Amid the violence, moderates stay quiet

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The ruins of the Palestinian Authority headquarters lie near Samir Habib's fruit stand. Dust from the rubble settles on his pomegranates and melons, a constant reminder of the Palestinians' frustrated desires for statehood.

Despite the hard response from Israel, like the shells that wrecked Yasser Arafat's headquarters, the shopkeeper said his people won't stop fighting.

"I believe that it is only the uprising that can bring us to our goals," the 48-year-old said. "Political talks should go side-by-side with the resistance. Otherwise, the Israelis will not have any respect for us, will not listen."

He and others like him in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip say they would rather suffer than surrender their dignity.

Few Palestinians believe their bombs, rifles and rocks will ever be enough to defeat the Israeli army. Their attitude has less to do with winning than exacting revenge and proving their spirit cannot be defeated.

Moderate voices are rarely heard. Those who consider the uprising a mistake or oppose suicide bombings often won't speak openly, for fear of being branded traitors.

In June, several dozen Palestinian intellectuals and political leaders made an unusual appeal for an end to suicide bombings in a full-page ad in a Palestinian newspaper. The appeal drew little support, and several Palestinian factions published harshly worded leaflets denouncing its authors.

One of the proponents of nonviolence, legislator Hanan Ashrawi, said the 23-month-old uprising was, in its first stages, the kind of mass protest campaign she supports. She blames attacks by Israeli troops for turning those marchers to violence.

"The people who had guns started using them" against the soldiers, Ashrawi said.

Israel maintains gunmen mingled with unarmed protesters, and used the cover of civilians to fire on Israeli soldiers.

Signs of Israel's crushing response to the intifada are everywhere in Ramallah, from the smashed concrete of the Palestinian Authority headquarters to the checkpoints that choke traffic on the roads to Jerusalem -- a 30-minute drive away. The black, white, green and red of the Palestinian flag flies over the city, but it is clear power rests with Israel.

Opinion surveys indicate support is high among Palestinians for fighting the Israelis.

A poll earlier this summer by the Jerusalem Media & Communications Center, a Palestinian company, said two-thirds of those surveyed supported bombings and four-fifths backed the uprising.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority have reached an accord that provides for a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian areas in exchange for a halt to violence. But prospects are shaky since militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad are sneering at the test.

Sensing the Palestinian mood, both groups have turned down all appeals to halt attacks in Israel. In the past, they have suspended attacks for extended periods when they felt violence did not have popular backing.

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