Palestinian Resistance Tactics
By Thomas
fpn@vcu.edu
http://www.studentorg.vcu.edu/fpn

  Before I start this piece I would like to say that I by no means pretend to understand the persecution suffered by the Palestinian people, and thus will not condemn or approve any tactic of the Palestinian resistance fighters.  Any and all debate on the validity of resistance tactics must come from within the Palestinian community, and this piece is merely observation and opinion from a Palestinian student activist.  I would also like to add my sincere belief that the recent attacks on Israelis in Kenya do not represent the Palestinian resistance movement, rather the goal of Al-Quada to rally moderate support in the Arab world for its Jihad against Christians and Jews.  This attack cannot be considered part of the struggle to liberate Palestine from oppression because the perpetrators have no concern for the Palestinian community as a whole.  The Palestinian community and resistance is made up of both Muslims and Christians, and even in the cases of where purely Muslim (Hamas, Islamic Jihad) or purely secular (PFLP, DFLP) resistance groups occur, they work together for the benefit of the whole Palestinian Community.  With this being said I would also like to say that this piece concentrates on resistance tactics only.  Any statements or goals of any group for a post-war Palestine remain out of the scope of this writings, however, no group should be allowed to impose the hegemony of only one belief, be it religious (Christian or Muslim) Marxist, or otherwise, on the diverse people of Palestine in a post-war Palestinian state.

            The recent attack in Hebron by Islamic Jihad represents a welcome new tactic of the Palestinian resistance fighters.  Using Hezbollah tactics, Islamic Jihad fighters fired on Israeli troops, allowed themselves to be chased, and led their pursuers straight into an ambush.  All in all 12 soldiers, armed security guards, and border police were killed.  Originally the Israeli government claimed that the “bloodthirsty Palestinians” had opened fire into a group of religious Jews who were on their way back from praying.  This was later proven to be false as not a single civilian was even wounded in the operation.  Israeli troops in the occupied territories are the daily face of terror for Palestinians.  They routinely shoot down unarmed Palestinian men, women, and children as well as demolishing Palestinian homes, arresting innocents off the street, and humiliating Palestinians with racist abuse and searches.  In addition armed security guards and border police help enforce the racist Apartheid system in the occupied territories.  They guard racially exclusive, government supported settlements, patrol Israeli only roads, tear down Palestinian olive groves and defend openly racist settlers.  These armed occupiers of the Palestinian lands make themselves legitimate targets of resistance through their continued presence in the occupied territories, and their continued brutality towards the Palestinian people they subjugate.

            Many Palestinian resistance fighters only attack these “legitimate” targets, the people that are oppressing the Palestinians on a daily basis.  Others, however, choose to embark on attacks against unarmed civilians within Israel itself.  While the reasons for these attacks are completely understandable (the underlying reason being revenge for the daily oppression Palestinian face is to be had in bringing the horrors of the occupied territories to the Israel populous that does nothing to stop them) the results are questionable.  Setting aside the obvious moral questions involved in killing unarmed civilians (although Israel does this on a daily basis), the attacks inside Israel have had a drastic impact on their economy, especially tourism, and it is the success of that economy that helps drive the occupation of Palestine, but it seems that these attacks only help Israel to block the peace process and an eventual Palestinian state.  Although groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Al-Aqsa martyrs brigade have in the past talked about ceasing attacks within Israel, they have not yet acted upon it (usually due to the Israeli policy of destroying negotiations through targeted killings).  I feel that if these attacks stopped it would be a lot easier for the Palestinians to legitimize their struggle in the eyes of peace minded peoples in Israel, Europe, and the rest of the world.  Although Israeli terror is responsible for the attacks into Israel, Palestinians should at least try to cease those attacks to highlight the moral high ground they hold in the conflict.

            When talking about Palestinian resistance, one must highlight the exceptional bravery of the resistance fighters.  Using little more than Kalashnikovs, bombs, and mortars they have battled one of the worlds most powerful militaries, equipped with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of US made warplanes, helicopters, tanks, missiles, and bulldozers, for over 40 years.  The world had forgotten about the Palestinians after 1948.  They had been abandoned by the UN, kicked out by Israel, occupied by Jordan, and forgotten by the entire world. Well, the world defiantly knows the Palestinians exist now.  Through both extreme acts of headline grabbing violence, and the heroic bravery of the subjugated civilian population, the Palestinians have forced the world to enforce the ideals of justice that they so readily espouse.  A quick side note that I would like to mention.  Before 1948 the zionist Jews in Palestine were regarded as terrorists.  They blew up buildings, assassinated British officers and civilians, and massacred civilian inhabitants of towns.  There where wanted posters put up all over Palestine saying “Wanted, the terrorist Menachim Begin (for example, he was wanted by the British for terrorism) Reward” Then the world, shocked by the atrocities committed by the Christian anti-Semites (Nazis, their sympathizers, and the rest of Christian Europe that watched), looked the other way when the Jewish minority created a state in Palestine.  Then the zionist Jews became freedom fighters, and people like Menachim Begin, the terrorist of only a few years before, became president of the new state of Israel.  The Palestinian’s, now became the terrorists as they fought to get back their lands that had been stolen, and create the state that had been promised to them.  Today’s Freedom Fighter is tomorrow’s terrorist, and today’s terrorist is tomorrow’s freedom fighter.