Gaza’s protest leaders still believe in nonviolent struggle

Palestinian protesters at Gaza border, 14 May

Rami Younis writes in +0972, “While everyone this past week focused on Israeli police officers breaking the leg of Jafar Farah, a prominent Palestinian political activist from Haifa, I could not help but think of someone else’s leg — that of Hasan al-Kurd’s brother-in-law, in Gaza. Two months ago, during the first Friday protest of the Great Return March, I spoke at length to al-Kurd, one of the march’s organizers. We had kept in touch after I conducted an interview with him in the run-up to the events, which began on March 30th. On that Friday, I called al-Kurd several times for updates. One call ended abruptly; I tried to dial him again, to no avail. There was no response until the evening.”

“When I finally managed to get hold of him, he began by apologizing profusely. He sounded broken, asking that I refrain from quoting him at length. He also revealed why our call had been cut off: an Israeli sniper shot his brother-in-law, who was standing right next to him. When I asked why he preferred that I do not mention it in my interview, he responded by saying that “neither I nor my family are the issue here.”

“We had kept in touch after I conducted an interview with him in the run-up to the events, which began on March 30th. On that Friday, I called al-Kurd several times for updates. One call ended abruptly; I tried to dial him again, to no avail. There was no response until the evening. When I finally managed to get hold of him, he began by apologizing profusely. He sounded broken, asking that I refrain from quoting him at length. He also revealed why our call had been cut off: an Israeli sniper shot his brother-in-law, who was standing right next to him.”

“When I asked why he preferred that I do not mention it in my interview, he responded by saying that ‘neither I nor my family are the issue here.’ Today, seven weeks later, al-Kurd feels more comfortable speaking about his brother-in-law and others wounded, whom he knows personally. ‘My brother-in-law is fine, he is a strong man,’ he says with his typically optimistic tone. ‘He cannot walk on that foot nor can he work, but he will be okay.’”

“One mistake that was made, you’ll agree with me, was when Hamas leader Salah Bardawil went on TV and boasted about how 50 of those killed last Monday were members of Hamas. ‘It was a huge mistake. And it’s untrue. Some of those killed were part of Hamas, but to say that the majority were? It’s simply not true. We tried to speak with Hamas and the other parties as much as we could, asking them to step aside. They are constantly in the spotlight, this was our turn. I think that what Bardawil meant to say was that his movement’s members are willing to sacrifice themselves, he did not mean to say that there were more Hamas members at the protest, because it’s not true, and no one can claim that. His statement was meant more for the public in Gaza in order to promote his party’s image, and I do not think that he thought about the consequences of his statement and what the Israelis would do with it.'”(more…)