israeli public figures, sent a letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara requesting that she take measures against public figures and officials, including lawmakers, who called for the annihilation of Palestinians in Gaza and ethnic cleansing.’
And while loudly condemned by most of his fellow MPs in the Israeli Knesset, Ofer Cassif had the courage to sign a petition in support of the hearing at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. In response to his widespread condemnation, Cassif noted ‘I will not give up the fight for our existence as a moral society. This is true patriotism…’.
See ‘Balls of Steel’.
While it will clearly take stronger actions than these to halt the genocide, like the efforts of those young Israelis resisting conscription into the Israeli military, they are undertaken by those who have a conscience and the courage to live it and all movements for justice are built on such individuals.
No doubt Israel has plenty more yet and one of our tasks is to encourage Israelis to act and support them when they do. There are plenty of people in the United States and elsewhere who could usefully focus some effort on contacting Israelis they know and encouraging them to take a conscientious stand (and perhaps listen supportively while any individual considers such a course).
As mentioned above, there are trade unions, professional associations, religious bodies, women’s organizations and a great many other groups in Israel that can be approached to ask their members to boycott media supporting the genocide/occupation and to consider withdrawing their labor from organizations that are complicit.
The wider the resistance is spread, the less pressure there is on any one individual.
(10) To cause members of trade unions and professional associations, activist groups, religious bodies, women’s organizations, student bodies, consumer groups and ethnic groups, as well as artists, musicians, intellectuals and members of other key social groups in countries in which governments are complicit in the genocide (including the USA, UK, Germany and other European countries particularly) to resist the genocide and the occupation by encouraging their members to boycott all government/corporate media and social media that support the genocide or occupation and to withdraw their labor [temporarily/permanently] from any organization complicit in the genocide and/or occupation.
Just one of many examples where such noncooperation is now occurring is in the United States government where both Administration and Congressional staffers who are distressed by the genocide are clearly expressing their dissent – see ‘U.S. diplomats slam Israel policy in leaked memo’ – two have already resigned rather than be complicit ‘in Biden’s fervent support for the war’ – see ‘War on Gaza: Internal anger with Biden and Congress reaches boiling point’ – and hundreds of federal employees across 22 federal agencies were due to walkout to observe a ‘Day of Mourning’ to mark 100 days of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. See ‘US government employees plan walkout over Biden’s Gaza policies’.
The point is that this discontent is everywhere and, at some point, the more courageous will act and inspire many around them, whatever organization in which they work.
And other forms of resistance that are especially effective in that particular context can be considered. Again, for inspiration, consider ‘198 Tactics of Nonviolent Action’.
(11) To cause members of trade unions and labor organizations, activist groups, religious bodies, women’s organizations, student bodies, consumer groups and ethnic groups, as well as artists, musicians, intellectuals and members of other key social groups in countries in which governments are complicit in the genocide (including the USA, UK, Germany and other European countries particularly) to resist the genocide and the occupation by encouraging their members to boycott those products that are extracted (or produced) and exported by corporations acting in concert with the Israeli government.
Notably, in this category, Israel is using corporations such as Siemens and Chevron to extract gas from the eastern Mediterranean – see ‘Siemens and Chevron: Stop Fueling Apartheid and Climate Disaster’ – and, as some authors have explained previously, yet another part of the long-standing plan behind the current genocide is undoubtedly to enable Israeli seizure of the gigantic Leviathan maritime natural gas reserves in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Gaza.
While Felicity Arbuthnot, in the 2013 article just cited, nominated the interest of the BG Group in Gaza’s gas and oil reserves, in early 2016, the BG Group became part of Shell Global.
See ‘Combining Shell and BG: a simpler and more profitable company’.
Of course, Shell has been a Rothschild corporation since the very early 20th century. According to the Rothschild Archive: ‘As it turned out, Rothschilds had a decisive influence in shaping Royal Dutch Shell, more so than anyone had previously imagined.’ See ‘Searching for oil in Roubaix’. But Shell does not represent the only Rothschild investment in energy supplies.
Consequently, widespread and persistent consumer boycotts that target Shell, Chevron (for which the key brand names are Texaco and Caltex) and Siemens products could play a valuable role in compelling these corporations, and their Elite owners, to reconsider their role in sponsoring the genocide and occupation.
(12) To cause people in your country to boycott Israel as a tourist destination.
The genocide in Gaza has had a significant, adverse impact on the Israeli economy. See ‘Gaza Exhausted Israel’s Economy’. Causing people to boycott Israel as a tourist destination (in favor of traveling elsewhere) is an effective way to reduce Israeli government finance available for the genocide and occupation.
An important subset of this, which focuses more on removing the apparent legitimacy attached to Israeli institutions, is advocated by the BDS Movement and involves the encouragement of academics, prominent entertainers, cultural figures (such as writers and artists) and sportspeople to boycott Israel. See ‘Academic Boycott’ and ‘Cultural Boycott’. Individuals in this category can set a powerful example for their colleagues/fans.
In her own variation on what the BDS Movement encourages, popular Bosnian author Lana Bastasic has taken a huge cut in earnings to express her solidarity with Palestine.
See ‘Author’s split with German publisher over “silence on Gaza” causes her huge loss of earnings’.
(13) To cause the workers in the trade unions and professional associations that work for individual weapons corporations (such as Elbit Systems, Rafael, Lockheed Martin and Boeing) that supply weapons to the Israeli military to withdraw their labor [partially/wholly], [temporarily/permanently].
The American Friends Service Committee has compiled a valuable resource identifying ‘The [Weapons] Companies Profiting from Israel’s 2023 Attack on Gaza’.
Thus, whether in relation to an Israeli weapons corporation, such as Elbit Systems and Rafael, or a weapons corporation in the US, the UK, Germany or other countries that supply weapons to Israel, each trade union and/or professional association representing employees working for the corporation is effectively supporting individuals to participate in enabling the genocide and maintenance of the occupation.
Individuals and organizations can be encouraged to choose not to do so using a variety of means, always beginning with dialogue but then, if the issue cannot be resolved through listening and clear communication, using a range of nonviolent tactics at worksites, ranging from demonstrations and picket lines to blockades. But again, plenty of options here: ‘198 Tactics of Nonviolent Action’.
(14) To cause corporations that provide vital services/components to weapons corporations that supply weapons to Israel to cease doing so.
This could happen by campaigning against companies such as Martin-Baker, https://martin-baker.com/ the family business in Britain that supplies the ejection seats for fighter jets such as the F-35’s made by US weapons corporation Lockheed Martin and used by Israel.
But there are a great many possibilities as the sheer diversity of parts in military weapons means that many corporations are drawn into the staggering array of supply lines. Choosing those services and components that are more specific and critical to military impact – including command, control, communications, delivery, targeting – rather than some insignificant, generic part, will ensure strategic value derives from success in any campaign.
If this isn’t feasible (or efforts fail) in a particular context, consider the following strategic goal.
(15) To cause the workers in the relevant trade unions or labor organizations to withdraw their labor [temporarily/permanently] [partially/wholly] from those corporations that supply services/components to weapons corporations that supply weapons to Israel.
A corporation management might not have a conscience but plenty of workers do, and approaching them through their trade union or labor organization might open opportunities to discuss possible ways they can noncooperate with the genocide and occupation.
(16) To cause vessels and cargo planes engaged in transporting goods and weapons to or from Israel to cease doing so [temporarily/permanently].
This has already happened in response to the military attacks by Ansar Allah [the Houthis] in the Red Sea.
These attacks have also caused significant disruption. See ‘Support for vessels rerouting from the Red Sea’.
And while Ansar Allah’s use of violence ‘justifies’, in the eyes of many, the violent response of the United States which has now attacked Yemen (thus paving the way for a wider war) –
see ‘Major Escalation: Biden Launches War On Yemen’ and ‘Joint US-UK Assault on Houthis: Here’s the Latest’ – there are variations on delaying/halting shipping that can be achieved by nonviolent means, including by government decision such as that made in Malaysia.
See ‘Global Supply Chains Falter as Malaysia Blocks Israeli Cargo Ships’.
Beyond that, however, and given that most governments won’t do this, activists working in conjunction with local trade unions can do it too. For example, starting in the late 1980s in Australia, the combined efforts of nonviolent activists and trade unionists caused significant delays in the unloading of imported rainforest timber from cargo ships. The awareness generated by these widely publicized and graphic actions was used to mobilize a massive boycott of imported rainforest timber by the Australian community, effectively eliminating the trade within three years as entire industries switched to sourcing timber from more sustainable sources.
Watch ‘Time to Act’ and see ‘Nonviolent Struggle for the Rainforests’.
Of course, trade union action of this nature has a long history. For example, during the apartheid era in South Africa, Danish dock workers in 1963 decided not to unload ships carrying South African products, triggering a similar boycott in Sweden, England and elsewhere.
In relation to Palestine, the first solidarity action of this nature occurred in South Africa when the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) decided not to unload an Israeli ship due to arrive in Durban on 8 February 2009.
See ‘The BNC Salutes South African Dock Workers Action!’
And in 2014, the Arab Resource and Organizing Center in the United States launched Block the Boat in response to the call by the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) and a coalition of all major Palestinian workers unions and professional associations who called on their fellow trade unionists and workers worldwide to boycott Israel and businesses that are complicit with its apartheid regime. They specifically urged a refusal to handle Israeli goods and support for union members refusing to build Israeli weapons.
Analysing the ten-year history of ‘Block the Boat’ actions in various countries, researchers Rafeef Ziadah and Katy Fox-Hodess identified some crucial variables worth addressing to make these nonviolent actions have maximum impact. Critically, this included thinking carefully about how activists could most effectively get involved in working with unions and how activists can take some of the more extreme pressures off workers, particularly when sanctions for taking solidarity action are onerous.
See ‘Dockworkers and Labor Activists Can Block the Transport of Arms to Israel’.
As an adjunct to their research, they offered these downloadable documents to assist activists and workers seeking to work together:
‘Lessons on Organizing with Trade Unions to Build Solidarity Actions’ and, from Workers in Palestine this ‘Guidance Sheet for Trade Unionists on Building Solidarity with Palestine’.
Workers in Palestine has recently posted a video of nonviolent actions undertaken around the world to shut down weapons factories and disrupt weapons shipments to Israel in response to the genocide in Gaza.
This has included several delays of ships of Israel’s ZIM Integrated Shipping Services at two ports by activists and workers in Australia, as discussed here:
‘In Australia, Palestine Solidarity Activists Are Blockading ZIM Ships Owned by Israel’,
‘The Economic Incentive: Blocking Israel’s Supply Chain’ and
‘Australian police attack pro-Palestine protests blockading Israeli ship’.
If nonviolent actions of this nature in solidarity with Palestine appeal to you and other activists in your local port, you can identify the arrival of Israel’s ZIM vessels on their port schedule – see ZIM vessels Port schedule – and track their vessels on either Marine Traffic or Vessel Finder.
Similarly, nonviolent action can be undertaken to disrupt, delay or halt the movement of military weapons by air, although it will need more than just protests such as this one in Cyprus.
See ‘UK’s alleged use of Cyprus bases to arm Israel and hit Yemen draw protests’.
(17) To cause consumers, including members of religious, service, sporting, business and other community organizations, to boycott those products produced by companies taking advantage of the Israeli occupation economy in Palestine.
As the BDS Movement points out, it is superior strategy for people to focus their efforts on certain companies prioritized for targeting (because of their deep complicity in the occupation) rather than dissipate effort so widely that little impact is felt anywhere.
See ‘BDS Guide to Strategic Campaigning for Palestinian Rights’.
Consequently, the companies that the BDS Movement recommends for targeting are listed in
‘Act Now Against These Companies Profiting from the Genocide of the Palestinian People’.
But if you want more comprehensive lists to view other companies you can boycott, the Who Profits Research Center has compiled a list of companies to boycott because they profit from the Israeli occupation economy.
The American Friends Service Committee has also compiled a list of companies, with two sectors additional to the ‘Who Profits’ list above. See ‘Investigate: What are you invested in?’
And the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has compiled a comprehensive ‘A/HRC/43/71: Database of all business enterprises involved in… the Israeli settlements… throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem’.
Another simple option is to sign the ‘No Tech for Apartheid’ letter to Google and Amazon for providing ‘cloud technology to the Israeli government and military… to surveil Palestinians and force them off their land’. But boycotting Google and Amazon is a far more powerful option given they are spying on you too as part of their role in advancing the Elite’s technocracy.
(18) To cause the individual and organizational investors (including religious and sporting bodies) of banks, asset managers, insurance companies and pension funds in Israel and elsewhere to shift their money to ethical banks and credit unions, asset managers, insurance companies and pension funds that do not finance, invest in or are otherwise involved in supplying banking, asset management, insurance or pension services to Israel (and Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine) or to weapons corporations that supply weapons to Israel.
Don’t Buy Into Occupation has compiled a valuable list of European banks and other financial institutions to boycott in their report ‘European Financial Institutions’ Continued Complicity in the Illegal Israeli Settlement Enterprise’.
The BDS Movement specifically encourages divestment from the French multinational insurance giant AXA ‘for its investments in Israeli banks [with Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, First International Bank of Israel, Israel Discount Bank, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank being the main five], which are deeply complicit in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise on occupied Palestinian land’. See ‘AXA Divest’.
If you live outside Europe or an organization is not listed and you are in doubt, the general principle is to always seek those (invariably smaller) institutions that identify as ‘ethical’ and investigate these to see if they deserve your patronage.
As an aside, if your knowledge of the management (or membership) of a financial institution with which you deal suggests they might be willing to divest from Israel (or weapons corporations) without significant public engagement first, it may be worth your while to approach them to find out. Obviously, you do not need to boycott or organize a wider boycott of an institution that is responsive to dialogue.
(19) To cause SpaceX, which manufactures and deploys Starlink spy satellites to facilitate genocide in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine generally, to cease doing so.
One way in which pressure can be exerted is by mobilizing people, wherever they live, to boycott the Starlink service (and switch to another provider) in their area. Another less direct way is to boycott X (formerly Twitter) because it is also owned by Elon Musk (who owns SpaceX).
Summary
Not all of the strategic goals nominated above will need to be achieved for the strategy to be successful but each goal is focused in such a way that its achievement will functionally undermine the power of those conducting the genocide and the occupation.
Once the genocide is halted, this list would still constitute the foundation for a refined set of strategic goals to guide the strategy to liberate Palestine (taken from the generalized list here): ‘Strategic Goals for Removing a Military Occupation’ or, for the fullest elaboration, The Strategy of Nonviolent Defense: A Gandhian Approach.
I have reproduced the nineteen strategic goals listed above here: ‘Strategic Goals to Halt the Genocide in Gaza and Liberate Palestine’.
And if we are to defeat the Elite technocracy being imposed on the entire human population, with Palestine (in both the West Bank and Gaza) being used as the testing ground and incubator of so many of the technologies that will be used to kill or enslave us all, then we must resist strategically, as explained in the campaign of ‘We Are Human, We Are Free’ with one-page flyers, identifying the simplest version of the strategy, available in 23 languages.
Conclusion
The people of Palestine have the same choice we all face in relation to the Elite’s rapidly advancing technocracy.
We can do nothing, we can complain (by lobbying and petitioning governments or international organizations), we can sign public declarations, we can turn up at demonstrations, and do all of the other things that put the power to change things in the hands of others. And watch this come to nought.
According to Dr Anis Sayigh, Palestinian intellectual and chairman of the Palestine Research Center in Beirut until it was destroyed by Israel in 1983, in 1936 the Palestinians were convinced by Arab leaders in the region to end a nonviolent general strike to give Britain a chance to prove its ‘good intentions’. Dr Sayigh goes on to state: ‘Unfortunately, to this day, we are still discussing UN resolutions and American and European initiatives to give the West a chance to prove its good intentions.’
Watch episode 2 of ‘Al-Nabka: The Palestinian catastrophe – Episodes 1-4’.
The point is simple: Until we learn that the Elite and its agents – no matter who or where they are: western, Arabic, Israeli, Russian, Chinese, Indian, Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, international organization, corporation, NGO, philanthropic foundation…. – will never change a system from which they benefit enormously by exploiting us, we will continue to run the treadmill of defeat whatever the cause for which we fight.
So we have a choice: Keep doing what history clearly demonstrates does not work or plan and take strategically-focused action that makes a difference ourselves.
That choice is yours whether we are fighting to defend Palestinians in Gaza from the ongoing genocide, liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation or defend humanity from the rapidly advancing technocracy.
Biodata: Robert J. Burrowes has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of ‘Why Violence?’ His email address is flametree@riseup.net and his website is here.
No comments:
Post a Comment