<By the way, passive civil disobedience only works against a civilized society. Don't think it will work against the Israelis. Historically, Sharon has regarded civilians who weren't fighting back as cannon fodder.

Had the US civil rights movement just used civil disobedience against the South, Bull Connors would have had his dogs chew them to bits. He did anyway, until the Feds and North protested. It was the Feds and North which lent the moral power to the movement.



You are right that protest marches don't solve anything by themselves, although I would disagree with you that had the Palestinians adopted this approach instead of bombing civilians, they would not have been successful. For starters, had the Palestinians not gotten violent, Sharon would not be prime minister in the first place, and many Israelis are certainly civilized. I dare say that had that approach been followed from day one, much of the Israeli population would now be sympathetic to the Palestinian problems.

And recruiting powerful allies to your cause is one of the purposes of civil disobedience. The Feds and the North did not add any moral weight to the civil rights marches that was not already there. They added Federal laws, and the troops to enforce them.