I Resist: Palestine Like Never Before

I Resist Palestine: a campaign like never before

As Operation Lead was closing early this year, a new organization rose based in Beirut. The intent was to instill pride in the Palestinian resistance. During the hostilities the emphasis had been on victimhood. Pictures of bleeding bodies stacked up at hospitals had an immediate effect on world public opinion. The impression was of an Israeli shooting gallery with Palestinians as ducks on a pond.
After they adjusted to the carnage, various UN aid workers began to speak of crimes against humanity and mass murder. The innocent civilians had nowhere to hide from the furious bombardment. Instead of defending them, the soldiers hid in tunnels. They claimed victory by virtue of surviving the onslaught.
This did not inspire public confidence. After years of posturing and boasting, the militias had retired to the bomb shelters after four days of combat while the women and children dodged bullets to collect food.
These practices were hardly the type to inspire confidence in the Hamas regime. They left it to outside sources to carry the attack to Israel. Outside legal experts took the Israeli authorities to the international courts. Since Gaza is not a country, the complaints had to pass through the Israeli courts that proved unsympathetic to the collection of hearsay and gossip that constituted most of the charges. Another legal weakness occurred when the Palestinians stretched the allegations to war crimes. Claims of genocide involve the intent of the perpetrator. If he failed to take all measures available to him to destroy the Gaza citizenry, what he did was not genocide.
The basic legal problem for Hamas is they initiated the hostilities. If they withdrew four days into the fight, they should have never started it. The aggressor had exposed his civilian population to severe damage without gaining anything for them. Hamas was the war criminal in this case.
What does the new outfit hope to accomplish Like Never Before?
Here is a video from them.

The video is well done and good advertising. For maximum universal effect I would change to "oppose" rather than "resist" whenever it appears. Everyone opposes atrocities, closed zones and travel by permit. High walls and checkpoints are not on anybody's wish list. Occupation and genocide are madness personified. Who wouldn't oppose these cruel measures?

Resistance implies action a big step beyond opposition. Much of that depends on the nature of the regime in power. An efficient regime will define acceptable boundaries for dissent. The choice is up to the dissenter. Shall I tiptoe along the boundary, or do I risk prison or worse by crossing the line? What do I gain from violence? What can I take from the regime through negotiation or stealth?

The vital message to the enemy is he can't achieve anything through violence. The Israelis learned this in 1967. Anybody who urges the Palestinians to resist actively does not have the Palestinian welfare at heart. What are they to do against the fourth military power in the world?

The Palestinians could have had their own country many years ago if they had abandoned their side bets. Only military victory could have returned them to their original homes in Israel or would have led to a one-state solution. Nobody can give anybody their human rights. They are a matter between the people and their elected representatives.

President Obama has asked the Palestinians to disarm and to live side-by-side with the Israelis in peace. This is the best deal anybody in the region is likely to get.



Palestine: A Campaign Like Never Before'
by Ayesha Saldanha

A campaign was launched earlier this year, at the time of the Israeli attacks on Gaza, to promote the concept of taking pride in Palestinian resistance, and to focus on Palestinian rights not victimhood. Called the Never Before Campaign, it is based in Beirut, Lebanon, and has produced a series of videos to convey its message. Global Voices Online has interviewed the Never Before Campaign to find out more.

How did the Never Before Campaign start? Who is involved?
The Never Before Campaign is really a group of individuals from various backgrounds (media, business, sociology experts, civil society activists) in Lebanon who came together for a number of causes, locally in Lebanon and the Arab world in general. We haven’t disclosed our names because we prefer that focus remains on the campaign itself as well as on the causes we support. We have seen so many good movements turning bad after becoming personified…
The idea for the Never Before Campaign had been brewing for some time when the war on Gaza started last December. It was then we realized that we should launch the campaign. The term Never Before came about after lengthy discussions (prior to the Gaza war) over whether it would be better to draw parallelism between the Palestinian cause and the South Africa struggle, or with other past causes around the world. The conclusion was: It is true that severe injustice has befallen peoples around the world throughout history, but never before was it over such a long period of time, and so blatant and so cruel and met with such indifference. At the same time, never before has a people resisted and struggled for so long, with the odds being against them and faced so many betrayals. Finally, support for the Palestinian people against the injustice they face, is becoming stronger as never before.

Never Before Campaign - I Resist:



What makes the campaign different to other campaigns in support of Palestinian rights?
We do not claim that our campaign is drastically different. Advocating the Palestinian cause has been going on since the 1948 if not even before that. We are part of this movement. What we noticed is that campaigning for Palestine in the more than a decade or so, particularly in the West, has been confined to garnering sympathy on a humanitarian basis. We believe that what is needed is respect for the Palestinian people rather than empathy or a guilt driven sentiment.
Our view is that justice shall prevail in Palestine, our duty is to make this come sooner, and that we are inviting every decent human being to be part of this day when it comes.

Never Before Campaign - What it's all about:



Does the campaign focus on producing videos, or are there other ways in which you aim to get your message across?
We are all working people, with no resources allocated for the campaign. So, we are sticking with the videos for now. Many people have already joined us physically and virtually, so we hope to start expanding our activities as soon as it is feasible.

Never Before Campaign - Make the Lie Big: