Sarraj, Bir Zeit University political scientist Salah
Abdul jawad, and journalists Tawfiq Abu Bakr and
Daoud Kuttab.
The controlled Palestinian press is nervous about
printing their opinions, which could bring the cen-
sor or worse on the editor's head. One dissenter,
whose article was rejected by the east Jerusalem daily
Al Quds, posted it on the Internet. When the paper's
editor saw that no harm ensued and everyone was
Abbas (a.k.a. Abu Mazen), Arafat's number two, has
talking about it, he printed the article.
ERIC SILVER
spoken "very harshly" behind closed doors against
Khalil Shikaki, pollster and political science pro-
Special to the Jewish News
the strategy of violence. Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala),
fessor, frequently uses Radio Monte Carlo's Arabic
the speaker of the Palestinian legislative council and
t sounds confused, if not downright contrary.
service, widely listened to across the Middle East, to
third in Arafat's political pantheon, is thought to
Most Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
advocate non-violent resistance.
share Abu Mazen's view, but is more cautious, even
applaud violence against Israelis, yet they are
These Palestinians are a kind of resistance within
in private.
eager for a cease-fire and for their political
the resistance. But they all have one thing in com-
Surprisingly, Arafat's two principal security com-
leaders to get back to the negotiating table.
mon: They won't buy "peace at any price." They
manders — Mohammed Dahlan in Gaza and Jibril
The latest opinion poll registered 58 percent of
acknowledge that the Palestinians will have to make
Rajoub on the West Bank — are also counted in
Palestinians supporting violence against civilians,
concessions, but they demand equal, if not more,
while an overwhelming 90 percent supported attacks this pragmatic Palestinian "peace camp."
sacrifice from Israel as the dominant power that
According to informed Palestinians, Dahlan was
holds 78 percent of 1948 Palestine, even without the
on soldiers.
But at the same time, 60 percent backed calls for a one of three members of Arafat's Camp David team
West Bank and Gaza Strip.
cease-fire, a 10 percent increase from six months ear- who urged him to accept what Barak was offering,
Sari Nusseibeh spelled it out more starkly than
then build on it.
lier, and 70 percent wanted a return to negotiations.
anyone. The Palestinians, he said, had to recognize
Secular leaders like these are seeking accommoda-
There is a logic to their double-talk. Mainstream
that the plight of the four million refugees must be
tion
with Israel because they want their Palestinian
Palestinians, from the leadership to the grassroots,
solved within the borders of a Palestinian state. The
state, when it comes, to be part of the modern
recognize that they cannot drive the Jews into the
other side of the equation, however, was an Israeli
world. They fear an Iranian-style Islamic theocracy,
sea, however much they might like to. Israel is there
withdrawal to the armistice lines that served as a
they reject the Hamas and Islamic Jihad. And they
to stay, and somehow, some time, they have to find
border before the 1967 Six-Day War.
are keen to get on with building a 21st century
a way to live alongside it.
Nusseibeh is still out on a limb, publicly at least,
nation.
There is a debate going on, however muted it is in
on the refugees' right of return. Arafat wrote in the
But, as Danny Rubinstein, a Palestinian affairs
the smoke and cordite of the war of attrition that
New York Times earlier this month that Israel's
analyst for Ha'aretz, put it, they want Arafat to sign
calls itself an intifada (uprising). But the primary
demographic concerns — a Jewish state with a
the deal. He alone, they believe, can sell it to the
differences are over tactics, the efficacy of violence,
Jewish majority — had to be taken into account,
Palestinian street. So talk of a palace revolution is
not the ethics of it.
though as always he left himself room to maneuver.
fantasy.
"I believe that this conflict will never be resolved
Jerusalem, the other Camp David sticking point, is
by force," said Fr. Raed Abusahlia, a Christian
still intractable.
Palestinian advocate of non-violent resistance. "We
The outlook remains bleak, for Arabs and Jews,
A Few Voices
are losing support all over the world by using violent
doves
and hawks. Yet as Hebrew novelist Amos Oz,
With a Kalashnikov assault rifle in every home and
resistance. Non-violent resistance is a stronger
the
most
articulate of Israeli peace campaigners,
the rule of law more brittle than ever, it is not easy
weapon against the occupation."
argues,
the
great achievement of the past two years of
for those who oppose militarism to find a platform.
Like Israeli peacenicks, Palestinian doves are not
hope
and
despair
is that everyone on both sides now
But some have done so, though they remain a
pacifists. Even someone like Fr. Raed, the 35-year-
knows
the
price
to
be paid if they want peace.
minority: academics like Gaza psychiatrist Eyad
old chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem,
scarcely pauses to condemn suicide or car bombers
Palestinian youths
for killing innocent people. He is a proud
throw stones at
Palestinian, born in a village near Jenin, and he
Israeli tanks during
wants to get the Israelis off his back.
Mixed Signals
Palestinian polls send mixed messages about _peace and the intifada.
I
❑
Quiet Advocates
Among the political elite, Sari Nusseibeh, the
Palestine Liberation Organization's point man in
Jerusalem, is the most outspoken champion of a
peace compromise. "Violence leads nowhere," he
told foreign correspondents. "Neither Israel nor the
Palestinians are able to impose their will. Violence
breeds more violence."
Nusseibeh, an Oxford-educated philosophy profes-
sor, is the only Palestinian leader who has said openly
what many of them think. Asked by a Ha'aretz inter-
viewer in December whether Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat erred when he rejected former Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak's peace proposals at Camp
David in July 2000, Nusseibeh replied:
"Yes. That was a major missed opportunity. If it had
been me, I would have told Barak, 'OK, let's sign."'
Well-placed Palestinians report that Mahmoud
clashes outside
Palestinian Leader
Yasser Arafat's
office in Ramallah,
Feb. 18.
2/22
2002
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