Palestinian boys play football in front of anti-Israel graffiti, Gaza City, 2011. Demotix/Majdi Fathi. All rights reserved.The eruption of conflict in Palestine is described by some as "the third intifada", using the term for the prolonged uprisings against Israeli occupation in 1987-93 and 2000-05. Whether that designation proves premature, the rapid increase in violence, especially in Jerusalem, appears to have surprised Benjamin Netanyahu's government. The latter's extraordinary comments about the trigger for the Nazi genocide, made during a visit to Berlin, is an indication of this confusion. From the perspective of that government, and given the far superior resources of and levels of control exercised by the numerous Israeli security-force agencies, the current resistance should simply not be happening. And yet it is.
Where are the ingredients of protest in this situation, including the often neglected non-violent kind, and where might such protest lead? For those seeking serious thought and analysis on these questions – including Israelis, Palestinians and others – two timely new books offer greatly valuable insight. One focuses specifically on Palestine, while the other examines the wider issue of non-violent change.
The first is written by Andrew Rigby and Marwan Darweish, two academics at Coventry University: Popular Protest in Palestine: the Uncertain Future of Unarmed Resistance (Pluto Press, 2015). More than two decades ago, Rigby wrote a highly perceptive analysis of the first intifada: Living the Intifada (Zed Press, 1991), and this latest meticulous study extends a long-lasting engagement.
