Israelis and Americans Would Act Just Like Palestinians Do Today: The situation is volatile, a veritable tinderbox. If the Mideast blows up, many will die, Palestinians and Israelis.

Image by Christian Dorn from Pixabay

Sam Bahour....."The truth is that, if placed in the same ill-fated predicament, Americans and Israelis would act just like Palestinians do today; some would use violence, like what emerged from Gaza recently. This is not to say that this is a smart or effective strategy, it merely is a human reaction when a community feels no other path to live exists.

Others, the majority, would use diplomatic and non-violent methods to protect their community, like boycotting and divesting from their occupier and refusing to attend an “economic workshop” called for by a third party in a foreign venue aimed at beautifying life in their cages of military occupation. These non-violent strategies would become a rallying call to mobilize all four corners of the earth to hold the occupying state accountable.

Imagine, for example, China suddenly invading New York City claiming that a Golden Sky-Dragon gave it all of Manhattan. Imagine further that native New Yorkers were forced into just two boroughs, all their assets forfeited. Furthermore, every aspect of their new lives will be controlled by the Red Army.

Suppose further that Russia, North Korea, and others block UN resolutions to punish China, and funds its illegal invasion/occupation. How long do you think red-blooded Americans would put up with that and not fight back?

Palestinians have tried every form of protest — from armed resistance to civil disobedience to negotiations to lawsuits to boycotts. Nothing has worked. Israel, like 18th-century England (the US Declaration of Independence lists 27 grievances that British King George III ignored), blocks all forms of redress while continuing to kill, land grab, and steal resources.

Palestinians are being pushed into ever-smaller enclaves with less and less to lose. The situation is volatile, a veritable tinderbox. If the Mideast blows up, many will die, Palestinians and Israelis. It would be a historic tragedy for history to look back, yet again, and question how a developed, modern society allowed itself to be governed into never-ending turmoil."

Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American business consultant from Ramallah/Al-Bireh in the West Bank. He is chair of Americans for a Viable Palestinian Economy (AVPE) and serves as a policy adviser to Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network and is co-editor of “Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians” (1994). He blogs at ePalestine.com. @SamBahour