With a huge, open-ended hunger strike planned for April 17, in which all Palestinian prisoners will follow the example of Khader Adnan —who was released after a 66-day strike earlier this year—questions about the Palestinian non-violence movement have become pertinent again. Among the reasons that led Palestinian militant groups to renounce large-scale violence, one could cite the wall that Israel started building in 2002 around the West Bank to thwart suicide bombings, or Israel’s massive assault on Gaza in December 2008-January 2009 to stop rocket attacks. Hunger strikes, peaceful demonstrations against the wall and house demolitions and a fledging boycott against Israeli goods are among the new non-violent tactics adopted by Palestinians seeking an end to the occupation. To find out more about this movement, Al-Monitor spoke to Mustafa Barghouti, a medical doctor, MP, the leader of Al-Mubadara (“The Initiative”) and a long-time advocate of civil resistance.
Al-Monitor: Have Palestinians opted for non-violent resistance as a new strategy?