Why Don't Palestinians Adopt Gandhi's Methods?

People sometimes say: "Why didn't the Palestinians pursue nonviolent resistance ala Gandhi and Mandela, just think what they might have achieved!"

The truth is that many Palestinians have pursued nonviolent resistance, but they operate in an administrative atmosphere that can be totalitarian, and the world doesn't open its eyes to their persecution. The case of Shareef Khaled, a farmer and community leader who has the misfortune of owning orchards on the wrong side of Israel's security fence, serves my point. His son Ghassan Khaled, a 41-year-old lecturer in law, has been in "administrative detention" in Israel since last spring for allegedly helping a Hamas students group at his school.

David Bloom reports: "Ghassan Khaled is from the northern West Bank village of Jayyous, where a popular movement against the separation wall began in '02, led by Khaled's father, Shareef Omar Khaled. This is the second time a son of his has been put in administrative detention, which means detained without due process. The point is, Israel is using the courts to persecute non-violent activists, and to steal land (in this case for the purpose of expanding Lev Leviev's settlement Zufim)."

Here's a report last week from Khaled's Kafkalike trial, now adjourned till October as he molders in detention. Please register the fact that this report was written by Anat Matar, a distinguished lecturer in philosophy at Tel-Aviv University whose work as a scholar and mother opposing the occupation is nothing short of noble.

You will see that the Israeli police, the Shin Bet, or Shabak (a name for Shin Bet, sounds like Savak) have flimsy evidence. Matar reports on the testimony of Abed Kharaz, a former student of the accused:

An investigator called “Doron” reported that supposedly Kharaz incriminated Ghassan Khaled in channelling a specified funding to student members of the Kutla-Islamia [Hamas group]: well, strange enough there was no mention of this in the original interrogation report, although this “fact” constituted the pedestal of the prosecution’s claims. The witness now clearly stated that he had never uttered anything of the sort in his Shabak interrogation nor elsewhere!... It was quite clear to anyone in his right mind that the prosecution possessed nothing of substance in its hands. The witnesses due to appear at the next hearing will be primarily police officers and the above mentioned Shabak interrogator.

Matar's report is the only news I could find on this event, which speaks to the totalitarian aspect of this process. Investigator "Doron" appears again in this report in June on Khaled's case and the use of administrative detention:

Administrative detention serves as a convenient tool of harassment by the Israeli regime to use against political activists and members of parliament, peace activists leading non-violent resistance to the occupation, students and other people who cannot be put to trial because of the lack of evidence against them.

In recent years, 8% of the political prisoners in Israeli jails have been administrative detainees. At present there are about 730 administrative detainees in Israeli prisons...

Khaled... is a senior lecturer at the law faculty of Al Najjah University, in Nablus, specializing in international commercial law. He is married and a father of five: his oldest son is 8 years old, his youngest is 6 months. Dr. Khaled does not engage in politics. Rather, his dedication is to his work and to his family.

Dr. Khaled's father, Sharif Omar Khaled (Abu Azzam), has developed many liaisons with international and Israeli peace activists, being one of the popular leaders of the peace demonstrations against the Apartheid wall built on the land of Jayyous. His own fields - like most, in that area - are located in the western side of the wall, and he is required to present a permit in order to cultivate them. In October 2007 his permit was denied for unspecified "security reasons", and was renewed only after a strong public campaign at the beginning of 2008....

Dr. Khaled was first arrested on the night of 16th January, 2008. For three weeks he was denied contact with his lawyer. He was interrogated under duress, and eventually was accused of "giving a service to an unauthorized body". The accusation is based on two allegations: it is claimed, first, that Dr. Khaled used to give financial aid to members of the Kutla Isslamiya, Hamas' student movement; and secondly, that he gave permission to publish an academic article written by him in the journal "Mushkat al'Adalah", issued by law students at his university belonging to the Kutla Islamiya....

On 3rd April Dr. Khaled was declared an administrative detainee....

On 1st May, after an appeal to the military court was denied, Dr. Khaled appealed to the High Court of Justice. During the hearing, on 22nd May, his lawyer, Adv. Muhammad Abed, claimed that the intelligence reports, incriminating Dr. Khaled, were unfounded. He told the judges that during his interrogation by the GSS, Khaled's investigators attempted to convince him to admit that he belonged to the Hamas party. In return, they promised to omit any charges of military activity. One GSS investigator, "Arad", said that "had he admitted he belonged to Hamas, we might believe him; but since he denies everything, we cannot believe a word he's saying and therefore suspect he is involved in military activity". Another investigator, "Doron", threatened to "ruin his life" in case he does not cooperate.