Gandhi
became a real hero through the work of Mubarak, who started the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence in Jerusalem. Mubarak traveled from one Palestinian village to the other promoting nonviolence in the same way Gandhi did in India. As he spoke of Gandhi, he never said we need to do what Gandhi did; he emphasized the uniqueness of our own heritage, culture and condition under Israeli occupation and how we were to develop our own approaches to nonviolence and not copy others. In 1988 Mubarak Awad, who became known as the "Palestinian Gandhi," was arrested and deported by the Israeli authorities.
Over the years I continued to study Gandhi, reading more of the big green books that now sit on two shelves in my office in Bethlehem. I have also traveled to India twice. Once with Arun Gandhi, the grandson of the Mahatma, and the second to participate in a conference to commemorate the century celebration of one of Gandhi's most famous writings,
Hind Swaraj. There I was honored to give a talk in the presence of His Holiness the [Dalai] Lama....
A non-violent intifada? It might work.
