Palestinian
political prisoners illegally held in Israeli jails are on hunger strike and
some are near death. The population of strikers includes 200 child
prisoners, 27 Palestinian legislative council members, and 456 prisoners from
Gaza who have not been allowed family visits since 2007 [1]. Meanwhile,
colonization continued a relentless pace. Ramzy Baroud and Jeff Halper argue
that Israel is “fixing” the outcome and is an “end-game” scenario to take over
most of the West Bank and leave us in small cantons [2]. Yet, judging from my
research into the carefully planned Zionist project, such plans are not end
games but mileposts to give the Zionists time to consolidate gains in
preparation for the next round of expansion in precisely the way Ben Gurion
described it to his son in 1937. Ben Gurion explained lucidly how the new
state of Israel when established on part of the coveted land would be a base of
steady expansion and growth in the future with or without agreement from
“Arabs” [3]. I pondered how little has changed in the intervening 75
years. Colonial Israel continues to push the envelope and expand
with or without agreement from compliant “Arabs”. Compliant Arabs existed in
1937 (headed by Ragheb Al-Nashashibi) and existed in 1967 and in 2012. There
also existed intellectual and honest Arabs throughout our history.
Zionist
colonization is not driven by emotion or haphazard action. It is
done as instructed by the founding father of Political Zionism Theodore Herzl
in 1897: "we must investigate and take possession of the new Jewish
country by means of every modern expedient." Modern expedients advocated
by Herzl include planned methodical structure to remove the native people (with
or without agreement of some Arabs) and create a large Jewish state. Herzl was
not specific on size of the "required estate" but Ben Gurion and
people of his era thought it possible to go as far as between the Nile and the
Euphrates.
The
plans of colonizers are remarkably similar and known from the diaries of Herzl
in 1897, from the letter from Ben Gurion to his son in 1937, the Allon plan of
1967, and from the Hebron accords of 1997. It is a plan of expansion
without some Arabs consenting or occasionally with agreement from
some Arabs. These agreements, like the treaties that some Native Americans
signed with the government of the United States in its expansionary phase, were
and are violated because they are merely consolidation tools [4]. I think
like these Native American chiefs some Palestinians thought that they are doing
the best they could under difficult circumstances. Most of the Native
American “leaders” had no concept or understanding of the true nature of
the notions and emotions driving the Westward expansion of the white
colonialists in the USA. They did not delve deeply into notions of
manifest destiny, choseness, and racism that characterize their
oppressors. One could say the ideology of Native Americans exhibited the
exact opposite of their colonizers and thus they presumed that whites are
ultimately human and could be dealt with as equals.
Peace
for natives is to get their freedom, to live in dignity, and most of all to get
the boot of colonization off our necks. Peace for the colonizers is
to have the victim stop wiggling under their boots. Towards this
they devised ingenious plans including a Palestinian Preventive Security
force. Any rational human being can see this dictation and
imbalance of power in daily news. Thus the people are left out of
decisions whether on “negotiations”, on "national
reconciliation", ongoing and not going to the UN, or on how they may
eventually be liberated. Despairing and riding a ship without compass or
rudder, the people grumble and boil underneath and later erupt in revolt.
Needs
and desires of the colonizers and the colonized are not the same.
Occupiers and colonizers want more opportunities to progress via consolidation
and strengthening of the status quo and allowing them to expand
further. We, the occupied and colonized people, want to halt
and eventually reverse the process of injustice. Palestinians want to
return to our homes and lands and live peacefully as we did for
millennia. We insist on return and self-determination. We
insist that the country must remain multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and
multi-cultural. This is not a border dispute nor is it a quibble over the
Israeli illegal control of the religious sites. Like in the struggle in
South Africa under apartheid, it is a struggle that pits two very different
visions of the area: one of racism and apartheid and the other of justice and
equality.
Sporadic
acts of heroic popular resistance are not enough to reach peace with justice. Coordination
and joint action must take place. What hinders it is a system
developed by the occupiers and agreed to by some of the occupied people. Personal economic benefit maintains the
status quo. What is done with support from a Palestinian authority is nothing
short of making this occupation the most profitable in history (several billion
dollars flow annually to Israeli coffers as a result of this
occupation). Already Israeli and Palestinian business deals are
being executed for example in area C. This is the “economic peace
plan” of Netanyahu and others. Those who may think of disrupting the
status quo are investigated and punished. Most Palestinians are
excellent diagnosticians and have figured this out. But I think many
have not started to articulate solutions or ideas to get out of this mud hole
that the Oslo Process (actually started with the 10 point program in 1974) put
us into. It is not going to be easy and it does require
sacrifice. But those delusional individuals who think that they have
a salary or a position and they do not want to risk rocking the boat should
think again. They should think of how their children or grandchildren would
live under a system of racism and oppression. This is as true of
Israelis as it is true of Palestinians.
Boycotts,
Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) give us hope. Shimon Peres, the architect
of Israel’s arsenal of Weapons of Mass Destruction and a war criminal once
explained: "In order to export you need good products, but you also need
good relations....[If] Israel's image gets worse, it will begin to suffer
boycotts. There is already an artistic boycott against us and signs of an
undeclared financial boycott are beginning to emerge." International
figures who worked against apartheid in South Africa argued convincingly of why
this can help here in Apartheid Israel [5]. But BDS is only a tool and
certainly not sufficient to effect the needed change. There has to
be a structured program from the people which includes an articulation of a
vision with concrete goals for the future. In my book “Sharing the
Land of Canaan” in 2004 I argued for precisely such a program to move from
apartheid to a state of all its citizens. These notions have gained
widespread acceptance among intellectuals and activists of various religious
and political backgrounds. To arrive to this vision, we need
organization.
Organization
requires visionary leadership arising organically from a maturing rising
population. We should not be reluctant to push our existing leaders
and if they are not willing to move then to create alternative
leadership. ALL Factions have aging and non-innovative leadership
and ALL factions have younger energetic and dedicated (but marginalized)
individuals. Clearly the status quo is devastating for us and cannot
last. We know from history that people will rise-up and DEMAND
change.
Is
it time for varied voices to coalesce into a thunderous uproar that cannot be
ignored? May we organize meetings and discuss publicly the path forward?
While many for example discussed the failure of the "two state
solution" and some articulated future visions, we need more than that. Can
we as a people in 1948 areas, in the WB and Gaza and in exile create mechanisms
and structures that take us to where we decide to go? Can we convince the
world and even Israelis that we are serious about working for a future of peace
with justice and prosperity for everyone? Voices of negativism must not
dominate this critical stage. This conversation must be open to
people of goodwill from all factions and from independents. While it must start
among Palestinians, we must later involve our trusted supporters from around
the world. We do have the resources: financial, intellectual,
emotional, and physical. Let those who have skills in organizing organize and
those who have skills in media work do media work. Let those who have skills in
social networking do that. Those who have skills in music write songs for
the revolution. Imagine if we can get even 5% or even 1% of the
Palestinians around the world as participants in an organized effort. The
change that could happen can be monumental.
The
world today only respects those who respect themselves and struggle for their
own rights. We have nothing to be ashamed of as Palestinians even
though 7 million of us are refugees or displaced people. We have a
lot to be proud of from our history [6]. We cannot give up now that the crisis
of Palestine weighed on the world conscience and when the Arab spring could
change the whole geopolitical reality of the Middle East. Even if we fail at our goal this time, the positive
spirit that results would enrich all our lives. It would unleash the creativity
and the energy that we know is in us. Change can and must happen because
it ours is an existential struggle for 11.5 million Palestinians in the world
and for our children and grandchildren born and unborn. Each of us has a
role to play and has skills and other resources to contribute. Even if we
start slow and among a few individuals, it will grow because we have no other
choice. Let us get on with it.
[2]
Ramzy Baroud- Israel plots an end-game
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/05/03/illegal-settlements-bonanza-israel-plots-an-endgame/,
Jeff
Halper http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/04/2012428124445821996.html
but see also Susan Abulhawa's reply to Jeff Halper http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19274#.T6RigYJSHIA.twitter
[3]
Ben Gurion letter to his son, sent October 5, 1937 Translation here
[4]
The Oslo accords were an excellent tool by Israel to consolidate its hold and
in violations of the Geneva conventions allowed Israel “civil control” in
>60% of the West Bank called area C. In further negotiations it
was leaked how much people like Saeb Erekat were willing to keep going in
handing over these areas to Israel http://www.aljazeera.com/palestinepapers/
[5]
Desmond Tutu on the need for Divestment from Israeli apartheid
[6]
“Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment” http://www.qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/
A few years ago I sent a message to Dr. Qumsiyeh in which I described a united Palestine with freedom of religion and justice. He replied with a doubt, saying that such a movement lacked visionaries who could raise it to action. I responded that Dr. Qumsiyeh is such a visionary who could bring it about. Thank you, Dr. Qumsiyeh, this piece says it all.
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