Popular Resistance in Palestine

There has been a long history of unarmed popular Palestinian resistance to the colonisation of Palestine and the Zionist project. The aim of this chapter is to outline the main features of this history, from its first manifestation in the late nineteenth century up until the recent past. The analysis is informed by the body of literature on civil resistance and everyday resistance to oppression and injustice which recognises the asymmetrical power relationship between the parties. Civil resistance is a mode of challenging control and oppression relying on the sustained use of methods that are predominantly nonviolent, unarmed or “non-military” in nature, in pursuit of goals that are widely shared within the society.
The basic assumption regarding the dynamics of civil resistance in purist of social, political and economic change is that repressive and colonial regimes depend not only on fear, control and intimidation and coercive power of the state but also the obedience of sectors of the population. It is important for civil resistance movements to identify and undermine the pillars of support of the regime. Sustained nonviolent resistance raises the cost of the regime policies and results in a loss of legitimacy in the eyes of internal and external actors and finally creates a chain of nonviolent resistance that links with other groups and movements which in turn impacts on power structures that are being challenged including international solidarity and different forms of boycott and sanctions.
The chapter will trace the thread of Palestinian resistance from Jewish immigration to Palestine under the Ottoman and British mandate until 1948. The next section will discuss the Palestinian resistance, 1948–1987 and will explore the Palestinians in Israel everyday resistance to the military rule imposed on them after 1948 and up to the Land Day in 1976 and the resistance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that led to the first Palestinian Intifada in December 1987. We will look at the Intifada through the lens of popular unarmed resistance and will distinguish two phases – from late 1987 through to early 1990, and the subsequent period through to the Madrid Peace Conference of October 1991 and the second Intifada in 2000. The chapter then will present the Re-emergence of unarmed popular resistance to the apartheid Separation Wall. The last section will highlight the “ground for hope” through the increased involvement of international grassroots solidarity movements with the Palestinians inspired by recent events such as the forced eviction of the residents of Sheik Jarrah in Jerusalem.