‘Intifada’ lessons from Israel

Failure normally is a fog through which one can glimpse triumph. Unfortunately, the civil-military administration in Kashmir has been unable to get a handle on how to tackle the Palestinian-type intifada that has again gripped the state, despite the fact that it first emerged in 2008. Intifada is an Arabic word meaning “shaking off”, and can be loosely translated in English as “uprising”. First devised by Syed Ali Shah Geelani after the Amarnath Yatra protests and taken to the next level by his ideological heir Masrat Alam in 2010, its construct seems disturbing. The rapid spread of puranitical Wahhabi and political Islam through the Internet acted as a catalyst for the Kashmir Valley’s dissatisfied youth. The symbolism seen through images of protesting stone-pelters changed the dynamics in Kashmir, as a violent new way of civil disobedience emerged. Lucre is always the lubricant: it was used liberally by Geelani in 2008 and then Alam in 2010. Just as the intifada was a total intelligence surprise for Israel, so it was for India. In the West Bank and Gaza it set off an uprising that the Israeli Defence Forces haven’t been able to contain. But unlike the spontaneity of the original intifada in the West Bank and Gaza in the late 1980s, the entire stone-pelting crucible in Kashmir has been orchestrated.

Unlike the Palestinian intifada which targets Israel over the dispossession of territory, it must be appreciated that India has legal, moral and constitutional tenability in Kashmir. Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession on October 26, 1947 while the people’s representative, Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Abdullah, dodged the Jinnah bullet till the end, opting for secular India over theocratic Pakistan. Needless to say, the Public Safety Act 1978 has justified the detention of many individuals acting against the state, while the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act gives Indian security forces complete power and broad immunity. One must understand home ministry mandarins along with the Intelligence Bureau have run Kashmir operations for many years, but unfortunately this has led to a client-master relationship between the Centre and J&K, in which the state is subservient.

There was hope that with the BJP and PDP joining forces there would be a partnership of two equals, though fraught with risk. But what has happened is that a Hindu right-wing BJP controls Jammu and the extreme-right Valley outfit PDP dominates the Kashmir division. This is a throwback to the dark days immediately after accession when Sheikh Abdullah tried his best to bring Jammu on board but failed, as an active Hari Singh fuelled protests using Hindu right-wing elements under the aegis of the Praja Parishad. BJP icon Syama Prasad Mookerjee had blessed the agitation of the Praja Parishad, the Jammu unit of the Jan Sangh, for “ek pradhan, ek vidhan and ek nishan”, and led a nationwide campaign against Article 370, which accords a special status to the state in the Constitution. Now, years later, as the same political polar opposites have united to share power, there is bound to be friction. The combine ran into headwinds in its early days as ultra-separatist Masrat Alam was released by the new government in April 2015. The plug was pulled after the BJP put intense pressure, and he was locked up again under the Public Safety Act.

The intifada’s origin should be examined — for the Kashmir version is a copycat. The first intifada erupted in late 1987, after an Israeli truck rammed into a line of Palestinian workers waiting to return to Gaza, killing four, and prompting spontaneous demonstrations. The second intifada, that began September 2000, was triggered by a visit to Al Aqsa Mosque compound by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and around 1,000 Israeli police. To the outside world, the throwing of stones was a powerful visual image of the first intifada, but it was the use of leaflets that effectively mobilised Palestinians against the occupation. This exact stratagem was cloned by Masrat Alam in 2010 while he was mobile, escaping the security forces’ dragnet by riding pillion on a motorcycle. He used cyclostyled leaflets and messaging on smartphones to keep the intifada going. This has gradually been reset to grabbing weapons from securitymen, using women and children as human shields, use of Molotov cocktails and even stabbings. It is often said the Palestinian liberation struggle was a rock that was thrown into still water. The question is: whether the copycat version has the strength to become a similar stratagem to blindside Indian forces.

In the intifada’s first year, Israeli forces killed 311 Palestinians, of which 53 were under 17. The second intifada took place from September 2000 to 2005, leading to Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and the rise of Hamas. During the second intifada it became almost the norm for Israelis to avoid restaurants or travelling in buses, both of which were seen as easy targets for suicide bombers.

Stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks by Palestinians against Israelis became commonplace.

Since mid-September 2015, the Jerusalem Post reported that 34 Israelis were killed in attacks by Palestinians. In this period, there were 211 stabbings, 83 shootings and 42 car attacks, according to the foreign ministry website. The second intifada (Palestinian uprising) from 2000 to 2005 was responsible for the deaths of about 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis. Suicide bombings were frequent at that time. Opinion differs on whether the recent rise in attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories amounts to a full intifada or not. It mostly appears to be directionless and rudderless, and an intifada of attrition without a central command architecture.

It is ironic that on the eve of Id, in an amnesty, as many as 634 stone-pelters were released. The J&K administration has to be prepared for all eventualities and the escalation of intifada-type attacks, which though symbolic have enormous shock and awe value. New malleable and ductile tactics on the part of the fatigued security grid, a reinvention, is crucial. Let’s be clear that Israel, despite having handled this phenomenon for close to 30 years, still doesn’t have the silver bullet for it.

Like in the past, the tenacity shown by the security forces will ensure that this too will pass. The cost, as always, will be huge. Kashmir represents the idea, ideal and idiom of India, and there can be no compromise on this aspect.

The writer is a former editor, author and visiting fellow at Observer Research Foundation. He loves the space where politics and economics converge.