The Palestinians’ ‘Arab Spring’ strategy

What happened

The surging tide of Arab unrest hit Israel this week, as thousands of Palestinian refugees attempted to cross the Jewish state’s borders with Syria, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip on the anniversary of Israel’s creation. Israeli soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more, but were unable to prevent about 100 protesters from bursting through a fence on Syria’s border with the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Israeli officials accused Damascus of busing demonstrators to the border and deliberately fomenting violence. “The Syrian regime is intentionally attempting to divert international attention away from the brutal crackdown of their own citizens,” said Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman.

The protests came on Nakba (“catastrophe”) Day, the term Palestinians use to commemorate their displacement following Israel’s creation in 1948. By consciously imitating the tactics and imagery of the “Arab Spring” uprisings, the Palestinians hope to sidestep the stalled peace process, and convince the United Nations to create a Palestinian state this fall. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was headed to Washington this week to seek President Obama’s help in blunting that effort. “A Palestinian government, half of which declares daily that it is intent on annihilating Israel, is not a partner for peace,” Netanyahu said, in reference to the militant group Hamas.

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What the editorials said

“It should be no surprise that the ferment in the Arab world has touched the Palestinians,” said The New York Times. Syria may have encouraged the assault on Israel’s border fences, but there’s also no doubt of the great longing among millions of Palestinians for an independent homeland. “This is a singular moment of great opportunity and challenge in the Arab world,” and President Obama can’t let it pass. Only he can put a specific plan for a Palestinian state on the table, and try to work out a compromise.

Israel would like to pretend these protests were created by Syria, said the San Francisco Chronicle. But like the uprisings that have “swept over the rest of the Arab world,” these unprecedented protests were coordinated over social-media sites like Facebook by young people calling for “dignity and self-governance.” And Israel did itself no favors by responding to those legitimate demands with bullets, said The Boston Globe. By opening fire, Israel “played into its enemies’ hands.” Only a two-state agreement and reconciliation with the Palestinians “can bring Israel lasting peace.” Does Netanyahu really believe that a state of permanent war is in Israel’s best interests?

What the columnists said

The border crossings marked the debut of a new Palestinian strategy, said Karl Vick in Time.com. Thousands of young protesters who’d attended workshops on nonviolent protest approached armed Israeli soldiers without weapons of their own. A few teens threw rocks, but there were no guns, and no bombs. Activists hope continued protests of this kind will “recast the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the same terms that brought down dictatorships in Egypt and Tunisia,” and generate international sympathy.

For Israel, this is “a nightmare scenario,” said Matt Steinglass in Economist.com. For decades, American politicians and commentators have told Palestinians they could only secure a homeland by renouncing terrorism and following the peaceful path of “Gandhi and Martin Luther King.” Will we now make “good on our rhetoric, and press Israel to give them their state?” Actually, it doesn’t matter what the U.S. does, said Peter Beinart in TheDailyBeast​.com. The Palestinian people “have lost faith in American promises, and they no longer fear American threats.” Instead, they have learned the lessons of the Arab Spring and taken control of their future, by marching for their rights, demanding that the rival Hamas and Fatah factions end their bickering, and pushing their leaders to request a U.N. vote on nationhood.

But even the creation of a Palestinian state is unlikely to bring true peace to the region, said Elliott Abrams in The Weekly Standard. The central demand of Nakba Day protesters was for the creation of Israel to be “reversed,” to use their term. Don’t be fooled by the new tactics: The Palestinians don’t want peace. They still want Israel’s destruction. “For Israelis and all those who seek peace in the Middle East, this is the real catastrophe.”