Saturday, May 14, 2005

On Tactics

I wish to share a hesitancy I have over the tactics of the non-violent campaign being planned.

While blocking traffic has been done over the past few months, and some even assert that they were the main reasons for the shift in public opinion away from disengagement, down now to some 54%, I personally am doubtful.

I would think that if there is anything that annoys people more it is blocking traffic so they can't get home. Luckily, someone has convinced some unknown people to stop burning tires. Fire and smoke do not go well with a claim to non-violence.

On the other hand, as someone told me, all over Europe we see farmers and others blocking roads and dumping agricultural produce and the like, so obviously the tactic is acceptable.

Nevertheless, I would wish that the thrust of this campaign be directed not against fellow citizens directly but against symbols of the regime.

The regime is responsible for the disengagement. The regime is carrying out the disengagement. Other targets are the catering services that will be providing food for the soldiers and police or other such facilities.

So, to my mind, the proper targets are not the highways of Israel but the entrance roads to regime agenices whether police, courts, social services, etc. They should be blocked so as to convince and influence bureaucrats and clerks not to cooperate with the disengagement process. In other lands in other times, we have pinpointed the responsibility that lies with the common and too often faceless bureaucrat who, if he/she had dared to, could have slowed down and interfered with an immoral and incorrect public policy.

Will the leaders of Bayit Leumi and other groups consider this option?

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