Refusing to be Enemies: Palestinian and Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation - Hardcover

Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 086372342X ISBN 13: 9780863723421

Publisher: Ithaca Press, 2010

Synopsis

'Refusing to be Enemies: Palestinian and Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation' presents the voices of over 100 practitioners and theorists of nonviolence, the vast majority either Palestinian or Israeli, as they reflect on their own involvement in nonviolent resistance and speak about the nonviolent strategies and tactics employed by Palestinian and Israeli organizations, both separately and in joint initiatives. From examples of effective nonviolent campaigns to consideration of obstacles encountered by nonviolent organizations and the special challenges of joint struggle, the book explores ways in which a more effective nonviolent movement may be built. In their own words, activists share their hopes and visions for the future and discuss the internal and external changes needed for their organizations, and the nonviolent movement as a whole, to successfully pursue their goal of a just peace in the region. A foreword on the definition and nature of nonviolence by Canadian author Ursula Franklin, analytic essays by activists Ghassan Andoni (Palestinian), Jeff Halper (Israeli), Jonathan Kuttab (a Palestinian activist lawyer with international experience) and Starhawk (an international of Jewish background), and an epilogue from the author, round out the book. Andoni offers an analysis based on his long experience of nonviolent activism in Palestine, while Halper postulates five necessary components of an approach to nonviolence that goes beyond the simply tactical. Kuttab argues that, even given the Palestinians 'legal right to armed struggle, nonviolence is more effective and suitable for resistance', and Starhawk describes the unique challenges faced by Palestinian nonviolence.

About this title

Review:

Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta's new book offers us a compelling invitation to consider non-violent activism as a path to peaceful resolution in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a series of interviews, essays and commentaries, and with contributions from notable peace activists such as Ghassan Andoni, Ursula Franklin, Jeff Halper, Starhawk and others, she explores many forms of creative non-violence and its powerful effects. Refusing to be Enemies culminates Kaufman-Lacusta's extensive activism and experiences living in Jerusalem for seven years. In their own words, activists share their hopes, experiences, challenges and dreams for the future. In part one of the book, Kaufman-Lacusta asks the question;Why nonviolence? Why anti-occupation activism; Part two explores strategies and applications of nonviolent action through interviews with both Palestinian and Israeli organizations, notably focusing on the issues, attitudes about and challenges to Palestinians and Israelis working together and joining forces in the struggle. --Wendy Goldsmith, rabble.ca'...An impressive array of activists and intellectuals, representing the Palestinian nonviolent movement alongside Israeli Jews who have supported their struggle for equality, justice, and self-determination. What unites the book s protagonists is their relentless belief in the power of nonviolent resistance as both a righteous principle and a useful political strategy to challenge Israel s military occupation and Apartheid-like policies. Filled with moving personal accounts, critical reflections and thought-provoking analysis, this important book showed me the light at the end of the tunnel. It will leave readers hopeful about the future of nonviolent resistance in Palestine and Israel, inspiring them to play a role in the transformation of this conflict. --Simona Sharoni, chair, Gender and Women s Studies, State University of New York, author of Gender, Resistance and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. The author did a masterful job of bringing readers to the realization that, just like happened in Apartheid South Africa, local resistance together with International support makes the difference between a just peace and continued conflict. Reading a book like this gives us more certainty that common people can do uncommon deeds. --Mazin Qumsiyeh, professor at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities; author of Sharing the Land of Canaan and Hope and Empowerment: Popular Resistance in Palestine

Refusing to be Enemies is a good antidote to all those who have given up on peace in the Holy Land. It is a powerful and hopeful book about the possibility of a peaceful and just future for the people of Israel and Palestine. For all those on both sides of the conflict who say 'There is no partner for peace', ... you will meet in this book hundreds of Palestinians and Israelis who are already active partners for peace. In Refusing to be Enemies, Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta shares the stories of over 100 Palestinian and Israeli nonviolent peace and justice activists whom she interviewed in-depth. We learn why they have chosen nonviolence as a means of struggle and a path to real peace. Kaufman-Lacusta writes that increasing numbers of Palestinians are coming to see nonviolence as an active and effective means to challenge the Israeli military occupation of their homeland. Even some Hamas leaders are supporting nonviolent resistance as an effective means of struggle by Palestinians. And thousands of Israelis and Israeli organizations, as well as internationals, are joining Palestinians in ongoing nonviolent action campaigns, such as those that challenge the 26-foot -high separation wall, which is cutting off many Palestinian villages from their farmland Israeli and international participation in these Palestinian-led nonviolent local actions give moral support and some protection to the Palestinian demonstrators. In addition, notes Kaufman-Lacusta, the 'outside'; participants gain a heart-level understanding about the Palestinian experience of oppression living under the Israeli military occupation, and are inspired to return home to share their experience with others. Her book provides firsthand evidence of the conversion experiences of many Israelis and Palestinians from a belief and confidence in the use of violence and the gun as a means of finding security to a belief in the power of active nonviolence. We hear stories of both Israelis and Palestinians coming to realize that the security of their two peoples is bound together, and you can't have security for one without security for the 'other.' Martin Luther King once said, 'The choice is no longer between violence and nonviolence, but between nonviolence and nonexistence.' Israelis and Palestinians are discovering nonviolence as the only alternative to an endless spiral of violence and counter-violence and security for none. The stories in this book profiles the visions, hopes, and dreams of Palestinian and Israeli activists, as well as their thoughts about strategy on how to escalate the nonviolent resistance to the military occupation and build a just peace. It is heartening to read of Palestinians and Israelis who say, 'We are all one human family.' It is even more heartening to learn how they risk their lives in courageous nonviolent actions. Refusing to Be Enemies helps us realize how important it is for us - Israelis in particular, and people around the world in general- to support the nonviolent initiatives and movements of Palestinians. President John Kennedy once said 'Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable.' Our job is to help make peaceful change possible in Palestine/Israel. This excellent book encourages all of us to get beyond the all-too-common division of the world between 'us' and 'them,' and the need to use violence war, and killing as a way of solving problems and achieving security. Instead, we discover that we are all one human family and can act on that belief and 'refuse to be enemies.' David Hartsough is director of Peaceworkers and cofounder of the Nonviolent Peaceforce. He co-led a Middle East peace delegation last year --David Hartsough, Fellowship Journal, p41, Nyack, NY USA, Fall 2010

In this compilation of essays and interviews with activists who share a commitment to nonviolence, Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta makes no pretense of presenting a full spectrum of views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rather, this Quaker/Jewish activist lifts up views worthy of attention that are underrepresented in the public discourse. In the process, she finds a vision of the future that she calls 'a refreshing and hope-inspiring antidote to the despair that threatens to descend when one is confronted with the day-to-day reality of the region.' Refusing to Be Enemies: Palestinian and Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation Early on in her information gathering, Kaufman-Lacusta noticed that two interview questions Why did you get involved in anti-occupation activities? Specifically, what brought you to nonviolence? had varying subtexts. For Israeli activists, the questions referred to their support of the Palestinian nonviolent struggle. For Palestinian activists, the questions focused on their choice of nonviolence rather than other methods of resistance. Kaufman-Lacusta also realized that the Palestinian nonviolent movement was 'virtually unknown' and so she decided to give special attention to it. Therefore, a major portion of Refusing to Be Enemies focuses on Palestinian activists and their understanding of, and commitment to, nonviolence. The book does not dwell upon the deprivations and injustices of those living under Israeli occupation, but the many hardships that Palestinians endure do surface. The policies of Israel, Kaufman-Lacusta notes, also disadvantage those Palestinians who are Israeli citizens who make up 20 percent of Israel's population but 'by law and planning and zoning restrictions are confined to just 3.5 percent of the land.' Jeff Halper, director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, sums up the situation sharply by calling Israel an ethnocracy: 'a country that belongs to one particular people that is privileged over everyone else.' Halper, who was interviewed at length for the book and contributed an essay, has some Quaker-related experience in his past. A Jewish anthropologist who lives in Israel, he led the Middle East Center of Friends World College for several years. In his recent book An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel (2008), Halper describes how a co-faculty member, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, spoke to students during a field trip about her distress over the destruction of a Palestinian village in 1948. When Halper objected to what he labeled her anti-Israeli 'tone,' Friends World College students called him to task for not adhering evenhandedly to rigorous intellectual standards. This experience, he says, was a turning point in his life. He began to notice 'the hidden reality of the 'other side' of the Israeli-Palestinian membrane, that porous, transparent filter that defines and envelopes Jewish space and turns everything 'Arab' into mere background, which separates 'us' from 'them.'' Much of the nonviolent resistance practiced in Palestine has ancient roots. However, an exclusive commitment to nonviolence (as opposed to pragmatic use of nonviolent techniques) has been slow in coming in the resistance to the Israeli occupation. This was partly rooted in a misperception. In the words of one activist, 'A lot of Palestinians think nonviolence is some kind of collaboration with Israel.' --Robert Dockhorn, Friends Journal

About the Author:

Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta lived in Jerusalem for seven years and has written widely on Palestinian and Israeli nonviolent activism and related topics. Ursula Franklin is a Quaker physicist, co-founder of Voice of Women for Peace (VOW-Canada) and author of The Ursula Franklin Reader: Pacifism as a Map (Between the Lines, 2006). Ghassan Andoni is a cofounder of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement and the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Jeff Halper is cofounder and coordinator of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions. His most recent book is An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel (Pluto, 2008). Jonathan Kuttab has practised law in Palestine, Israel and New York State. His activism spans the realms of human rights, social and church advocacy, and he has written and lectured widely. His legal/human rights writing includes co-authorship of West Bank and the Rule of Law (ICJ, 1980). Starhawk - a peace, environmental and global justice activist whose books include Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising (New Society Publishers, 2002) - has volunteered with the ISM four times in the Occupied Territories.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ithaca Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 086372342X
• ISBN 13: 9780863723421
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 502