Non-violent struggle is "no less important than armed struggle"
Headline: "International lawyer Jonathan Kuttab in meeting on Wednesday – the non-violent struggle, which is being maligned, must become our principal means…"
"Participants in a meeting on Wednesday reacted enthusiastically to guest [speaker], international attorney Jonathan Kuttab, an expert on non-violent struggle. [Kuttab] reviewed the significance of this [type of] struggle, which in his opinion is 'maligned'… Kuttab said that non-violent struggle is a means of struggle no less important than armed struggle – neither in terms of training and preparation, nor in terms of effectiveness and results – in conditions like those of the Palestinian nation. This is because, in view of the unfortunate condition of our cause, popular resistance is the means, perhaps the only means, of the non-violent struggle that will prove feasible and effective. He explained that sometimes, many people misunderstand non-violent struggle, believing it to be a sort of ceasefire, surrender, or [attempt] to avoid real battles. However, in reality, non-violent struggle is not just refraining from violent means, for it is a multifaceted ideological system based on foundations that differ from – and sometimes are the opposite of – armed struggle. If the armed or military struggle demands the destruction of as many enemy installations as possible while limiting loss of life on one side, the opposite is true of the non-violent approach to struggle: the death of as many victims as possible among the oppressed side (i.e., the Palestinian side) serves to strengthen it, while civilian deaths among the enemy (i.e., among Israelis) diminishes the legitimacy of its struggle."
"Participants in a meeting on Wednesday reacted enthusiastically to guest [speaker], international attorney Jonathan Kuttab, an expert on non-violent struggle. [Kuttab] reviewed the significance of this [type of] struggle, which in his opinion is 'maligned'… Kuttab said that non-violent struggle is a means of struggle no less important than armed struggle – neither in terms of training and preparation, nor in terms of effectiveness and results – in conditions like those of the Palestinian nation. This is because, in view of the unfortunate condition of our cause, popular resistance is the means, perhaps the only means, of the non-violent struggle that will prove feasible and effective. He explained that sometimes, many people misunderstand non-violent struggle, believing it to be a sort of ceasefire, surrender, or [attempt] to avoid real battles. However, in reality, non-violent struggle is not just refraining from violent means, for it is a multifaceted ideological system based on foundations that differ from – and sometimes are the opposite of – armed struggle. If the armed or military struggle demands the destruction of as many enemy installations as possible while limiting loss of life on one side, the opposite is true of the non-violent approach to struggle: the death of as many victims as possible among the oppressed side (i.e., the Palestinian side) serves to strengthen it, while civilian deaths among the enemy (i.e., among Israelis) diminishes the legitimacy of its struggle."