Third Intifada? Fine. But try something new…

In an article from today’s Haaretz Fatah officials are said to be planning the initiation of a 3rd Intifada:

“The first intifada gained significant diplomatic ground as far as the Palestinians are concerned since its symbol, a boy throwing rocks at a tank, made it impossible for Israel to claim it was defending itself against terror as it did in the second intifada, followings the city-center bombings,” the official said…

This worries me. Why? Because stones may not be arms (although I bet David and Goliath would disagree), but throwing them does constitute violence. And protest – no matter how just its cause – if initiated through violence will beget violence. And in this case stones thrown in one direction will almost certainly find bullets returned.

Third Intifada? Not a terrible idea. Something new needs to happen. But in my humble opinion this Intifada will only succeed in altering the status quo for the positive if it is NON violent.

Gather. March. Sit together in the middle of the road. But do not cast the first, or any stones. The image of a boy throwing a stone at a tank may be powerful, but did that Intifada really accomplish anything? No. Why? Because it was violent.

Change the game, change the result.

Initiate fully peaceful protest.

The weekly anti-separation fence rallies in the villages of Na’alin and Bil’in are NOT non-violent and have NOT accomplished a thing. They should not be the paradigm to look for. A powerful image? How about a million walking peacefully to Jerusalem on a Friday morning, praying at and around Al-Aqsa, and then walking peacefully home. Numbers show power. And control shows power. And non-violence shows hope for the future.

Shabbat Shalom. May just causes beget just action. May people begin to see the failure of violence. May the wonderful people of the Holy Land find peace speedily in our days.

יהי שלום בחילך שלוה בארמנותיך

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Rabbi Jonah Geffen

Jonah joined J Street following two years as Rabbinic Fellow at B’nai Jeshurun in New York City. For nearly ten years Jonah has dedicated himself to teaching and promoting the cause of peace as refracted and understood by the Jewish tradition. He served as Senior Coexistence Educator for Kivunim: New Directions, was a senior educator for the Pardes Center for Judaism and Conflict Resolution’s Rodef Shalom program, and has been a trip facilitator and leader of the Peacemakers’ Beit Midrash with Encounter. Jonah spent his freshman year of college on Young Judaea Year Course, was a Kollel Fellow at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, a summer fellow at Yeshivat Hadar, and a CLAL Rabbis Without Borders Fellow. Born and raised in Manhattan where he graduated from the Heschel and Fieldston Schools, Jonah received his BA in History and Jewish Studies from Indiana University, studied with Rabbi Dr. Marc Gopin earning an MS in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University, and received an MA in Jewish Studies and Rabbinic Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary.

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