Reimagining nonviolence: Palestinian popular resistance and the Gandhian ideals in a settler-colonial context

Gandhi remains a major reference point in scholarship on nonviolent resistance, but the relevance of his political thought to Palestine is often asserted more readily than it is examined. This article reassesses that relationship by placing Gandhian nonviolence in conversation with Palestinian popular resistance under settler-colonial rule. Drawing on political-geographical scholarship and semi-structured interviews with Palestinian activists, educators, political figures, and civil-society organisers, it examines how resistance is understood and practised under conditions of dispossession, territorial fragmentation, and denied sovereignty. The analysis distinguishes Gandhi’s ethical philosophy from later strategic interpretations that evaluate nonviolent action mainly through political leverage and measurable outcomes. It argues that swaraj offers a particularly useful point of entry because it directs attention to self-rule, collective capacity, and the social work required to sustain political agency. Palestinian practices of village mobilisation, boycott, institution-building, and sumud illuminate these concerns without reproducing a Gandhian model. The comparison identifies limited affinities between swaraj and sumud while preserving their distinct histories and ethical commitments. The Palestinian case ultimately shows that Gandhian thought remains valuable where it illuminates collective organisation, noncooperation, and the construction of political agency. It is less persuasive when suffering, visibility, and moral pressure are treated as reliable routes to institutional change.