The unarmed intifada

There has been a suggestion that a “third intifada” is imminent following the deadly border incidents on May 15, when Israeli troops fired live rounds into demonstrators commemorating the Nakba (or “catastrophe”) anniversary in south Lebanon and in the Golan Heights, with eight confirmed deaths and well more than 100 wounded. There has been talk for several months of launching a fresh drive for Palestinian emancipation, with a focus this time on the rights of the Palestinian refugees expelled from their homeland in 1948 and 1967. The first intifada between 1988 and 1993 was associated with stone-throwing children and the second between 2000 and 2005 with suicide bombers. The third could adopt the tactic of mobilizing mass marches of unarmed Palestinians to the borders of Israel, including from the West Bank. This would present a serious dilemma for the Israeli army, which knows how to deal with armed aggressors and