New protest tactics used to end blockade
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In a sit-in tent camp near the Gaza border with Israel, a lecturer answered questions from activists grappling with the concept of nonviolent protest.
They asked what’s allowed, listing different actions. Throwing stones and holding rallies is permitted, he said. Throwing firebombs is a “maybe” and using knives a definite “no.”
Such workshops — held amid weekly mass marches on the border for the past month — are the latest sign of the Hamas militant group’s search for new tactics for breaking the debilitating blockade of Gaza. Israel and Egypt closed the borders after Hamas overran Gaza in 2007, and Israel blockades the sea and controls the skies, making it increasingly difficult for the group to govern.
The border protests were the idea of grassroots activists several months ago, and the project, envisioned as nonviolent, was quickly embraced by Hamas. The militant group has led the organization and been careful to contain the protests by keeping its armed men far away and out of sight.
Any degree of nonviolence would be a striking departure for Hamas, which over the years has attacked Israelis with suicide bombings, shootings and rockets. For more than a decade, the group has tightly controlled Gaza, quashing dissent.
The large-scale protests are the only card the group has left, three high-ranking Hamas officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were discussing internal strategy.
They said Hamas rules out other options — either disarming or fighting another cross-border war with Israel. The last one, in 2014, devastated Gaza, a coastal territory with 2 million people squeezed into 140 square miles.
Each Friday, thousands of people have gathered in five tent camps near the border, while smaller groups throw stones and burn tires closer to the border fence.
Since protests began in late March, 35 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,500 wounded by Israeli soldiers firing across the border.
Israel says it’s defending its sovereign border, including nearby communities, and that troops target only instigators. It accuses Hamas of using the protests as a cover for damaging the fence and preparing to infiltrate and carry out attacks.