Although having practiced passive resistance in all his movements Bapu, Mohandas K. Gandhi, felt that the term was inadequate, it failed to describe the ideal. 'I do not like the term “Passive Resistance”. It fails to convey all I mean. It describes a method but gives no hint of the system of which it is only a part. Real beauty and that is my aim, is doing good against evil.' - M. K. Gandhi, Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi: P. 109. What then, according to him, was the system of passive resistance? It was soul force, not muscle power; truth force, not hate; reconciliation, not revenge. He wrote, ' “Resist not evil” means that evil is not to be repelled by evil, but by good; in other words, physical force is not to be opposed by its like, but by soul force.' - M. K. Gandhi, The Science of Satyagraha: P. 3.

The Palestinian cause requires the adoption and employment of nonviolent passive resistance, it is the panacea for the people who are suffering the brutal oppression of the occupying "Zionist State". It will not be easy, it will even mean a lot of suffering and many sacrifices, even if it would be the ultimate sacrifice of one's own life, but eventually, it will ensure success, justice, and freedom. It is not idealistic rhetoric there are historic precedencies.

When Bapu first launched the nationwide Civil Disobedience movement in 1920, he wanted it to be conducted nonviolently, it was a great success, everyone felt that the colonial power would accede to Indian wishes. In a small village. Chauri Chaura, in a northern province, a group of passive resistance was mercilessly beaten up by the colonial policemen. This enraged the mob, it chased the policemen who fled and locked themselves up in the police station. The very angry mob set fire to the police station; to escape the flames the policemen stumbled out of the building, by now the mob was in a killing frenzy, they fell upon the policemen and slaughtered them. This news was flashed far and wide by the colonial administration to discredit Bapu's 'nonviolent' resistance movement. When Bapu heard of the incident, he grieved for the murdered policemen and realized that his people, the ones he lead, were not ready to follow the method he wished to practice. He halted the movement in its tracks. This was one of the first examples of a leader who had succeeded in launching a mass movement that had spread nationwide with the participation of millions of people, having halted the movement at its peak. Many leaders have the ability to launch mass movements, but only a true leader has the ability to halt a mass movement in its tracks when it is at the peak of popularity. Bapu had that ability, not because he had a brute force to stop it but because he employed soul force and the power of truth. The British prosecuted him and jailed him, but Bapu did not revive the mass protest, he accepted the punishment and bore it peacefully. But he continued to educate and train his cadres for the next movement. He wanted to be sure that his soldiers will be well versed and trained in the method of passive resistance and nonviolence and would not deviate from it, regardless of any provocation.

When he next launched a nationwide movement, the Salt March and the subsequent Salt Satyagraha, in 1930, he had a band of well trained Satyagrahis, soldiers of truth; he himself had been trained, to lead the movement. Those who have studied the Indian freedom movement and particularly the nonviolent one will know that the Colonial Government acted very brutally to suppress and crush the Salt Satyagraha, after arresting the entire leadership. Those having seen the epic film Gandhi will remember the scene where a band of protesters approaches a heavily protected British Salt Works, they are confronted by armed colonial policemen who warn them to stop, when the Satyagrahis, defy their order they begin to brutally beat them up. The heroism and magic in the scene are that the Satyagrahis didn't even raise their hands to protect themselves and happily took the blows rained on them and after recovering they continued to protest, it took a lot of courage to do that, the bravery instilled by adherence to absolute truth and practice of soul force. Although dramatized in the film for effect, this is what really happened nationwide and for a prolonged period, this is how the British were defeated. Although we won our freedom almost 17 years later, it was the Salt Satyagraha that earned world sympathy for our cause and from then, the British occupiers faced criticism from even their allies and friends for their continued and unjust enslavement of India and its people.

There have been other well-known and lesser-known examples of the utilization and success of nonviolent passive resistance methods in many struggles of the right against the might. The Civil Rights Movement in the USA and the Freedom Movement in South Africa are very famous examples.

Once I met Lech Walesa, a leader of the Solidarity Union which spearheaded the movement of freedom in Poland. Lech Walesa expressed his gratitude for Bapu and attributed the success of their freedom movement to him, I was surprised, I had not heard of this, he told me the story. When the Solidarity Union started opposing the Soviet power that had enslaved Poland, they utilized violent methods of petrol bombs and hurling stones. The Soviets retaliated with gas and bullets. Solidarity started losing people who were maimed or killed, the wives and mothers of the workers, the force of the movement, started stopping their sons and husbands from participating since they could not afford to lose their breadwinners and so as their numbers dwindled, the wind started going out of the Solidarity protests. The leaders were worried, How would they continue their fight? One of them had studied Gandhi and knew of his successful use of nonviolent passive resistance. He suggested that Solidarity attempted these methods, no one was convinced initially, but they were desperate and so they decided to try it out. Then they started protesting against the Soviets nonviolently. When the casualties reduced and stopped, the numbers of protesters started going up, now the wives and mothers were not worried that their breadwinners would be maimed or killed, the Soviets were baffled too, they did not know how to deal with the situation. After three months of such protests, which paralyzed the Polish docks, the Soviets sent an emissary to the Solidarity leaders requesting them to revert to their former violent methods, because the Soviets did not know how to respond to their new way of protesting. Lech Walesa told me that at that moment they realized that they had defeated the Soviets. That evening the leadership of Solidarity celebrated their victory. After that, although it took some time for Poland to become free, freedom became a certainty, they knew they had defeated the Soviets. That's why, Walesa told me, "they were indebted to Bapu."

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Martin Luther King Jr. learned of the methods of passive resistance used by Bapu and realized that those were the methods he would utilize to get justice and equality for his people. The American civil rights leadership sent people to India to Bapu's Ashrams to get trained in nonviolent passive resistance methods. These people were trained by those who had been trained by Bapu himself. They then went back and started training their people. One of the training methods was a provocation and not reacting to it. The trainees would be divided into two lots, one would be designated 'resisters' and the other as 'oppressors', the oppressors were told to behave in the most obnoxious and brutal manner with the resisters, and the resisters were trained not to respond to the provocations and insults, they were not only beaten but were subjected to grave insults and even being spat upon, only those who managed not even to get angry or breakdown in the face of such brutal treatment, graduated from the training boot camp and were allowed to participate in the protests. This strategy defeated the deeply racists American society and its prejudiced police and bigoted lawmakers. But along with the passive resisters, there were the followers of Malcolm X who propagated and practiced violent action too.

In South Africa too Nelson Mandela began as a leader who believed that violence and an armed struggle were the only methods of the revolution his people would win freedom by. But he discovered Gandhi during his prolonged solitary confinement in the Robben Island Prison. It was here that he realized that violence and revenge would sow the seeds of destruction of his nation and his people and that only nonviolence and reconciliation could bring about sustainable freedom for his land and his people.  So, he adopted Gandhi and his methods and the rest as they say is history. 'Passive Resistance is a method of securing rights by personal suffering, it is the reverse of resistance by arms.' - M. K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj:P. 123. While Nelson Mandela whole hearted the ideology of nonviolence and reconciliation he did not demobilize the military wing of the African National Congress either, they remained militarized and armed.

The time has come for the people of Palestine: they must choose the path they wish to tread upon, in order to achieve justice and freedom, it's about selecting violence or nonviolence. The occupying Zionist regime is brutal, there is no doubt about it, yet it has managed to get world sympathy and support for its evil intentions and methods and denied the compassion of the world to the suffering of the Palestinians. The methods that lead to freedom employed thus far by Palestinians have not been able to achieve the desired results, it's time to try new tested methods, be inspired by the other struggles worldwide. Remember British colonial regime was as brutal with Indians as the Zionists are. The racists in the USA were not any gentle either, nor was the apartheid regime of South Africa humane, but they were all eventually defeated by truth and nonviolence. The success was of the ideology and the indomitable courage of the people. Palestine must imbibe that ferocious courage and employ those tested methods. In all those movements there was room for violent elements to continue with their methods too, but the success was achieved only when the majority utilized nonviolent passive resistance. When Bapu gave the final call for freedom to Indians, the 'Quit India' call to the British. The colonial occupier immediately arrested the entire leadership of the movement. They thought that without the leaders, the people would not be able to sustain the movement, and it would be easy for them to crush, what they called the rebellion. They unleashed brutal police terror on the people, the result was that those inclined towards violence reverted to violent methods of revolution, but the majority of Indians adhered to the practice of nonviolent passive resistance and bore all the brutality in a heroic manner, this finally won us freedom. In Palestine too this will be the method that will defeat the Zionist occupiers, a mix of violent and nonviolent resistance with the majority utilizing nonviolent passive resistance. 'The Spirit of passive resistance rightly understood should make the people fear none, and nothing but God' – M. K. Gandhi, Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi: P. 53. 

Although Bapu himself was a proponent of Nonviolent passive resistance, he accepted violent response in some cases. When the news of the atrocities by Nazis reached him he advocated that if ever war was justified a war to defeat the Nazis would be one that he would endorse and approve of. Bapu was severely criticized for this comment by his pacifist friends from all over the world, but he refused to change it. Even during the Quit India movement, after Bapu and the leadership of the movement was all arrested and imprisoned the socialists in the movement resorted to sabotage and arson against the colonial power. The western press and British leaders ridiculed what they called 'Gandhi's false Nonviolence'. When Bapu was released from prison western journalists questioned him about the violence in the movement. Bapu very categorically said that compared to the brutality and violence of the colonial power against Indians, the incidents of violence by Indians were insignificant and refused to criticize or condemn them. Bapu was a practitioner of nonviolence but he did not always condemn violence. He famously said, 'I do believe that where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence. But I believe that nonviolence is infinitely superior to violence.' - M. K. Gandhi. Young India: August 11, 1920.

When this idea takes root in Palestine, no one, no matter how mighty and powerful he is, will any longer be able to oppress and enslave Palestinians, when Palestine will be free. Remember occupiers have always been tyrants and bullies, none of them have ever been benevolent. None of them, the world over, have been defeated entirely by an armed struggle either. Violence has always thrived upon counter-violence. The venom of violence has been conquered eventually by the practice of truth and nonviolence together with an armed struggle. The Panacea for Palestinians lies in finding and treading on the middle path.