Lay them down

Disclaimer: Nothing mentioned here should be taken to mean that Israel is not largely responsible for the misery of the Palestinian people!

For years, Palestinian movements have defending the continued militarisation of the Palestinian society by claiming that this is an essential pre-condition for the continued struggle for liberation. They have sold us the belief that liberation is only reachable through armed struggle. Then they forced us into a mind set which glorifies the leaders of this armed struggle.
Then we did not know how power can corrupt people. More importantly, we did not really understand the Arab proverb that says "the weapon in the hand of a coward hurts." Now we wake up to see what it really means. They found power in their weapons, and want to ensure it is only for them. They want to ensure that no one shares this apparent power the have come to own, and the results are clear: deaths on the streets of Gaza. This time Israeli and Palestinian bullets have united to spill our blood.
Now, that the bullets of our resistance movements have killed more of our own people than they have liberated of the land, can we stop for a moment and think about the need for such a "resistance"? It is common sense only to let go of what harms more than benefits and in any reckoning, the benefits of the armed groups (if any) have been for long out weighed by the disasters they have brought upon us. Maybe it is time to admit that we have been deceived by the proponents of armed struggle for all this time.
I understand that armed struggle is only a natural component of a set of strategies oppressed peoples devise to fight oppression. In some cases it because a necessity and in other cases, it defies its point. In our case, we have been led to place so much emphasis on this particular strategy and leave behind us all other possible strategies. We have come to dismiss these other strategies as if they don't exist. It is about time that we put our act together and put a stop to this ridiculous state we have reached. We should come out straight and demand that they lay down their weapons.
For 60 years, they have dragged us from bad to worse, it is about time that we stand up against their approach to the conflict and enforce a new approach based on rational analysis of the situation. The armed groups clearly are in no position to fight Israel and win. The propaganda they tried to sell us on the eve of the Gaza withdrawal is really nothing but propaganda. Israel only withdrew because it is more feasible for it to go that way and because it saw a great PR stunt in the move. Oslo, if anyone would like to claim it as a victory, is nothing close to being so and even that was not forced onto Israel through armed struggle, on the contrary it was forced on the Palestinian people and so willingly agreed to by our incompetent leadership.
The only solution to the current crisis is a radical one where the Palestinian Authority would show political will and courage by demanding the de-militarisation of all non-security forces personnel. Such a step should create a grace period through which all are encouraged to voluntarily lay down their weapons after which the possession of weapons would be punishable according to the existing laws. Without such a bold (and unlikely) step we are likely to keep falling into this trap until real civil war rages in the streets of Gaza. Maybe in a year's time we will hear of Gaza Islamic State imposed by Hamas!
We should all demonstrate, not only against internal fighting but against possession of weapons, and if need be against even those who claim they are defending us, because based on the facts, they are killing us. We should tell them clearly: Lay down your weapons.