I have this friend here in Palestine. He's one of the most intelligent and capable people I have ever met in my life. He's an activist who organizes Palestinians and Internationals to work in solidarity against the occupation. Every time this friend travels around the West Bank, the shared taxi in which he rides is subject to being stopped at checkpoints, which are strategically located all over the West Bank. There are three main terminals--permanent structures that are located so that if closed, the West Bank is wholly divided into three areas with no access.
At checkpoints, this friend and the other Palestinians are told to take out their Hawiyya--the id card written in Hebrew and Arabic that states their personal information: full name, mother's name, religion, gender, place of birth and place of issue. It is held in a green plastic slip cover, which is, like the id, a requirement--for it means that he is a West Bank Palestinian. Such a distinction is necessary for the Israeli soldiers who control these checkpoints. The blue ids mean that the person is from Jerusalem, which is a special category similar to a resident alien. Blue id Palestinians live in illegally annexed Jerusalem and are denied Israeli citizenship. Thus, when we say 20% of Israel's population is Arab, these are the excluded ones because they have Jerusalem id rather than Israeli citizenship. In fact, 50% of the population is "Arab," but only 20% are "Arab Israeli" citizens.
That blue id allows a Palestinian access in Israel and Palestine; it is a coveted card. But my friend has a green id, which is really shit because he is limited as to where he can go. Even within the West Bank itself he does not have access everywhere--though he is Palestinian. Oh the intricacies of this occupation! Every time this friend travels around the West Bank, I hold my breath. Checkpoints are sites of harassment, humiliation, violence and arrests. And as a young Palestinian male, much less one who is politically active, his very life is in danger. I am waiting for his arrest to come. Why will he be arrested? He was born Palestinian. It's that simple.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Still Holding on to Hope
Some have noticed that I have not written for a while. I simply don't know what to say anymore. I don't know how Palestinians have survived this long. I don't know how people love, marry, bring new life into this world, celebrate, study, exist. I just don't know how they live in the face of daily violence and the constant attempts at destroying life here.
It is beyond my capacity for thinking to understand this occupation. It is intricate and it is brilliant. It is well funded and very well staffed. They erect walls and a Wall; they destroy houses and businesses; they "target" and assassinate, and not just those targeted; they watch with state of the art surveillance; they arrest and torture; they deny movement, education, and life; they erect checkpoints and decline permits to pass; they humiliate; they break spirits and bones. How do Palestinians exist after so many years of this? I swear I don't know the answer. I don't know how love can exist here. Even I can't keep my head up, and this is a new battle for me. I am fresh, strong and young. Yet I cannot endure against this omnipresent, omniscient and destructive force.
Today I saw a new comment on an old post. And it reminded me: I am not alone. They may have billions (US dollars) and an impossibly well trained, well armed military, but this is life we are talking about. And isn't the fight to exist stronger than that to destroy?
I hope so. I can only hope that this is true, and that we can hold on to what is humane here, that which this amazingly destructive project of Zionism attempts to decimate in Palestine.
It is beyond my capacity for thinking to understand this occupation. It is intricate and it is brilliant. It is well funded and very well staffed. They erect walls and a Wall; they destroy houses and businesses; they "target" and assassinate, and not just those targeted; they watch with state of the art surveillance; they arrest and torture; they deny movement, education, and life; they erect checkpoints and decline permits to pass; they humiliate; they break spirits and bones. How do Palestinians exist after so many years of this? I swear I don't know the answer. I don't know how love can exist here. Even I can't keep my head up, and this is a new battle for me. I am fresh, strong and young. Yet I cannot endure against this omnipresent, omniscient and destructive force.
Today I saw a new comment on an old post. And it reminded me: I am not alone. They may have billions (US dollars) and an impossibly well trained, well armed military, but this is life we are talking about. And isn't the fight to exist stronger than that to destroy?
I hope so. I can only hope that this is true, and that we can hold on to what is humane here, that which this amazingly destructive project of Zionism attempts to decimate in Palestine.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Look But Don't Touch
From particular points on the campus of my university, one can catch a glimpse of the sea to the east. The street from the university to the city also reveals a few exceptional views of the sea in the distance. Every time I see the sun reflecting on the horizon my heart hurts, and I think wouldn’t it be better not to see it. Wouldn’t it be better not to have to look at that which should be within reach but is in fact forbidden. Once a student told me that she hasn’t been to the water is 6 years. Another said he hasn’t been allowed since 1996. Everything he writes returns to that sea. Look but don’t touch. See what you are denied, and keep on weeping.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Imagining, Un Occupying
What would it look like? Can we imagine the landscape without settlements? Roads without checkpoints? Travel without military permission?
As I sit here, in a third floor cafe, looking out over the center of Ramallah, I am absorbed in the bustle of this awkward city. It is a village that was forced to host people and a "government" when both were systematically denied access to other places.
A traffic circle centers the city, which branches into six roads. People weave in and out of the cars. Boys loiter. Every once in a while the white skin and western dress of an international catches my eye. Shops are open, with people walking in and out, carrying bags. The energy of a stifled people, a stifled city, a stifled nation permeates the air.
What would Ramallah be like if Jerusalem were restored to her people? The capital would be declared, the government buildings moved, the people permitted access to pray. I love Ramallah, but it is bursting at its seams under the weight of occupation, and I want to imagine a new Ramallah because this center cannot hold. 60 years is just too long.
As I sit here, in a third floor cafe, looking out over the center of Ramallah, I am absorbed in the bustle of this awkward city. It is a village that was forced to host people and a "government" when both were systematically denied access to other places.
A traffic circle centers the city, which branches into six roads. People weave in and out of the cars. Boys loiter. Every once in a while the white skin and western dress of an international catches my eye. Shops are open, with people walking in and out, carrying bags. The energy of a stifled people, a stifled city, a stifled nation permeates the air.
What would Ramallah be like if Jerusalem were restored to her people? The capital would be declared, the government buildings moved, the people permitted access to pray. I love Ramallah, but it is bursting at its seams under the weight of occupation, and I want to imagine a new Ramallah because this center cannot hold. 60 years is just too long.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Racial Repulsion
Had a conversation with a guy I know tonight that really disturbed me. He said that he would choose to sit next to a white person on the bus over an Arab. He said that Arabic is vulgar and they are loud and smell bad. He said he was repulsed by Arabs. I told him it was racist. He said it was not. I asked if someone said the same about Jews would that be racist? Yes he said. But this is different. It's not just against a race in general. They are his enemy. I asked, "Are my students your enemy?" He was embarrassed. "Are my kids your enemy? My mom?" He was ashamed. He said, "Maybe not my enemy, but..."
"An Other?" I asked. He said yes. I said you only perpetuate this by othering them.
I said "If someone said to me, 'I would not sit next to a Jew,' I'd go after him for his racism. I'd tear him apart for it. You are saying that." I told him that he's better than that. He said it's normal. Everyone he knows thinks like that. I said it should not be normal and he should be ashamed of himself. Who knows how much he'll think about this after tonight. I can't stop thinking about it though. How can we find change in a society that is so thoroughly racist?
"An Other?" I asked. He said yes. I said you only perpetuate this by othering them.
I said "If someone said to me, 'I would not sit next to a Jew,' I'd go after him for his racism. I'd tear him apart for it. You are saying that." I told him that he's better than that. He said it's normal. Everyone he knows thinks like that. I said it should not be normal and he should be ashamed of himself. Who knows how much he'll think about this after tonight. I can't stop thinking about it though. How can we find change in a society that is so thoroughly racist?
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
What is Occupation?
The United States people fund the Israeli occupation of Palestinian people and land. The bullets in the soldiers’ guns, their uniforms and tanks—it’s our money and therefore our responsibility to understand what exactly we are funding.
I’m not criticizing the internal crisis nor commenting on any discrimination or human rights violations inside Israel. I’m talking here of occupation. In brief, since 1967, Israel has occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip (disengagement is a myth), Golan Heights and East Jerusalem (illegally annexed). Occupation is legal under international law, but Israel’s occupation hasn’t been conducted according to international law; this occupation has committed endless human rights violations against the occupied.
What is occupation? Checkpoints and terminals; closures, sieges and curfews; tanks, guns and “targeted” killings; military prisons, courts and unending administrative detention; permits and id cards. More than a military presence, occupation here translates to denial of education, health, movement, life. Security can be invoked as an excuse for military occupation, but all people are human beings, and the cost of one people’s “security” should NEVER be another people’s insecurity and lives.
It’s weak to say that others suffer more, so Palestinian suffering is comparably little. It’s immoral to say there’s greater injustice elsewhere, so Israel’s human rights abuses are dismissible. It is dishonest to invoke atrocities to falsely applaud Israel as more humane, more free. A spectrum of human suffering should not be constructed, much less used to justify oppression and inequality.
Where there are gross and daily violations of human rights, we’re obliged to understand and challenge them--at home and abroad.
I’m not criticizing the internal crisis nor commenting on any discrimination or human rights violations inside Israel. I’m talking here of occupation. In brief, since 1967, Israel has occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip (disengagement is a myth), Golan Heights and East Jerusalem (illegally annexed). Occupation is legal under international law, but Israel’s occupation hasn’t been conducted according to international law; this occupation has committed endless human rights violations against the occupied.
What is occupation? Checkpoints and terminals; closures, sieges and curfews; tanks, guns and “targeted” killings; military prisons, courts and unending administrative detention; permits and id cards. More than a military presence, occupation here translates to denial of education, health, movement, life. Security can be invoked as an excuse for military occupation, but all people are human beings, and the cost of one people’s “security” should NEVER be another people’s insecurity and lives.
It’s weak to say that others suffer more, so Palestinian suffering is comparably little. It’s immoral to say there’s greater injustice elsewhere, so Israel’s human rights abuses are dismissible. It is dishonest to invoke atrocities to falsely applaud Israel as more humane, more free. A spectrum of human suffering should not be constructed, much less used to justify oppression and inequality.
Where there are gross and daily violations of human rights, we’re obliged to understand and challenge them--at home and abroad.
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