Sumud

Origins and development

In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, sumud represented the Palestinian political strategy as adopted from 1967 onward. As a concept closely related to the land, agriculture and indigenousness, the ideal image of the Palestinian put forward at this time was that of the peasant (in Arabic, fellah) who stayed put on his land, refusing to leave. Baruch Kimmerling writes that the adoption of a strategy of sumud was motivated by a desire to avoid a second ethnic cleansing. Sumud as a strategy is more passive than that adopted by the Palestinian fedayeen, though it has provided an important subtext to the narrative of the fighters, "in symbolising continuity and connections with the land, with peasantry and a rural way of life."

Static sumud

In the 1970s, as the shift away from the underground militant activities of the Palestinian fedayeen fully gave way to the notion of sumud among Palestinians still living in what was once historic Palestine, the mother emerged as "an absolutely perfect representation" of the sumud ideology. The heritage and folklore movement also thrived at this time, and the poster art produced made the image of very round, pregnant peasant women into the icons of sumud.

In the late 1970s, sumud called for "a collective third way between submission and exile, between passivity and ... violence to end the occupation." Static sumud, though underscored by the determination to stay on one's land, was also characterized by an attitude of resignation and perhaps even self-pity. The objective of simply remaining in place manifested itself in a reliance on hand-outs, such as those received from The Steadfastness Aid Fund of the Jordanian-Palestinian Joint Committee, established by the Arab Summit Conference in Baghdad in 1978.

Resistance sumud

The emergence of medical relief committees in the early 1980s, made up of doctors from hospitals in Jerusalem who would spend their days off volunteering to establish and operate clinics in Palestinian villages was the first widespread manifestation of resistance sumud. By 1983, eight such committees were providing medical services throughout the West Bank. Uniting to form the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, this grassroots organization provided a model for other such committees which emerged in the years and decades to follow.

In the mid-1980s, Yasser Arafat, describing how sumud is a political strategy that is prerequisite to fighting said,

"The most important element in the Palestinian program is holding onto the land. Holding onto the land and not warfare alone. Warfare comes at a different level. If you only fight - that is a tragedy. If you fight and emigrate - that is a tragedy. The basis is that you hold on and fight. The important thing is that you hold onto the land and afterward - combat."

Sumud in this sense has meant "staying put despite continuous assault." It is not merely about passive endurance, but "an act of unyielding resistance and defiance." Palestinian refugees, both those living within and outside of the occupied territories, often describe their ability to both resist and endure camp life as sumud. The holding out of Palestinian refugees against the assaults on Tel al-Zaatar and Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon are cited as prime examples of sumud.

Noam Chomsky, in his book The Fateful Triangle, quotes Raja Shehadeh who says that there are three ways to resist occupation, "blind hatred" ("the terrorist"), "mute submission" ("the moderate"), and the way of "the Samid". He quotes Shehadeh as saying "You, Samid, choose to stay in that prison, because it is your home, and because you fear that if you leave, your jailer will not allow you to return. Living like this, you must constantly resist the twin temptations of either acquiescing in the jailer’s plan in numb despair, or becoming crazed by consuming hatred for your jailer and yourself, the prisoner."

Non-violent civil disobedience

Since 1967, nonviolent protests mounted by Palestinians, such as general strikes, boycotts and demonstrations, have been intimately associated with the concept of sumud. Raja Shehadeh's conceptualization of sumud, as non-violent attitude of life that could forge a third way between acceptance of the occupation and opting for violent struggle, gave a voice to those many Palestinians who refused to leave their land and tried to go on with their daily lives. While simply carrying on with daily life under often impossible circumstances can in itself be considered a form of non-violent resistance, more active forms of non-violent civil disobedience have also been inspired and informed by the concept of sumud.

First Intifada

During the First Intifada (1987–1993) the concept of resistance sumud gained full expression in the focus on "freeing Palestinians from dependence on Israel by refusing to cooperate and by building independent institutions and committees."

A comprehensive nonviolence action plan, announced by Hanna Siniora and Mubarak Awad in January 1988, called upon Palestinians to boycott Israeli products and end cooperation with Israel. Merchants in the Gaza Strip and West Bank shut down their shops in protest over Israel's treatment of demonstrators. Palestinian women began to cultivate crops on previously uncultivated land so as to supplant the need for Israeli produce, and underground, makeshift schools were opened by Palestinians to respond to Israel's closure of 900 educational establishments in the occupied territories.

In September–October 1989, as Israel tried to quell the Intifada, tax raids were implemented, whereby Israeli military forces and tax officials would enter a town, levying heavy taxes against Palestinian individuals and businesses, and walking out with millions of dollars in savings, goods and household items. In Beit Sahour, villagers responded by mounting a tax revolt under the slogan, "No Taxation without Representation." The refusal to pay taxes was met with the imposition of a total Israeli siege on the village, preventing the entry of food and medical supplies, withholding electricity supplies and imposing strict curfews. Personal belongings, furniture, factory machinery and cars were confiscated by the army and many residents of Beit Sahour were also beaten and arrested. The villagers nevertheless persisted until Israel called off the siege and the raids at the end of October 1989, due to media exposure and the ensuing international outcry.

Current examples of Sumud

The Palestinian village Aqabah, located in the northeastern West Bank, is currently being threatened by demolition orders which have been issued by the Israeli Civil Administration against the entire village. The Civil Administration had previously expropriated large areas of privately registered land in the village, and as of May 2008 it has threatened to demolish the following structures: the mosque, the British government-funded medical clinic, the internationally funded kindergarten, the Rural Women's Association building, the roads, the water tank, and nearly all private homes. According to Haj Sami Sadek, the mayor of the village, and Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc, the purpose of the demolition orders is to destroy the village and expropriate most of the village's land for the Israeli military purposes. With the help of international organizations such as the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Gush Shalom, and The Rebuilding Alliance, the village residents plan to fight the demolition orders and remain in their homes.