The Confrontation with the Israeli army in Naksa day at Qalandia in Sunday, and after the Israeli took over the streets in no time with their tear gas, concussion grenade, and rubber bullets. the Palestinian protesters were forced back to the same old position, the same one as May 15, Nakba clashes.
Well, I have nothing to say about it, The pictures below will tell more,
But the protest took a different direction, a group of protesters gathered around the soldiers, the Protesters were chanting and holding signs, and every time the soldiers throw tear gas, they would gather again as soon as the gas fade away, at this moment boarder police went down to confront the protesters, pushing "usually with their bodies, never saw a soldier use his hands." the protesters back -who had their hands behind their back-. the police used the means they know the best, they used tear gas at least twice, they stopped after they gassed themselves"somehow the commander who throw the gas canister, just miss calculated the wind, so he teargassed his men, rather than the protesters, I have some respect for this commander, as he returned to his men, although the gas was everywhere, to check on them.!"
After the second gassing, the police called the Skunk water Canon (it is chemical blue/greenish liquid that smell like sewage water. it stick on clothes and skin, not easy to remove). as soon as it's arrived the protesters rushed to confront it, as soon they stood in front of it, the canon opened fire!! "to be more accurate, open water" refreshing them in the very hot sunny day! I got some of this refreshing liquid as well, a week later I still smell it.
The protesters stood against the truck for a while, they were pushed, and pepper sprayed before the police finally push them aside letting the trucks enter, to wash the street of Qalandia refuge camp.
The protester stood doing almost nothing for a while before a military jeep showed up, 2 protesters tried to block it's way, the soldiers at this point responded violently they stormed the 2 protesters, they arrested one, dragged him and forced him inside the jeep. The protester who escaped the arrest said "we shall not let this Jeep leave as long as this guy inside", the protester tried to block the path, but the soldiers were aware this time and forced everyone away.
One of the protesters tried to b lack the way, but not for long, he was chased and brought to the ground for a while, protesters and medics argued the Israeli police to let him go in an ambulance eventually, claiming he was badly injured.
Seeing all this made me think-for the first time- about the power of peaceful resistance in Palestine, the soldiers most of the time stood there a bit confused as for the first time, they are dealing with Palestinian protesters with no stones in their hands, they wanted to use the same old means, I could see the urge in the border police face to shot, yet he couldn't, their was no excuse to use such power, over an obviously unarmed civilian.
The soldier, and border police are used to deal the stones throwers, young men who can be easily listed under combatant, that can cause harms to the soldiers(the list of people who can be considered as a threat on the soldiers life is wide). In other hand Israeli police is more capable to suppress peaceful protest, but they don't operate in the west bank,....... maybe they will sometimes soon.
Yet, you can easily note, how noneffective the peaceful protest was(so the stone throwing), the soldiers could easily arrest them all in minutes, their were only 20 protester.. "maybe less" they were scared, or at least not welling to be arrested. after the water canon stand, there was no more action only 2 people were left to meet their fate, with the Jeep stand.
Those activist failed to understand, peaceful resistance is just like the armed one, need planing, need attacks plans as much as it need defiance mechanism, it's not enough to walk down the street with your hand behind your back, this can be stopped in a tear canister.
The people who adopt the peaceful resistance must maintain the same qualities an armed fighter poses, they must be willing to be arrested, beaten, and even shot dead to achieve their purposes. those qualities I didn't see among most of the activist who stood there.
In the end as someone believe in armed resistance, I think those peaceful resistance advocate have something to offer, we must give them the chance.. in the end, it can't get worse.
Final note, you can't throw stone and do/claim peaceful protest at the same time... those 2 don't work very well together.
Best
A
PS: The Palestinian as people still maintain their right to use any mean necessary to achieve their purposes of Independent state on their righteous land, and the return of the refugees.
