Gandhi, not guns

Christian Century, Dec 14, 2004

GANDHI, NOT GUNS: One of Yasir Arafat's last visitors before he became ill was Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas Gandhi. He had a simple message for Arafat: put down the gun and take up Gandhi's method of nonviolent resistance. According to Eric Weiner of National Public Radio, so far the intifada has gotten the Palestinians nowhere; a new method is needed.

A nation like Israel would be a good candidate for use of Gandhi's strategy of satyagraha, for it considers itself morally accountable. Nonviolence in some ways is a more difficult strategy than violence, Weiner admits, and many Palestinians might die in the process. But "pictures of unarmed Palestinians lying down before bulldozers about to raze their homes or marching up to the gates of Jewish settlement in the West Bank and Gaza ... would be powerful images that could do more to advance the Palestinian cause than 100 suicide bombings" (Christian Science Monitor, November 15).