In a sit-in tent camp near the Gaza border with Israel, a lecturer answered questions from activists grappling with the concept of nonviolent prowwww.
They asked what's allowed, listing different actions. Throwing stones and holding rallies is permitted, he said. Throwing firebombs is a "maybe" and using knives a definite "no."
Such workshops – held amid weekly mass marches on the border for the past month – are the latest sign of the Hamas terrorist group's search for new tactics for breaking the debilitating blockade of Gaza. Israel and Egypt closed the borders after Hamas seized control of Gaza in a 2007 military coup, and Israel blockades the sea and controls the skies, making it increasingly difficult for the group to govern.
The border protests were the idea of grassroots activists several months ago, and the project, envisioned as nonviolent, was quickly embraced by Hamas. The terrorist group has been careful to contain the protests by keeping its armed men far away and out of sight.
Hamas has been supportive, said workshop lecturer Issam Hammad, a self-described independent who runs a medical supplies company. "They encourage young people to take part."
Any degree of nonviolence would be a striking departure for Hamas, which over the years has attacked Israelis with numerous suicide bombings, shootings and rockets. For more than a decade the group has tightly controlled Gaza, quashing dissent.
The large-scale protests are the only card the group has left, three high-ranking Hamas officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were discussing internal strategy.
They said Hamas rules out other options – either disarming or fighting another cross-border war with Israel. The last one, in 2014, devastated Gaza, a coastal territory with 2 million people squeezed into 140 square miles.
Bassem Naim, another senior Hamas official, believes the new method has refocused world attention on Gaza's misery. The territory suffers from grueling power cuts and a two-thirds unemployment rate among young men.
"The momentum of the marches is going strong and will continue," he said. "People can no longer endure the siege and will not stop until the siege is stopped."
Each Friday, thousands of people have gathered in five tent camps near the border, while smaller groups throw stones and burn tires closer to the security fence.
Since protests began in late March, around 40 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,500 wounded by Israeli fire. Rights groups say open-fire regulations are unlawful because they permit troops to use potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters.
Israel says it's defending its sovereign border, including nearby communities, and that troops only target instigators. It accuses Hamas of using the protests as a cover for damaging the security fence and attempting to infiltrate the border and carry out terrorist attacks. There is considerable concern in Israel of a mass breach of the border in which Gazans stream across, terrorists mixed in, wreaking havoc.
Nonetheless, the European Union urged Israel to stop using deadly force against unarmed protesters, and a senior U.N. envoy to the region called Israel's deadly shooting of a 15-year-old Gaza boy last week "outrageous."
Hamas has kept the pressure on Israel by at least telegraphing an embrace of nonviolence. For example, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh recently spoke against the backdrop of posters of icons such as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr.
The senior Hamas officials said the movement has learned from mistakes, such as confronting Israel's powerful military with crude rocket fire. They said Hamas is offering Israel an open-ended truce in exchange for lifting the blockade.
Hamas says it wants to keep its weapons for defensive purposes – a claim undercut by the group's terror tunnel program.
But Israel and Hamas' main Palestinian rival, West Bank-based President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, are skeptical because of the group's refusal to disarm.
Hamas "is changing its tactics, but it's not changing its nature and strategies," said Palestinian analyst Abdel Majed Sweilem.
Abbas has told Egyptian mediators that he will only return to Gaza if Hamas hands over all powers and relinquishes its considerable arsenal.
Organizers say that in addition to compelling an end to the blockade, the marches are meant to press for the "right of return" of refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel.
March organizers see May 15, the anniversary of Israel's founding, as a key target day.
Some Hamas leaders have called for a mass border breach, while others are vague. Haniyeh told protesters that "we will return to Palestine," without giving specifics.
Either way, Hamas faces a tough decision ahead of May 15.
If it stops short of a mass breach, momentum may falter.
Israel has warned that a mass breach of the border could lead to many casualties. If huge crowds break through the fence, Israel could have a stronger case for using lethal force.
Hamas leaders would face renewed accusations of cynically exploiting Gazans – especially if senior leaders stay back while desperate young men rush into danger. A high casualty toll also risks triggering another war.
Hammad, who began holding non-violence workshops a week ago, offers a definition of nonviolence disputed by Israel, whose military considers stone-throwing and burning tires "acts of terrorism."
But it is new to Gaza, where young people grew up with Hamas' fiery rhetoric and lived through three wars.
Participant Yousef al-Qishawi, 27, said he grew up thinking the use of force was the only language Israel understands but has realized it only hurts Palestinians.
"Now, we are learning about more ways and peaceful methods that are more effective," he said.
