Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused Israel of increasing its arbitrary repression of Palestinian non-violent activism lately. Abdullah Abu Rahma’s arrest — which I reported on in the second segment of my interview with Starhawk — is part of this crack-down in Bil’in, Nil’in, and Ramallah, where grassroots demonstrations have begun to mobilize Palestinians, Israelis, and international solidarity against the wall being built between the occupied territories and Israel. According to HRW,

Israel is building most of the barrier inside the West Bank rather than along the Green Line, in violation of international humanitarian law. In recent months, Israeli military authorities have arbitrarily arrested and denied due process rights to several dozen Palestinian anti-wall protesters.

Starhawk believes that the Israeli government fears this non-violent resistance more than the violent action they’ve contended with for years. Why? Because the government knows the movement’s power to shift public opinion and mobilize people against Israeli injustice. These grassroots efforts undermine several pillars of Israeli control in the occupied territories, according to Starhawk, and start to shatter the story that Palestinians are all evil terrorists.

Do you know Uri Avnery? He’s the founder of the Israeli peace group Gush Shalom (and so much more), and on their website he’s recently posted a remarkable piece of writing on the Israeli boycott, and on the struggle against militarism in Israel. What makes it truly wonderful is his insight into the dangers of demonizing your enemy during a struggle. Here’s an excerpt:

I HAVE no argument with people who hate Israel. That’s entirely their right. I just don’t think that we have any common ground for discussion…..One thing is certain: hatred does not lead towards peace. Let me be quite explicit about this, because I sense that some people, in their righteous indignation over Israel’s occupation, have lost sight of this.
Peace is made between enemies, after war, in which awful things invariably happen. Peace can be made and maintained between peoples who are prepared to live with each other, respect each other, recognize the humanity of each other. They don’t have to love each other.
Describing the other side as monsters may be useful in waging war, but singularly unhelpful in waging peace.

As I read this I thought how much this is the other side of the coin that Rabbi Lerner wrote of in this blog last week, of idolizing Israel. Surely once you hold Israel, or anything of this world up as so good as to be beyond criticism, it logically follows that its opponents must be evil incarnate. And since they are evil, isn’t anything you do to them justified?