Eyes Without Country: Searching for a Palestinian Strategy of Liberation

257 Pages·1994·47.717 MB·English

by  Souad Dajani

Eyes
Without
Country
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Souad R. Dajani
Eyes
Without
Country
Searching for a
Palestinian Strategy
of Liberation
Temple University Press
Philadelphia
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Temple University Press, Philadelphia 19122
Copyright © 1995 by Temple University
All rights reserved
Published 1994
The title of this book is from a poem by Rashid Hussein, "Revolution in Transit," in The World
of Rashid Hussein: A Palestinian Poet in Exile, edited by Kamal Boullatta and Mirene Ghossein
(Detroit: Association of Arab-American University Graduates, 1979), 172-173. Reprinted with
permission from The Association of Arab-American University Graduates, Normal, Illinois.
Portions of the material in this book are reprinted with permission from Souad Dajani, The
Intifada (Amman, Jordan: University of Jordan, Center for Hebraic Studies, 1990).
The epigraph to the introduction is from a poem by Mahmoud Darwish, "Investigation,"
quoted in Fawaz Turki, The Disinherited Journal of Palestinian Exile (New York: Monthly
Review Press, 1972),27. Copyright © 1972 by Fawaz Turki. Reprinted by permission of
Monthly Review Foundation.
S The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National
Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1984
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dajani, Souad R.
Eyes without country: searching for a Palestinian strategy of liberation / Souad R. Dajani.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56639-240-3(cloth) ISBN 1-56639-241-1(paper)
1. Jewish-Arab relations. 2. Palestinian Arabs-Politics and government. 3. Intifada,
1987-Influence. 4. Nonviolence. 5. West Bank-International status. 6. Gaza Stti~
International status. I. Title.
DS119.7.D2554 1995
956.95'3044-dc20 94-21706
CIP
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Nothing remains of my oldest dream, of revolution,
But scraps and stars stitched to the shoulders
of those who justify defeat.
Nothing but battalions of essays
pregnant with bank accounts
and a green light for murder.
Nothing remains but a minstrel
She wails over Jaffa and Haifa
Banks in Jerusalem sweat.
(Revolution still searching for an alphabet).
A revolution, my friends, comes to life
in eyes without country
in peasants without land
where the police is landlord.
A revolution comes to life
when the writer and the blind
See one truth.
From "Revolution in Transit" by Rashid Hussein
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Contents
Acknowledgments IX
Introduction Xl
ONE. The Context and Background of the Intifada 1
Two. Twenty Years of Occupation:
Palestinian Resistance Before the Intifada 28
THREE. The Intifada as Palestinian Civilian Resistance 57
FOUR. Nonviolent Civilian Resistance:
Theoretical Underpinnings 95
FIvE. Assessing Strategic Directions:
Prospects for a Strategy of Nonviolent Civilian Resistance 114
Conclusion 155
Abbreviations 159
Notes 163
Index 229
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Acknowledgments
Initial work on this book coincided with the outbreak of the intifada in the
Occupied Territories. During 1987-1988, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the
Program on Nonviolent Sanctions at Harvard University's Center for
International Affairs. I was pursuing my research on Palestinian nonviolent
civilian resistance to Israeli occupation. The intifada, the civilian uprising
of Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, seemed like a
vindication of the direction my work was taking. I was studying a region
where the language of force prevailed and where people reacted very
skeptically to the notion that "nonviolence" could wield any kind of
effective power. As the intifada escalated, so did my commitment to
investigate this mode of civilian struggle. Lying at the heart of the issue,
it seemed to me, was the question of the extent to which the intifada relied
upon a coherent strategy to achieve its goals. It was soon apparent that
my energies should focus on this question of strategy. More precisely, I
would focus on the formulation of a strategy of nonviolent civilian resis
tance that could be undertaken by the Palestinians themselves to end Israeli
rule.
This book would not have been possible without the support of two
fellowships, one from the Program on Nonviolent Sanctions at Harvard
University and one from the Albert Einstein Institution in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. My thanks especially to Gene Sharp, who first invited me to
Harvard, and to Chris Kruegler, who facilitated my return for a second year.
Three people to whom lowe special gratitude are Chris Kruegler, Elaine
Hagopian-a role model and former professor, and Zachary Lockman.
They read the first draft of this manuscript and provided me with most
incisive and critical comments. I hope they recognize their input here. I thank
Jamal Nassar of the Association of Arab-American University Graduates for
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