« Thematic Highlights

Nonviolence

Sarah Karajeh
Bereaved Families Forum Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Each stage of resistance to the occupation has its own ideas and requirements. The occupation must be resisted. If Israelis who have lost their sons, daughters or wives in Palestinian martyr operations say they are resisting the occupation and want to stop it because it is the reason for their tragedies, then how can we, as Palestinians who have suffered so much under the occupation, not resist as well? This is a kind of resistance to the occupation, but we consider it a peaceful struggle that is carried out in a nonviolent way.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Walid Salem
Panorama Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Nonviolence sends a message to the dominant powers in the world that our struggle is a popular one. It calls for the end of occupation. It is not a terrorist struggle that aims to destroy the Jews and that is a threat to the stability of the region, as we are accused. Even the Arab countries are afraid of us and view us as a threat to the stability of the region. Our message is peace and a combination of joint meetings, the attempt to reach the Israeli street and the development of nonviolent activities as a substitute for the concept of violence.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Riyad Faraj
Parents Circle-Bereaved Families Forum Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ I don't want anybody else to get hurt. I have a nephew who's wanted by Israel. He has a friend who was exiled to Gaza, another who was martyred -- actually two. One was exiled to Italy and one imprisoned. That was a group of friends. To this day the soldiers come looking for my nephew. I am very happy that I was able to change some of his ideas. I convinced my nephew that it wasn't doing any good for him to keep shooting at the soldiers, and to be hunted all the time. There's no way to bring back your dead friend, no way to bring your exiled friend back from Italy, no way your imprisoned friend will get out until he has finished his time, no way to bring back your friend in Gaza. I asked him questions like: How can you find ways to limit this violence?”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Ibrahim Issa
Hope Flowers School Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ [My father] worked with refugees at the United Nations Relief Work Agency for the Palestinians, and during his work with the UNRWA he recognized the suffering of Palestinian children and their need for a safe environment, and also the need to protect these children from being involved in violence which would lead to more suffering. So being a nonviolent activist for him was also about dealing with these children, teaching people to educate their children to live their lives in peaceful ways.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Itamar Shapira
Combatants for Peace Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ ...We view the Palestinians and ourselves as having fought for useless things. We struggle for security but simultaneously prevent it; they are struggling for a state but the suicide attacks prevent that; we are in transition to a state of refraining from violence. We don’t use the term terrorist in our group anymore; we talk about people who took part in the violent struggle.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Itamar Shapira
Combatants for Peace Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ We come to talk to people in the name of militancy because it grabs people’s attention and they feel it’s legitimate for us to be talking about reconciliation. We are addressing both societies in this manner because in both societies the ethos of war is central. If we talk about pacifism and an anti-war approach, that won’t be accepted by the societies socially or politically. People view that as outsiders’ approach or as removed from reality. Our position, as people who were combatants, is more practical and it is easier to speak from there. We feel that our direction is anti-war though.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Dr. Khuloud Dajani
People's Campaign for Peace and Democracy Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ The mutual violence rose out of the fear that peace agreements would not succeed, especially after the failure of Camp David, Taba negotiations and the return of Israel’s practices of oppression, killing, confiscation of land, checkpoints, etc… Palestinians responded to the oppression in order to defend themselves. One way of defending themselves was by carrying out martyrdom operations. At a certain point, we needed the parties who carry out such operations to think twice about the operations that target Israeli citizens. Despite the fact that we are living in a period of conflict, we should let our plight be known through the media on the international level and find an Arabic, Palestinian, and even Islamic spokespeople who could reflect the truth about us; the truth that we are not for the killing and targeting of civilians.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Riyad Faraj
Parents Circle-Bereaved Families Forum Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ I fought and was in jail for 6 years and 10 months. I got nothing. Just the opposite -- I lost my dream. I lost my brother and my father and didn't get anything. Another person will lose his brother and parents and will get nothing. Some have lost their children. So I started thinking of a way other than resistance. I started thinking of a way to convince my enemy to believe in my rights. If I keep thinking with the logic of resistance, there will be no one left to resist.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Kobi Snitz
Anarchists Against the Wall Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ A commitment to nonviolence is not necessarily a religious one. It does not have to be total; it could be up to a point, such as up to a certain number of casualties. So to answer your question, I do consider a demonstration to be nonviolent even if some of the participants are not above being provoked. As far as the demonstrations in Palestine, the youth who respond with stones are not exactly part of the demonstration. They have their own tactics, which they pursue mostly separately from the rest of the demonstration, and even the army sort of understands that distinction.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Ali Abu Awwad
Bereaved Families Forum, Al Tareek (The Way) Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Why do the extremists carry out explosions? They carry out explosions because they want to convey that they are suffering, to an extent that life and death have the same value. We talk in order to exploit the suffering in a more efficient way. Our work presents a greater danger to the Israeli state. An Israeli general said that nonviolence is the most dangerous weapon possessed by the Palestinians, because it undermines all the excuses for the occupation and the legitimacy they claim to have when destroying a house or assassinating someone.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Kobi Snitz
Anarchists Against the Wall Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Just about everywhere, the organizing committees-- especially when they invite us-- have made a commitment to nonviolent demonstrations, which means that they march, and typically what we do is try to get to a work site and sit in front of a bulldozer to try to prevent the construction. Now, this commitment to nonviolence does not include policing the youth to the point that they won't respond to army provocations. They are not committed to being an extension of the police who are going to chase them [the youth] and prevent them from responding to army provocation. They do typically urge the youth not to throw stones and not to place themselves at risk that way and not to respond to army provocation. ”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Ibtisam Mahameed
Interfaith Encounter Association, Middleway Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Gandhi freed India not through killing and violence but through spirituality. The idea for [my organization] the Golden Road is that we both walk this road together and recognize that there is room in this land for both the Palestinians and Israelis, to widen our hearts and live together without killing each other.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Robi Damelin
Parents Circle - Bereaved Families Forum Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ I remember when Nelson Mandela came out of prison and he was speaking in a stadium. These people were standing there with sticks, to get revenge. He said, "take your sticks and throw them in the river, because that's not the path we're going to take." Pragmatically, he understood that the best thing for the South African people, for his people, would be to take a nonviolent path.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Riyad Faraj
Parents Circle-Bereaved Families Forum Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ This idea needs to be taught to a mature person, one that is effective in his community. The student has the most significant role in our society. This is the most important sector of society and they need to know more about nonviolence. I think if we succeed in spreading our ideas in schools, it's as good as liberating Palestine.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Ibtisam Mahameed
Interfaith Encounter Association, Middleway Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ How can I live in peace with myself while there is a conflict going on outside? You might think I am crazy. I think that through dialogue and understanding my own situation I can build peace within myself. If everyone builds peace within himself, then we will build a society with new principles that are far from power and control. I can't stop the arms dealers from selling arms in the Middle East and making billions of dollars at the expense of innocent people that are killed on the street. Can I control the arms dealers? Of course not. The question is do I have control over myself.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Itamar Shapira
Combatants for Peace Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Clearly it’s because a person fought, sacrificed their best years, some people became officers, some are pilots, fighters in elite units, all sorts of quality units. In Israel it is a well known fact that this entitles you to respect and high positions; some people move up and they are the people who are running the country. Clearly the army is central in Israel, and whoever was a combat soldier allegedly has more to say about security and about the conflict. I think this perception is shared more or a less in both societies, which are aggressive. We haven’t got a female Minister of Defense, or someone who hasn’t serve in the military.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Rutie Atsmon
Windows Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ We don't judge people if they support the army or if they support attacks. What we try to do is work with them to see why they feel that way, why they support this way or that way. We try to lead people to believe that the best way is to talk to each other, that the best way to solve the problems is without violence. But in order to bring people to feel this way, we have to understand why people support, if they do, acts of violence, on any side of the conflict. And part of it will be to understand the fears, the anger, the frustration that people on both sides feel that leads them to support violence. ”  [Source in Complete Interview]