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I think about what Gandhi wrote in his statement to the judge in Ahmedabad: `The greatest misfortune is that Englishmen and their Indian associates in the administration do not know that they are engaged in crime.` Sounds familiar. Most Israelis don`t know, or don`t want to know; judges included. Some would, no doubt, be incredulous were they to see the reality in the territories as it is. It is, in fact, hard to believe; take it from me. Then I start to wonder if Gandhian satyagraha is really the right method in this Levantine morass. Could it ever soften the heart of even one Israeli soldier? Yes, it can: I know an instance from Bil`in; one of the soldiers stationed in the village, seeing the army`s brutal suppression of the villagers` protest, has come over to our side and now comes with us to south Hebron. Bil`in pioneered Gandhian methods in Palestine, and it is not alone. But will any of this turn the tide? Almost certainly not. Israel does not have the internal resources to make political change. We have the dream of mass civil disobedience in Palestine, led by some charismatic figure still undiscovered. It is still a dream. In the past, the army has shown great talent in turning non-violent demonstrations into violent ones, which the generals and the politicians much prefer. And yet—there is truly no other way. Violence always compounds the evil. And besides: the beauty of Gandhian-style protest is that it needs no further justification; it is right in itself, worth doing for itself, for the sake of truth. Ezra may never have read Gandhi`s words, but he knows, intuitively, from his own experience of the world, what the man meant.
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