Palestinians Won't Launch a New Intifada

The last two weeks of attacks by Israelis and Palestinians and street clashes in Jerusalem have raised questions about whether Palestinians will launch a new intifada to shake off the Israeli occupation. That is a reasonable expectation, in view of the two previous intifadas and the continuing abuses that Palestinians suffer from Israel’s occupation, colonization and siege policies. We have already had three Palestinian intifadas against foreign domination – in 1936-39, 1987-90, and 2000-01, so we should more accurately talk about a possible fourth intifada. I suspect, however, that this is not the likely or best outcome from the Palestinian perspective. Many expect a new intifada mainly because they cannot imagine Palestinians generating a different, more effective response to their national subjugation, since their views of Palestinians are restricted to helpless people who can only go on strike or throw stones at Israeli troops.