What George Habash understood -Evelyn Gordon
You have to admire George Habash. Granted, he was a mass murderer. But, as the muted response to recent protests in Tibet underscores, his understanding of both human nature and international politics was unsurpassed.
Habash, who died in January, grabbed world attention in the 1960s and 1970s with high-profile airline hijackings and bombings. Other Palestinian groups soon followed suit.
As he explained to the German magazine Der Stern in 1970: "For decades, world public opinion has been neither for nor against the Palestinians. It simply ignored us. [T]he world is talking about us now."
Habash understood people generally prefer to ignore problems, and once forced to respond, people generally prefer appeasement to fighting. In 1975, for instance, the UN created the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. No other group seeking self-determination ever merited its own UN committee. By the late 1980s, the PLO had embassies worldwide, including UN observer status. Neither Tibetans, Kurds, Basques nor any other stateless groups have embassies or UN status.
In 1993, Israel recognized the PLO and began giving it land - something else groups such as Tibetans, Kurds and Basques never achieved.
And since then, despite continuing Palestinian terror, support for the Palestinian cause has only grown. Massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations take place worldwide. International aid pours into Palestinian coffers. World leaders raise the Palestinian issue at every opportunity and organize international conferences on it. Palestinian leaders are feted in world capitals.
These, too, are achievements unparalleled by other groups: World leaders almost never talk about Kurds, Tibetans or Basques, much less give them financial aid; nor are there international demonstrations on their behalf.
You have to admire George Habash. Granted, he was a mass murderer. But, as the muted response to recent protests in Tibet underscores, his understanding of both human nature and international politics was unsurpassed.
Habash, who died in January, grabbed world attention in the 1960s and 1970s with high-profile airline hijackings and bombings. Other Palestinian groups soon followed suit.
As he explained to the German magazine Der Stern in 1970: "For decades, world public opinion has been neither for nor against the Palestinians. It simply ignored us. [T]he world is talking about us now."
Habash understood people generally prefer to ignore problems, and once forced to respond, people generally prefer appeasement to fighting. In 1975, for instance, the UN created the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. No other group seeking self-determination ever merited its own UN committee. By the late 1980s, the PLO had embassies worldwide, including UN observer status. Neither Tibetans, Kurds, Basques nor any other stateless groups have embassies or UN status.
In 1993, Israel recognized the PLO and began giving it land - something else groups such as Tibetans, Kurds and Basques never achieved.
And since then, despite continuing Palestinian terror, support for the Palestinian cause has only grown. Massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations take place worldwide. International aid pours into Palestinian coffers. World leaders raise the Palestinian issue at every opportunity and organize international conferences on it. Palestinian leaders are feted in world capitals.
These, too, are achievements unparalleled by other groups: World leaders almost never talk about Kurds, Tibetans or Basques, much less give them financial aid; nor are there international demonstrations on their behalf.
Tibetans, however, are unique, because they alone tried a different tactic [nonviolence] for gaining world attention. Kurds and Basques, [like the Palestinians] used terrorism; their mistake was confining their attacks to Turkey and Spain, thereby enabling the rest of the world to ignore them - whereas Habash, who targeted airlines worldwide, left nobody free to ignore him.
After 57 years of occupation, Tibetan self-determination remains a distant dream. The recent Tibetan protests sparked no worldwide demonstrations against the Chinese occupation.
By choosing the path of nonviolence, Tibetans enabled the world to ignore them. By limiting their terrorist campaigns to a single country, Basques, Kurds, Tamils and others similarly enabled the world to ignore them.
[Such] groups will not remain blind to the lessons of Palestinian success forever. By appeasing Palestinian terror while ignoring the claims of other national groups, the world has provided a powerful incentive for others to launch international terror campaigns of their own, as the best way of gaining international support. [I]f it wishes to avert this outcome, the international community must reverse course - by rewarding Tibetan nonviolence, and by punishing rather than appeasing Palestinian terror.
[Jerusalem Post]
After 57 years of occupation, Tibetan self-determination remains a distant dream. The recent Tibetan protests sparked no worldwide demonstrations against the Chinese occupation.
By choosing the path of nonviolence, Tibetans enabled the world to ignore them. By limiting their terrorist campaigns to a single country, Basques, Kurds, Tamils and others similarly enabled the world to ignore them.
[Such] groups will not remain blind to the lessons of Palestinian success forever. By appeasing Palestinian terror while ignoring the claims of other national groups, the world has provided a powerful incentive for others to launch international terror campaigns of their own, as the best way of gaining international support. [I]f it wishes to avert this outcome, the international community must reverse course - by rewarding Tibetan nonviolence, and by punishing rather than appeasing Palestinian terror.
[Jerusalem Post]
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