The civility of a Revolution…Passing Thought by Jamil Shawwa

Are revolutions supposed to be civil, by the name itself, it means and indicates chaos or uprisings against a system or governments or tyrants or to seek independence, so how can they be civil. The historic facts though contradict that contrast. All revolutions in the past two hundred and fifty years starting with the mother of modern revolutions, The American Revolution, in 1779, have debuted peacefully. The American was peaceful and turned confrontational when they the Americans did not have any other choice. The French revolution followed in 1789, and in the beginning it was a civil- kind of, the French had deep-rooted hatred against a rigid rotten class system in France at that time- but not until the bloodthirsty, Robespierre and his mates took over that the French became extremely violent. Same during the Russian revolution in 1917, not until the Bolshevik took over that the revolution became bloody. The Indians led by Gandhi gained their independence through peaceful revolution, and they sat an example for people around the world that a universally considered just cause could have a chance to flourish peacefully. The Iranians in 1979 revolted peacefully against a naive and an idiot Shah, the clerics took over and they started executing everyone that was not in line with there menacing motives and hypocritical goals. In the pre 1948 historic Palestine, both the Jewish people and the Arab people resorted to violence to achieve their goals of independent state when the politics at that time did not support the demands, and when politics agreed with the demands, the Arabs in Palestine did not agree with the United Nations resolution 181 to form two independent countries, the Jewish agreed, and since then, they- the Jewish people- have had a flourishing country; the State of Israel, and the Palestinians are still trying- since then- to get their act together and build a state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The problem in the West Bank and Gaza is that the politics there has been connected and chained to a political system that has been and still corrupt- The Arab political system- so their- the Palestinians- only hope is that they look inward and focuses on them and decide regardless of what the other Arabs decide and regardless of what Iran wants. I think the new country based Arab political system- in formation right now- will result in normal democratic countries that no longer feel the need to adopt the Palestinians as a cause, or no longer need to manipulate, this is a better description, the Palestinians to justify their own dictatorships. The bottom line is this; democratic Arab countries will make peace with the State of Israel, will help with Israel, the United States, and the world community in transitioning the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza into a democratic and civil country that lives in peace with all its neighbors including the State of Israel. Finally, the peaceful revolutions in the Arab countries will prove to be the best barrier against the ultimate terrorist’s organizations led by Al-Qaeda and other mini wannabes, hypocritical, showy, extremist fractions, like Hezbollah and Hamas.