What Stands In The Way Of Palestinian Non-Violence?

The Economist :

if you’re among those who have made the argument that Israelis would give Palestinians a state if only the Palestinians would learn to employ Ghandhian tactics of non-violent protest, it appears your moment of truth has arrived. As my colleague writes, what happened on Nakba Day was Israel’s “nightmare scenario: masses of Palestinians marching, unarmed, towards the borders of the Jewish state, demanding the redress of their decades-old national grievance.”

Many are skeptical of the viability of non-violent Palestinian resistance, because it is not only a threat to Israel, but also a threat to Hamas, Hezbollah and all armed resistances that grew up during the “What is taken by force can only be reclaimed by force” days.

This old conversion of interests has fueled a very old Middle Eastern conspiracy theory: That Israel and the armed resistances feed off each other’s violence so that they can preserve each other’s existence and relevance. This explains the Israeli policy of shooting unarmed demonstrators, and it also explains the launching of small missiles into Israeli civilian areas during calm periods..