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Source: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/05/04/palestinian-hunger-strikers-goal-is-not-peace/
Hunger Strikers' Goal Is Not Peace
(Commentary) Jonathan S. Tobin - For decades, foreign cheerleaders for the Palestinians have sought to portray those fighting against Israel as potential disciples of Gandhi as they seek to portray the Jews as stand-ins for the role of colonial oppressor. But there are two main problems with this scenario. The first is the fact that most Palestinians view violence against Israelis as not only a legitimate tactic but also something that is integral to their national identity. The second is that even if they were to adopt a policy of non-violence, the Palestinian goal is not their own state living in peace beside Israel but the end of the Jewish state and its replacement by one in which Arabs will rule. In the wake of a hunger strike by some Palestinian security prisoners, on Thursday in Ramallah, 300 women marched to Al Manara Square, chanting, "Yes for hunger strike, no to submission" and "Down with the olive branch, long live the rifle." Is there another way to interpret calls for an end to peace and the use of "the rifle" but as a call for violent attacks on Israel?