Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: L'Antifada non violenta... Fiamma Nirenstein, dove sei?

Dal Torono Globe and Mail
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0930-01.htm
A New Intifada is Born 
by Daoud Kuttab
The time was almost midnight, on Sept. 20, when a number of satellite
television stations interrupted their regular programming to announce
that Israeli soldiers had warned Palestinians living near Yasser
Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah that the building would be blown up
in 15 minutes if those inside it didn't come out.
Within those tense minutes, the streets of Ramallah filled with
ordinary Palestinians. Marchers, often led by women, increased in
number as people trapped in their homes for days on end decided to
shake off the injustice that had befallen them. Many demonstrated more
in defense of their national honor than in support of Mr. Arafat.
The popular uprising that began in the Ramallah neighborhood of Umm al
Sharit quickly spread to Nablus, Tulkarem, Gaza and Bethlehem. The
next day, women and men came out with pots and pans and beat on their
household utensils as a sign of anger and protest. The following day,
a candlelight vigil was held as a way to break what people considered
a repressive curfew.
In 1987, Palestinians introduced the term intifada into the
international lexicon, when thousands of youths armed with nothing
more than stones rose up against Israeli guns and tanks. In the fall
of 2000, when rioting broke out following the visit of Ariel Sharon to
the area around the al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, many called those
protests the al Aqsa, or second, intifada. Now, with what happened the
evening of Sept. 20 in Ramallah, I believe we are witnessing the birth
of the third intifada.
Since that night, schools in many West Bank cities have remained open,
defiant of Israeli curfews. Some areas are organizing popular schools.
Some of the more affluent schools are sending homework to their
students via e-mail. Curfew days have become high traffic days on the
Internet as most people are doing their office or school work from
their homes. A major culture is being written up, recorded,
photographed and spread on cyberspace about life under curfew.
What happened late that Friday night was not without warning. A week
earlier, the representatives of the Palestinian people did something
unprecedented in Arab politics: They forced a government appointed by
Mr. Arafat to resign rather than be shamed by a confidence vote. At
about the same time, a public opinion survey, commissioned by the
Search for Common Ground, found that a majority of Palestinians
supported the idea of non-violent resistance. Hence the peaceful
protests that started 10 days ago.
In the two previous intifadas, those who favored more violent
confrontation soon came to dominate the protests. Such acts are not
only contrary to the spirit of non-violence, they also endanger those
involved, quickly limiting the possibility that large numbers of
ordinary Palestinians might participate.
For a long time, many international critics of the Palestinians have
been asking why we don't use non-violent methods to effect change.
They argue that if Palestinians do that, a major change will take
place in Israeli and international public opinion that will eventually
be translated in political terms. Many of us have doubts about that,
seeing that the Sharon government is only interested in a Palestinian
population that raises the white flag of surrender.
When Palestinians in Ramallah carried out their plans to hold a
candlelight vigil on Wednesday night, the Israeli army, which had said
it would lift Thursday's curfew, reversed its position and reimposed
the curfew. Some people obeyed the renewed order; most didn't. Schools
in particular have decided that they will no longer call off their
teaching duties according to Israeli army dictates.
What is worrisome, however, is that the Israeli and international
press have ignored or belittled the non-violent nature of what
happened in Palestine last week. It seems that the long-awaited change
in Israeli and U.S. public opinion will not happen soon, as both
peoples continue to be bombarded by news that fulfills the aspirations
of those wishing to end the conflict in a violent way.
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0930-01.htm

 of those wishing to end the conflict in a violent way.
I subscribe. But Ms. Fiamma is watching something else elsewhere.