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Acknowledgments Initial work on this book coincided with the outbreak of the intifada in the Occupied Territories. During 1987-1988, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Program on Nonviolent Sanctions at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs. I was pursuing my research on Palestinian nonviolent civilian resistance to Israeli occupation. The intifada, the civilian uprising of Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, seemed like a vindication of the direction my work was taking. I was studying a region where the language of force prevailed and where people reacted very skeptically to the notion that "nonviolence" could wield any kind of effective power. As the intifada escalated, so did my commitment to investigate this mode of civilian struggle. Lying at the heart of the issue, it seemed to me, was the question of the extent to which the intifada relied upon a coherent strategy to achieve its goals. It was soon apparent that my energies should focus on this question of strategy. More precisely, I would focus on the formulation of a strategy of nonviolent civilian resistance that could be undertaken by the Palestinians themselves to end Israeli rule. This book would not have been possible without the support of two fellowships, one from the Program on Nonviolent Sanctions at Harvard University and one from the Albert Einstein Institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts. My thanks especially to Gene Sharp, who first invited me to Harvard, and to Chris Kruegler, who facilitated my return for a second year. Three people to whom lowe special gratitude are Chris Kruegler, Elaine Hagopian-a role model and former professor, and Zachary Lockman. They read the first draft of this manuscript and provided me with most incisive and critical comments. I hope they recognize their input here. I thank Jamal Nassar of the Association of Arab-American University Graduates for Copyrighted Material x Eyes Without Country permission to use the phrase "eyes without country" from Rashid Hussein's poem "Revolution in Transit" as the title of my book, and for permission to reprint part of the poem here. I am grateful to Antioch College for awarding me a Knight Grant that enabled me to travel to the Occupied Territories in July 1993. I also thank Mustafa Hamarneh of the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan for securing permission to use portions of my monograph Intifada in this study. Special thanks go to Micah Kleit at Temple University Press, who first responded favorably to this manuscript and who remained unstintingly patient and helpful throughout. And thanks to editor Michael Ames at Temple University Press, for his insightful comments and his continued support throughout the process of publication. Working on this topic has sometimes been like chasing a moving target. Throughout, it was the goal at the end, the hope for a just peace in the Middle East, that made it all worthwhile. Many dear friends-Palestinians, Americans, Arabs, Jews, and Israelis-share this vision with me. I would like to say to all of you-and to my parents, sister, brothers, and lovely niece and nephew-I was thinking of you all. Copyrighted Material ...

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