I returned to Palestine in 2008 (after a quarter of a century in
the US) and it is good to reflect on these 12 years. Below this is the message from August 2008 explaining
why I came back and what I had planned to do here. Much of course happened in
12 years good and bad (and that is the nature of life). Sadly, I witnessed two Israeli large attacks on Gaza and persistent
daily attacks on life of Palestinians. I witnessed wars inspired by the US on
Libya, Yemen, and Syria and toppling a dictator in Egypt to be replaced by an
elected government which in turn gets toppled by another dictator. I witnessed 60
million Americans electing Trump to be president while the rest learned nothing
from democratic establishment propping crooked Hillary “we came [to libya] we
conqured” Clinton. They will still vote for the lesser of two evils. I
witnessed locally home demolitions, ethnic cleansing, and de-development with
Western complicity and hypocricy. I lost 19 friends who were killed by the
occupation forces. I myself was harassed and detained/arrested many times. I witnessed
and participated in civil disobedience and civil resistance and wrote a book on
popular resistance. My students and I research environmental justice issues and
wrote many research papers. We helped many needy families. And we are now
struggling as pandemic picks up here in besieged Palestine.
I have split my time between working on human rights issues for
Palestinains and working for the environment. These are not mutually exclusive
as there is significant overlap. There are issues of colonizer assaults oin the
environment and environmental justice. There are issues of human sustainability
and food security (dependent on the environment). Ofcourse where and how we act
evolves and changes in time. In those 12 years, I learned that our struggle as
indigineous people in Palestine is connected to the struggle of indigenous people
everywhere. I also learned that since the wealthy elites have no future for
themselves without a healthy planet and a healthy planet depends us indigineous
people, the elites must learn to listen to us.
For many years we have been active and I had no problem sleeping
despite bad new all around us. Action is the best antidote to despair. Recently
my own initiatives and actions seem not enough to keep my sanity even those
that have tangible results (like founding and volunteering at the Palestine
Institute for biodiversity and sustainability that we now employ 9 people and
publish on, educate about, and conserve our environment). We witness Israeli
bombing of Gaza and Lebanon, home demolitions, persistent human rights
violations in Palestine, Yemen, and Syria (e.g. Turkey occupation forces
cutting water to 1.3 million people in Hasaka). We also witness the US
descending into a fascist state with people having to choose lesser of two
evils as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Here are two other
examples of news that keeps me awake:
-At least six COVID-19 cases outside of quarantine confirmed in two
days: Al Mezan warns of a potential human catastrophe in Gaza after Israel
tightens its closure and bans fuel entry http://www.mezan.org/en/post/23788
-The UAE ruler worked against the interests of his and all people to succumb
to US dictates (made by the Israel lobby) and killes people and occupies their
lands in Yemen and now turns it over to build the Israeli empire. Israel to
have bases in Socotra, Yemen an island of unique habitat that is already under
significant pressure fro the UAE’s military occupation: https://southfront.org/uae-israel-plan-to-create-intelligence-bases-on-socotra-island/
-Some 6 million US and 3 million Brazilians infected with Covid-19
while their presidents are merely happy to get richer and serve Zionist
masters.
-What the media ignores about the UN report on Biodiversity (the need
to empower indigineous communities)
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/biodiversity-un-report-indigenous-worldview/
But in the end, I and my wife and the volunteers around us accomplished even more than what was predicted 12
years ago (below), I met hundreds of people who made a difference in my life.
Some were maryred, some injured, some died of natural causes (e.g. our friend
Qavi who helped so many Palestinians and wanted to die and be buried in
Palestine). We gave thousands of talks and built an email list of tens of thousands. We built institutions and we helped hundreds of young people. And
indeed we had “joyful participation in the sorrows of this world.”
PS The achievemnts for 2019 just for this one project are posted at
https://www.palestinenature.org/about-us/final-annual-report.pdf
=========
Leaving the US For Palestine (August 2008)
After such knowledge; what forgiveness?
Think now
History has many cunning passages,
Contrived corridors
And issue, deceives with wispering ambitions
Guides us by vanities.
Think now
She gives when our attention is distracted
And what she gives, she gives with such supple confusion
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
T. S. Elliot
I graduated from Jordan University with a Bachelor degree at age 21 and then
taught in Palestinian Schools (Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho). In
those year and a half as a middle and high school teacher (Jan 78-June 79) I
worked very hard at two jobs (extra teaching at private school in Jerusalem) so
as to save money for higher education. I saved enough for the airline tickets
and an extra $1500 for the first few months in America. I came to the US in
August 1979 to pursue higher education and ended up making it a home while
maintaining a home in Palestine. Since then I got my doctorate,
medical boards in genetics, and served on faculties at the University of
Tennessee, Duke, and Yale Universities. I published over 130
scientific papers and three books. Here I also met first my wife, built a
family, made thousands of friends, and chose to become a citizen. Thus, my
journey in the US was wonderful and highly successful. Much of my
activism was driven here by the desire to improve this country (e.g. stop it
from committing war crimes and crimes against humanity). I strongly
believe that unless all of us work together to change US foreign policy (a
policy shaped by Zionist lobbies), we are all doomed. We see that
millions of US citizens are also concerned about the way this foreign policy is
damaging our economy and reputation around the world. I think it must (and it
will) change. There are many good signs (e.g. the books of Carter and
Mearsheimer and Walt became best sellers). Yet, today with the new laws that
shred constitutional protections, government intrusion on every sphere of life,
the US has been more Israelized. These things, restrictions on
students coming from the Arab world, and the war economy in America (that
devastated higher education here) makes a repeat of my story much more
difficult if not impossible. My own journey has not been
easy. Racist Zionists tried to block us at every corner and racism
in a society shaped by Hollywood films that villify Arabs is
rampant. Some take their positions at institutions of
higher education and at funding agencies (e.g. March of Dimes, National Science
Foundation, National Institute of Health) as a license to advance their racist
ideologies. This situation continues although I did notice that in
the past 12-15 years things have become more opened up. This is a
function of a) numbers: Zionist ranks are dwindling and populations of all
other people in the US are growing, b) the internet opening up the dialogues
and increasing exposure to the truth, and c) more Arab and Muslim Americans
taking on their civic responsibilities and asserting their rights and their
responsibilities in this society. But perhaps it is always a struggle anyway.
But the difficulties I faced (including a major health issue) are nothing
compared to what other Palestinians face under occupation or in exile (e.g. in
refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria). I consider my
challenges/difficulties in life as blessings. I would not want them
changed if I had the power to change them. Difficulties in life make us who we
are and help us improve. In this I am thankful even to those
self-declared enemies and protagonists who sometimes succeeded in what they
aimed to do and sometimes failed but always provided me with good
lessons. So perhaps a tinge of me wants more
difficulties. I look back with nostalgia at my upbringing under
Israeli occupation. I look with nostalgia at the time I was teaching
in the West Bank. I talk to my elderly diabetic mother every week
and she tells me stories of what is going on on the ground. Her
stories include things like people dying because of being prevented from going
to health clinics, students denied the right to go to school, lands
confiscated, children shot in the back of the head, extra-judicial executions,
further acts of ethnic cleansing, and more. I also go to Palestine every year
and I see the apartheid system getting worse. Walls surrounding
towns and villages, US weapons that killed or maimed friends and colleagues,
economic strangulation, and much more. But both mother and I see so
much good work being done by good people of all faiths and backgrounds.
Thus, every year when I go visit Palestine, I cannot wait to come back even
though life there gets worse (checkpoints, the violence of the occupation, the
economic deterioration). My last visit was of July last
year. The hate I witnessed from settlers, from occupation soldiers,
and yes from some natives was so thick in the air and permeated
everything. The racism, the segregation, the apartheid walls... and
all the other things I occasionally share with you through this
cyberspace. BUT, there is also lots of love. Love is not
usually expressed in words in Palestine. Even among family members it is rare
to hear the words "I love you". Love is expressed at a far
more meaningful sense in caring, asking how your health is, offering food,
hospitality, offering your clothing and what little you have etc. These
are acts of love.
In the US, I witness acts of love perhaps two or three times a day in person (I
see many more on the emails and other news sources). In Palestine,
in my last visit, I witnessed acts of love in the dozens in some
days. In one day of a nonviolent demonstration in Bilin and then in
the Hospital where Ibrahim Bornat was taken after being shot, I witnessed
hundreds of acts of love. They came not just from Palestinians but
from Internationals and even Israelis who were with us. In the US, writing a
letter to the editor or demonstrating in front of a congressman's office are
acts of resistance (and yes love). In Palestine, teaching a child to read,
eating, drinking, breathing living, and everything we do in life there are acts
of resistance (and love). This is because that is not what the
colonial Zionist movement wants (they want us all out to create a more uniform
"Jewish state" that is cleansed "nichsayon").
Of course without the US support of Israel, Israel can't survive as a colonial
power. That is why work in the US has been and must continue to be a
center of focus. We simply must change US policy in the Middle East
(if nothing else than to save the US from economic collapse!). Work must be
done both in Palestine and outside of Palestine. Indeed that is part
of the reason why I have not relocated to Palestine earlier. There is something
indeed about fate and destiny.
I also have a home in Connecticut and will maintain that for the time being. It
is our destiny as Palestinians to be so conflicted and separated. I
have relatives in 40+ countries. I have friends and colleagues in over 100
countries. So I guess, the world is my home. The corner of it that
received a lot of oppression deserves a lot of attention/activism.
Activism for human rights is not only a duty but it is one of the most
rewarding things to have done myself (marriage, having a son, writing books are
others). Activism falls truly under the category of enlightened self interest
which is what philosphers and sages of old have encouraged us to practice. So
in that sense I am still going to be doing acts similar to here. My
focus will shift though. I will be doing somethings:
- Teaching at Bethlehem University (a new masters program in Biotechnology,
course in human molecular genetics)
- Working on environmental/conservation issues (see
http://www.qumsiyeh.org/nature/ )[we ended up establishing a large institute
now employing 10 people and dozens of volunteers- palestinenature.org]
- Building a laboratory for clinical genetics that employs Palestinian
graduates
- Doing other activities that create job opportunities (see for example by
going to http://www.pcr.ps/ and click on outsourcing Palestine project at
right)
- Writing more books (the next one on my agenda to complete is on history,
theory, and practice of Palestinian non-violent resistance over the past 128
years)
- Giving help where I can (my dream is to start a "food not bombs"
chapter)
- Continue the never-ending work to improve myself and fight the demons within.
- Having fun!
And as our newly departed poet Mahmoud Darwish wrote: "I long for my
mother's bread, and my mother's coffee, and her touch. Childhood memories grow
up in me Day after day. I must be worthy of my life. At the hour of my death,
worthy of the tears of my mother.”
I have a home in Beit Sahour, a lovely town despite the colonial
occupation. Please look at these two videos of my hometown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-D2jy1knHs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXFd48-W7JQ
It also seemed the right time on the 60th anniversary of the Nakba (the ethnic
cleansing of Palestine) to focus more on helping in Palestine while still
maintaining a base in the US.
With humility and serenity, I will try to be positive, productive and helpful
as one of millions struggling under occupation/colonization. My
regular email messages may slow down or get way shorter. These
emails will also undergo a change away from posting things from secondary
sources. Since I will be on the ground more, I will report more of
what I observe in Palestine and occasional suggestions for unique and inspiring
actions for peace with justice we can all support.
If I slighted any of you, I apologize. I want to thank all of you
for your kind support (especially those who took the time to act on action
calls). I also want to thank those in Connecticut who helped make
the state a great place to live. You all will be in my thoughts
always.
If you ever want to take a trip to Palestine, please drop me a note and come
visit!
In the meantime, stay tuned and best of Love to all.
Mazin Qumsiyeh
PS: Lessons I try
to remember about life (most learned from mistakes :-)
http://www.qumsiyeh.org/lessonslearned/
