Even long before Israel launched its recent invasion of Palestinian cities, towns, villages and refugee camps, statistics gathered by world bodies showed that every Palestinian young man had already endured severe hardships ­ such as arrest, beatings and injury ­ resulting from an Israeli occupation that has lasted 35 years.
Older generations suffered even more. They had to contend with deportation, as Israel was created at their expense. Now, the suffering is back with a vengeance, sparing no one its devastating effects.
Add to this the feeling among almost all Palestinians, that the world has betrayed them in favor of Israel, and it isn’t hard to figure out why many Palestinians support suicide bombings against Israelis ­ nor indeed why they supported attacks against civilian targets all around the world in the past.
Yet, despite the fact that the Palestinians are still suffering, circumstances dictate that the phenomenon of suicide bombings ­ and support for them ­ must be brought to an end.
The final goal of all Palestinian armed factions is the achievement of a balanced and just peace through a settlement that realizes Palestinian collective and individual rights. All actions taken by these factions must be looked upon from this viewpoint only. Getting dragged into a game of tit-for-tat and an eye-for-an-eye will only result in a lot of blind people.
When Palestinians recall Ariel Sharon and his terrorism, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Likud with its rejection of the very idea of a Palestinian state, they should not direct their desire for revenge towards all Israelis and Jews. Palestinians should remember the peace demonstration in Tel Aviv earlier this year, when more than 100,000 Israelis chanted for peace and denounced war, occupation, settlement building and Israeli Army terrorism. For such a large number of Israelis to adopt such a position under difficult circumstances demonstrates exceptional bravery on their part.
These Israelis, it must be remembered, were the targets for Palestinian suicide bombers. They were also targets for extreme right-wing propaganda, both in Israel and the United States, which encourages feelings of vengeance, justifies state terrorism and accuses all those who oppose it of betrayal. Yet more than 100,000 people chose to side with their own humanity. This stance on its own is enough to stop all suicide attacks, lest these people are harmed.
Before the peace demonstration in Tel Aviv (and before Israel’s latest invasions) a large number of Israeli Army reserve officers decided publicly to refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories. This movement grew to the point that when the invasion came, those who refused to take part preserved their humanity, while those who served demonstrated an appalling collapse of moral values, by stealing, looting and sadistically treating the Palestinians.
It would be unfair to view these two groups of soldiers similarly, just as it would be to consider Israeli soldiers who agree to serve in the Occupied Territories and the civilians who oppose the occupation to be the same. This  is another reason why resistance should be restricted to the occupied Palestinian areas only, to be directed against soldiers and Jewish settlers who are openly flaunting international law and UN resolutions.
Sharon’s official policy of terrorism has been exposed before the entire world; the only thing that can redeem Israel’s prime minister and his extremist government is more Palestinian suicide attacks. These attacks will win Sharon sympathy on the world stage as well as inside Israel, to the detriment of the Israeli peace movement. Any suicide attack that takes place now will mean that there is an implicit understanding between Palestinian Islamic fundamentalism and Israeli Jewish fundamentalism: both despise the very idea of peace and wish to undermine any chance of a peaceful settlement.
That is why Arab and Palestinian support for suicide bombings must end. The fledgling anti-occupation movement in Israel and around the world must be given a chance to spread its wings and redress the balance in favor of an equitable peace, especially after both sides to this conflict have seen the bitter suffering of war. This doesn’t mean, of course, that resistance to occupation must be stopped.
While it is true that Likud’s recent vote against the idea of a Palestinian state encourages radical action, since the party seems to have destroyed any chance of peace, it has to be remembered that Likud’s action was contrary to the wishes of more than half the Israeli people, as well as against the policies of its Labor partner in the ruling coalition. Suicide missions would cancel out these differences, and would unify the Israeli home front behind the Likud’s fundamentalist policies. By contrast, restricting resistance activities to the Occupied Territories would have the opposite effect under the circumstances, and would serve the cause of peace
and coexistence.
It is not only in Israel that a debate is going on about the goals of a political settlement in the Middle East. In the United States, the role played by various lobbies and interest groups formulating government policy is in full swing. The Likud’s vision of a settlement seems to be on a collision course with the American policy of a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel ­ a policy that has been enshrined in a recent UN resolution.
It has become widely known that there exists in the US a fundamentalist Jewish-Christian alliance in support of Israeli extremism in the Middle East. This alliance is the subject of intense public debate. More suicide missions would act against the interests of the Palestinian people, the avowed vision of the US government and peace-loving forces in America, Israel and around the world. A suicide operation serves the benefit Likud and its fundamentalist allies only.
Sharon deserves to be castigated as an extremist and a war criminal, but he will be forced to use even more violent means if another suicide operation takes place, in order to regain the support of the right-wingers that have gone to Netanyahu’s side. The result will be more devastation visited on the Palestinian people, and more destruction of the civilian infrastructure of Islamic Jihad, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. The international community, meanwhile, will not be able to condemn Israel.
Netanyahu and his fundamentalist allies in Israel and the United States are eagerly awaiting the next suicide bombing to vindicate their policies. That is why it is of the utmost importance for those responsible for Palestinian suicide attacks against Israeli civilians to stop them immediately, and concentrate instead on fighting against occupation and settlement activity, while reserving the right to respond in kind to Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians. In other words, suicide attacks should be kept in reserve as a strategic deterrent against Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians, thus keeping wide avenues open for interaction between Palestinians, Israelis, and Americans.
It is vitally important for those Palestinian factions that carry out suicide missions to keep the interests of the Palestinian people foremost in their minds, and not be carried away by the sermons of religious leaders who will not care about the fate of the Palestinian people when the worst comes to the worst.
Resisting occupation is a legitimate activity, supported by UN resolutions and international law. Even US policy is not against legitimate resistance, while more than half the Israeli people oppose their country’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
There is no justification now for getting carried away by emotions and vengeful instincts. It is far better to escalate resistance within the framework of international law, while giving the Israeli peace movement time to act.

Abdeljabbar Adwan, a Palestinian analyst, wrote this commentary for The Daily Star

Copyright © The Daily Star