You might want to look into the Palestinian National Initiative. It got the third largest share of electoral votes in the recent Council election, after the PA and Hamas. According to its leader, Mustafa Barghouti:
In October 2000 we published our manifesto: a secular programme for a non-violent, non-militarized Intifada, signed by 10,000 supporters. This was the start of Al Mubadara - the Initiative. It was officially founded in June 2002, at the time of the Israeli re-invasion...
Our aim is to reactivate the popular resistance movement that was extinguished by Oslo. We also need to reconstitute the links between the Occupied Territories and the diaspora. During the Oslo period, many Palestinians outside the country felt betrayed, thinking the Authority had forgotten them. Finally, it’s imperative to establish points of contact with Israelis. We’ve worked with a variety of Israeli groups - Women in Black, Gush Shalom, Yesh Gvul, Ta’ayush - demonstrating against the invasion of Iraq or against the apartheid Wall.
The full interview is here and the Al Mudabra website is here.
Also, isn't it true that the Palestinian Authority has formally accepted Israel's right to exist? And that Abbas was elected by a large majority of Palestinians on a platform of ending the Intifada and making peace based on a binational model, with borders on or approximating the Green Line?
Best,
Any comment about the actual content of the post Andrew? Hizbullah? 
Well, yes, I know that's Hizbollah's position. They're a radical anti-Israel group and, I believe, claim the dubious honor of having invented suicide bombing. There was a very interesting article on them in the New York Review of Books, about a year ago. The statement quoted should not suprise anyone.
I was responding to Gav's request for an Arab group with a dissenting opinion. The PNI is interesting because their forceful rejection of the occupation (meaning, Israel's presence beyond the 1967 borders) is coupled with a principled embrace of non-violence.
The PA has not, to the best of my knowledge, rejected armed struggle as a matter of principle; but the current leadership rejects it as a tactic; and the PA has accepted Israel's right to exist, again within the Green Line or some rough equivalent to be negotiated.
I'm sure that neither you nor Gav would make the mistake of thinking that Hizbollah, a radical Lebanese Shiite group, speaks for or represents the Palestinians in the occupied territories.
Thanks Andrew, noted. However, many wouldn’t make the mistake of believing that Hizbullah could play no hand at all in the affairs of the PA and Palestinians in general.
They definitely play a hand. Hezbollah was an inspiration for Hamas in its move toward militancy; and provided impetus and concrete support for the terrorist attacks of the second Intifada.
A lot of groups meddle in the territories, and many like to use the Palestinian cause as a rhetorical trope to gain support for their own. But Hezbollah's interest is in Lebanese politics. Their leaders do not have the sort of personal stake in Palestinian statehood that the Palestinian leadership does.
One can't assume that every Arab leader who dons the mantle of Palestinian rights is, in fact, speaking for all Palestinians. If there is no exact equivalent to "Not In My Name", there is a large segment of the Palestinian population, and corresponding political parties, who reject Hezbollah's call for Israel's destruction.
Did you by any chance read the Barghouti interview linked above? I'd be interested to know your reaction.
I made some comments in my latest post. Thanks for the info Andrew.
I agree with most of what you are saying about Hizbullah, with one exception. I don't believe they care only about Lebanese politics (although they definitely care, and in the long term that is probably the best hope if they are ever to moderate themselves). If that was their only concern, they would have disarmed already. They justify their refusal to disarm on the conflict with Israel. Granted, there is a part of this which is just cover for maintaining the internal leverage their armed militias bring them. But the rhetoric can't be completely dismissed when Israeli strategic defense planners have to account for more than 10000 rockets aimed at our northern territories by this self-same Hizbullah.
I'm sure the reality is way more complicated even than that. Across the Bay is one of a number of sites that have a lot of really deep analysis of the Lebanese situation, and I can't profess to even a fraction of their expertise, so I'll stop here.
Commenting by HaloScan
