Noah Feldman, Columnist

Imagine a Palestinian Movement Led by Gandhi

Renouncing violence would go a long way toward reviving negotiations with Israel.

December 27, 2017 at 4:01 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

Burning tires never solved anything.
Photographer: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP/Getty Images

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Here’s a year-end fantasy: Imagine that, in response to President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Palestinians had renounced violence and embarked on a sustained campaign of Gandhian protest.

Imagine that instead of reading from the same familiar script, Palestinian leaders had called for sit-ins, silent marches and civil disobedience rather than “days of rage.” Imagine peaceful Palestinian demonstrations aimed more at drawing world attention to the justice of their cause than at producing martyrs or provoking anger at Israel.