We often forget that the faces on the other side of the television screen have thoughts and feelings just like our own. We forget to think about the common threads of humanity between all living beings. I’m obviously no expert on the subject, having only spent several months in the Middle East and studying the situation now for four years. But the following contains different sorts of observations, analysis and conclusions I had reached, having traveled throughout the entirety of the West Bank, meeting hundreds of families along the way, and engaging in countless enlightening and telling conversations about the conflict, culture, and lifestyle.

A Future of Peace:

The peace plans have been watered down and frosted over. I’m a pessimist in this regard. Palestinians are extremely complicit with the situation; which is of course the result of 60 years of war and occupation. Palestinians are also extremely reliant on Israel, and they spin the wheels of their own oppression.

I hope for an economic intifada (uprising) rather than a violent one. Violence has only brought about harsher responses from the military. If it is going to be fought out, then the stronger of the two is going to win, which is obviously Israel. Even if Palestinians were to win, it would be national suicide due to their reliance on Israel for just about everything from the water they drink, to the electricity that lights their homes, to the monetary currency that they use. An economic uprising would set them on a path that they will be able to separate themselves from Israel, gain some sort of power, and then go to the negotiation table when they are on a fair playing level. As it stands, there is nothing Israel actually needs from the Palestinians, and therefore, there is no such thing as a real ‘compromise’ or ‘solution.’ Everything needed is in the hands of the Israelis.

Asking Israel for power is like a slave asking his master kindly to remove his shackles. I do not support violence in any way. I think it has proven a failure. But there is a way to go about liberation more strategically, as to take the power for themselves without sucking up to Israel and asking for it. Then they can move to the negotiation table once they have power.

Internal Conflict Within Myself:

I am connected to both Israel and Palestine in every way. I was raised in a Zionist community and arrived at my own conclusions totally independently. I have relatives in Israel. I even have relatives in settlements. My relatives migrated to Israel largely after having suffered at the hands of Europe. I cannot blame them. I blame the ones who made the ridiculously immoral decision of handing them someone else’s land. It would be like the United States handing control of Iraq to oppressed and starving people in Somalia or Sudan. No one coming from the Holocaust had the mental ability to understand the Palestinian suffering as a result of their move. I cannot blame those in my family who saw their own mother decapitated in Russian Pogroms.

But I do strongly and vocally stand with Palestine. I want a true solution to the conflict, and I’m interested in helping stop suffering on both sides. I visited Israeli cities bordering Gaza that are often victims of rocket attacks, and could not help but feel sympathetic for them as well. They practically have had to turn their cities into one massive bomb shelter, and have faced years of living in freight and horror. The children of Sderot and the children of Gaza would have a lot more in common than they think; one of which is obviously that their entire life has been stained by war, conflict, and trauma.

My parents are supportive of my political views after years of debate and often emotional argument. I have successfully awoken them to the reality in Palestine. Others were not so enthused. I have had a few people curse me out and threaten me. But a majority of people just thought I was absolutely insane. They were surprised when I returned in one piece. It has forced many of them to question their own beliefs. I’m happy to have people question anything. We are living in a world filled with deception, myths, conflict, and hate. The more we question, the more we learn. But sometimes, the more we learn, the more questions we have. And I suppose that is why fully understanding and trying to help the conflict in Palestine will be my life-long mission. After visiting the region, I only have more questions than answers.

The saddest thing:

-That I could leave while they are mostly stuck there.

-That I have an American passport while they have a Palestinian one.

-That I can go just about anywhere without a pre-approved visa, whereas they spend months waiting for a visa that they are unlikely to ever attain.

Honestly, far worse than bullets and bombs is sheer boredom and no hope for the future. Nothing is more a depressing thought to me, than the idea that most of my friends in Palestine will go on after studying double-majors in universities to either sit home unemployed or work crappy street-jobs. Most of them will stay in the refugee camps, hardly leave their city, let alone their country, and live the rest of their lives in utter boredom or resistance. No mother should ever expect her child to grow up and spend the rest of his life in prison.

A young girl asked her father how I was able to leave…imagine having to explain that to a child. It was my last night in the camp. That very same night, that young girl pulled her baby brother away from the door as she heard Israeli jeeps driving through the streets. Age 6 and she already knows the sounds of an Israeli jeep. No child anywhere on earth should know the sound of a military jeep’s tires.

May Allah (swt) reward us all and help the oppressed across the planet. May he grant them, as well as all of us, with patience, steadfastness, and faith. Ameen.

We often forget that the faces on the other side of the television screen have thoughts and feelings just like our own. We forget to think about the common threads of humanity between all living beings. I’m obviously no expert on the subject, having only spent several months in the Middle East and studying the situation now for four years. But the following contains different sorts of observations, analysis and conclusions I had reached, having traveled throughout the entirety of the West Bank, meeting hundreds of families along the way, and engaging in countless enlightening and telling conversations about the conflict, culture, and lifestyle.

Hospitality

What kept me enjoying each and every moment of Palestine was certainly the hospitality and caring nature of the people. I once was told that guests are treated this way, as a famous proverb says, because a guest is a guest sent by God and followed by angels. They certainly take this idea to heart, as just about everywhere I visited, I was greeted by smiling faces inviting me in for a cup of tea and coffee as well as the regular meal. By the end, I was so worn out from going house-to-house every single day. Of course I never wanted to feel like a burden, but they actually enjoy whipping up a dinner for foreigners there. Every visit begins with tea and ends with coffee. There’s no such thing as a “short-visit” in Palestine. Forget the idea of rushing.

Will I return again?

I feel inseparable from this land. I feel an emotional attachment to it on every level; be it my family’s Jewish heritage, my Islamic beliefs, my long-lasting and life-changing friendships or my need to help those suffering on both sides of the conflict in some way. I cannot just forget it and block everything out of my memory, though this conflict has caused a lot of family and community disputes for me. I’m not exactly an optimist, but I do want to go down on the right side of history. Insha’Allah, I will make this conflict my key issue and the rest of my life’s work. Not a day passes that I do not reminisce about Palestine.

I do, however, wish to see other areas of the world before returning to Palestine for an extended period of time.

We often forget that the faces on the other side of the television screen have thoughts and feelings just like our own. We forget to think about the common threads of humanity between all living beings. I’m obviously no expert on the subject, having only spent several months in the Middle East and studying the situation now for four years. But the following contains different sorts of observations, analysis and conclusions I had reached, having traveled throughout the entirety of the West Bank, meeting hundreds of families along the way, and engaging in countless enlightening and telling conversations about the conflict, culture, and lifestyle.

Religion in the West Bank:

I was rather disappointed upon realizing how secular a majority of the people were. The women wear hijab, but it seems nothing more than a cloth and something their ancestry had grown up practicing. Very few men actually pray, including those who are knowledgeable about Islam. Women are more likely to pray, as they are often indoors. Most people have crazy myths regarding the religion that have been inserted in due to the conflict. A lot of the people look down upon the men with big beards wearing the traditional clothes. A lot of the teenage males drink, watch pornography, and chase after female tourists.

I’m tired of Palestinian nationalism. It’s time for Islamic revivalism. Nationalism has yet to work anywhere on earth, and it surely is not working in Palestine.

Palestinian Women:

Women in Palestine are extremely strong and bright. Palestine has a long-running tradition of education despite the conflict and economic difficulties. Females are extremely educated and have great potential. They are not disadvantaged in the workplace from what I saw. Never will a woman have to work a cruddy job that she never wished to do, as would be the case for a male, seeing as the male is responsible for economically supporting the family. A woman would either work a job she has always dreamed of, (i.e. a teacher, a doctor, a nurse, etc.) or more than likely, not work at all.

On the other hand, there are unnecessary chains and restrictions set on girls. Most males could easily get away with yelling at their mother or father, dating a girl, staying out late into the night, or even losing their virginity. To the contrary, most girls are kept on a very tight leash with an unfair bias against them. I never like to judge other cultures in harsh ways. But I could tell this was not something that only I understood as a western and Caucasian male. Sisters of male friends complained to me of unfair treatment. A lot of it is caused by the conflict. Women need to be propped up as good potentials for marriage, because the economic situation caused by the conflict puts families in a position that they wish to marry of their daughters as quickly as possible. But sadly, I have my doubts that such practices will end anytime soon, even if the conflict is to come to an end.

Unfortunately, a lot of women are treated as slaves. Males are completely dependent upon their mothers and sisters. I grew very close with a refugee family, and completely threw them off when I offered to make tea for the wife and daughters. Oh- the controversy that would be caused by a male cooking for his wife! It works out well for farming families, when the men are out in the fields while the women cook and clean indoors. But that only comprises of a small percentage of Palestinians. Especially for families that face unemployment, it is unfair in my opinion for men to sit down and watch television as their wives work all day to keep the family happy.

On the other hand, to have each person take care of different issues in the home keeps some necessary structure to the family-life and keeps families close-knit. I think the breakup of the family structure in America is a leading cause for drug-addiction, homosexuality, pursuit of destructive forms of happiness, and so on.

There is good and bad in every culture. There are positives and negatives to the treatment of women in America, as is also the case of women in Palestine. At the end of the day, women are the most prominent figures in society. They make up 50% of the population but also bring up the other 50% (males) and teach them their values and morals. Palestinian women practically live for their children, and nothing clings stronger than a mother to her son or daughter- a beautiful image that I do not think will ever leave my mind. Families are just so close-knit and caring there!

We often forget that the faces on the other side of the television screen have thoughts and feelings just like our own. We forget to think about the common threads of humanity between all living beings. I’m obviously no expert on the subject, having only spent several months in the Middle East and studying the situation now for four years. But the following contains different sorts of observations, analysis and conclusions I had reached, having traveled throughout the entirety of the West Bank, meeting hundreds of families along the way, and engaging in countless enlightening and telling conversations about the conflict, culture, and lifestyle.

Non-Violent Resistance:

Most resistance in the West Bank is non-violent. It’s the violence that makes media headlines, however, that violence nearly entirely ended in 2006. I strongly encourage those in support of the Palestinian struggle to offer their support to the non-violent protests in Nil’in, Massara, and other villages protesting weekly against the separation barrier that has cut off large portions of their farmland.

Protesters won in Bil’in after five years of non-violent struggle, when the Israeli courts decided to reroute the fence away from their farmland. So these protests are somewhat successful and useful. Protesters are met with military force, and 16 people have been killed. I must say that it was by far the most frightening experience I had while in Palestine.

The sound of rubber bullets, stun grenades, and teargas cannisters shooting in all directions from military weapons is extremely discomforting, especially when you cannot see because teargas and ‘skunk-spray’ have clouded up your eyes, burned your nostrils and throat, as you clumsily try to figure out the safest route out of the ‘conflict-zone’.

Furthermore, non-violent and artistic forms of resistance are sparking up all around Palestine. Nearly every city and refugee camp has a community center where children are taught traditional Palestinian dance, art, and tales to keep their heritage alive, as well as implement art as a form of expressing their difficulties as a means of non-violent resistance.

In my mind, every Palestinian home built without a permit (which is just about every home), every farmer that continues to work his land despite military orders, and every Palestinian case in the Israeli courts is a form of non-violent resistance that is often overlooked.

Internal Palestinian Dispute: Hamas VS. Fatah

Internal disputes have halted just about all political progress in Palestine. In the West Bank, where Fatah is in power, Hamas is extremely suppressed and persecuted. The opposite is true in Gaza, where Hamas is in power. A majority of people are tired of these partisan politics and wish for their political parties to come to some sort of deal.

Fatah is extremely corrupt and few people will deny that fact. They’re practically a mafia: supporting those who provide them with money and support, while wiping off those who speak out against them. I had met many people who spent years in Palestinian Authority prisons for speaking out against the Government. Quite sickening if you ask me, though it has become not only a norm in Palestine, but throughout the larger Arab and Muslim world.

On the other hand, Hamas is not seen as the great alternative. Art, music, movies, and other well-appreciated Western activities are common hobbies in the West Bank, to which Hamas tends to stand against. Usually those people who are overly strict and unfriendly are referred to, in a joking or mocking way, as “Hamas”- so it certainly does not seem to me to carry along a positive tag. Furthermore, a lot of Palestinians do feel that Hamas policy in Gaza has only encouraged further Israeli aggression.

Of course, views in matters such as these vary person to person. Also, do not forget that other parties exist. The PFLP (Communist Party) is quite popular as well.

We often forget that the faces on the other side of the television screen have thoughts and feelings just like our own. We forget to think about the common threads of humanity between all living beings. I’m obviously no expert on the subject, having only spent several months in the Middle East and studying the situation now for four years. But the following contains different sorts of observations, analysis and conclusions I had reached, having traveled throughout the entirety of the West Bank, meeting hundreds of families along the way, and engaging in countless enlightening and telling conversations about the conflict, culture, and lifestyle.

“How Do Palestinians View…?”

I cannot help but cringe at this question. People constantly ask me,

“How do Palestinians view Hamas?”

“Do Palestinians want the destruction of Israel?”

“Do Palestinians believe in a two-state solution?”

There is no answer to any question implying that an entire society thinks a homogeneous way. All societies contain a diverse set of views. I found families in the West Bank so sympathetic towards Israel that literally tears dripped down their cheeks at the site of a funeral on television for two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza. Then, to the contrary, there are graffiti images of swastikas and suicide bombers bearing AK-47′s in their martyrdom poses along just about every wall.

Major Problems in the West Bank:

Just about every area confronts different issues. Israeli soldiers patrolling the streets are a rare sight now-a-days in the West Bank since the Palestinian Authority has been handed power of policing all major cities. But almost all cities still face night raids and rather frequent arrests. Most Palestinians seem to have family and friends in prison. From my observation within the refugee camps, a majority of men over the age of 18 had been imprisoned at some point throughout their life.

The separation barrier (be it the wall of the fence) have cut off a significant portion of farmland from Palestinians and have shot a bullet into the heart of any previously existing economic growth. It has left a lot of farmers unemployed, cut off several Palestinian villages from the West Bank, has destroyed the tourist industry that once flourished, and has put a lot of Palestinians that once worked in Jerusalem out of work. Palestinians are also no longer able to reach the beautiful city of Jerusalem and pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque without a permit. Permits are hard to gain, and therefore, the Dome of the Rock has become the symbol of liberation and I personally witnessed Palestinians tear at the thought of visiting Jerusalem once again.

Settlements are a major issue. For those who do not know, they are basically Jewish plots of land built within the Palestinian territories. The settlers are in fact, “Imperialists,” or maybe more-so, pawns of those wishing to annex the West Bank. Some families move to the West Bank for practical and economic reasons, while other move for ideological and religiously-motivated reasons. Settler violence runs rampant and the Israeli Army tends to close their eyes to it, and maybe command them with a light slap on the wrist, “stop please.” Yeah, I’m not joking about the, “Please.” I actually saw them politely ask a settler in Hebron to stop throwing rocks at Palestinians. Of course, rocks thrown in the other direction are met by teargas, rubber bullets, battons, and stun grenades.

www.guardian.co.uk

by Yousef Farsakh

As the situation in Gaza deteriorates and the world’s superpower endorses the growing violence by not bringing accountability to Israel’s actions, many have forgotten about the humanitarian blockade of the West Bank. While not remotely as deadly and evil as the blockade, siege, and now massacre in Gaza, the world must not forget that Israel’s support for Abbas’ Fatah government has not prevented them from continuing the illegal confiscation of Palestinian freedom and humanitarian right.
I write about this just as I complete a one-week medical mission in Nablus, Palestine with two American doctors through the Palestine Children Relief Fund. The objective of this mission was to complete 28 pediatric urology surgeries on complex medical cases from all around the West Bank. My first glimpse of Israeli cooperation and compassion was the six and a half hours my Arab American colleague and I spent being questioned at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. After questioning every aspect of our identity and upbringing as well as relations with the state of Israel, we were released to our patient driver awaiting our final arrival. Upon our arrival initially in Ramallah and then Nablus, we discovered that the medical equipment, instruments, and supplies that the doctor brought with him were confiscated at the airport.
Perhaps one of our biggest obstacles that eventually proved too large to be overcome actually ended up being one of our most aspiring inspirations. I say this for a few reasons. Pediatric urologist Dr. Balcom decided to declare his personal and medical items to Israeli customs. Following questions regarding the future use of the instruments, the doctor reported that they would be utilized in a volunteer medical mission in one of Palestine’s largest hospitals, Rafidia Hospital, as part of a scheduled PCRF mission. With this information at hand, the Israeli customs made the decision to withhold the bags of supplies.
Once we all met in Nablus and were able to organize, we began efforts to recover the bags. Mrs. Balcom was very active in this process and initiated a contact and interchange with the American consulate and embassy. The process proved unpromising as the blunt nature of Israeli control reared its hypocritical head. Customs officials instructed the American embassy that, because of what these items will be used for, and where they are going, tax needs to be paid on the entry and exit of the instruments. Additionally, our organization will need to have a signed letter from the Minister of Health of the Palestinian Authority stating who’s supplies these are, how and where they will be used, and that none of the items will stay in Palestine or be donated to the hospital. These conditions effectively told us that we would not get out supplies, and to give up on the bags. Because of this, the doctors began to use local instruments and adapted to the present circumstances.
This had a positive effect because of the reflection and impression it left on the local doctors. For the American doctors to use the same local instruments, and with them perform the advanced surgeries, the local Palestinian doctors gain confidence with regard to their own performance as well. By the end of the mission, these Palestinian doctors were doing the same work our doctors were.
But our efforts to retrieve the items did not end with the initial Israeli demands. After continuous efforts put forth by Mrs. Balcom, who is a practicing paralegal, Hana Abdeen, a PCRF social worker out of Nablus, as well as myself, contact with the hospital’s executive director allowed us a path to reach the Minister of Health. Surprisingly, after half of the mission had already gone by, we were able to secure the letter and had it forwarded from the American embassy to the Israelis. The response from Israel was that we now need a letter from the Minister of Health of the State of Israel. It was very typical of Israeli political discourse and dealings with Palestinian or pro-Palestinian human rights organizations. Despite this, our mission was a success and thanks to the doctors, many children received critical surgeries and will make good and swift recoveries.
I would like to thank the Palestine Children Relief Fund and Steve Sosebee for their work and persistence despite the hostile and illegal actions of Israel. I would like to thank the doctors who go through these situations and come out with more resolve to do good, despite the Israeli violations of human rights. Moreover, I would also like to thank the donors who make all of this possible and who should rest assured that their money is doing remarkable and essential work in many places and for many people.

By: Habib Hamidi

Authoritarian leaders subjugate their people to their absolute ways.  They expect everyone to follow their rules and what they deem as right.  Many times, they enforce their rules violently and make it known to their people that dissent is not tolerated. They promote their agendas through the media by stressing how deleterious it would be for the society as whole if they allowed the opposition to speak”that the national security and the life of the ordinary citizens would be compromised.  This is how they justify their suppression of people’s freedoms.   As bad is it may sound, it’s nearly not evil as apartheid, or worse yet, Hitler’s Nazi Germany.    In a country led by an authoritarian regime, there are rules to follow and you just have to toe the line.

In apartheid and other more malicious forms of authoritarian government, race is a determinate in how you are treated in society.  There is no line for you to toe.    You are who you are genetically, and there is no way to change that.   If you are an Arab living in Israel, that’s the reality you woke up to everyday for the past sixty years.   You know that if you are taking your pregnant wife to the hospital to give birth, you are going to be stopped at a checkpoint for the simple reason that you are Arab.   If you own a house, you know that any day, Israeli authorities can knock on your door and confiscate it from you because you are Arab.  If you are a student and have been working your hard your whole life to study in a place outside of Israel and you are successful in receiving a scholarship, the Israel government can deny your leave, again, because you are Arab.    Simply going to class is a daunting task because you don’t know what the checkpoint procedures are everyday.  Because you are Arab, you have to leave for class hours before your classes start in order to make it to school on time, even though the school can be down the street from you.

www.pcdc.edu.ps

Israel justifies their treatment arrogantly by comparing it to the treatment of American Indians at the hands of early settlers and the treatment of African Americans before the Civil Rights Movement.   What they fail to realize is that we have acknowledged how wrong that was and we have learned from it.  No American would want their country to repeat that history because it was shameful and wrong.   Unfortunately, few Americans know that we are perpetuating the same policy by supporting Israel.   Israel receives about $3 billion in direct foreign assistance each year, which is roughly one-fifth of America’s entire foreign aid budget (www.ifamericansknew.org). In per capita terms, the United   States gives each Israeli a direct subsidy worth about $500 per year. Furthermore, the US aids Israel militarily.  According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, current U.S. military aid grants to Israel “represent over 20% of the overall Israeli defense budget.”  The only reason Israel can get away with the apartheid is because the US supports them.   There have been 65 UN resolutions passed against Israel. But Washington used its veto 32 times to shield Israel from critical draft resolutions between 1972 and 1997. This constituted nearly half of the total of 69 U.S. vetoes cast since the founding of the U.N.

Without the US support, Israel will cease to exist in its current form and may be more likely to act as pluralistic society like ours where citizens view diversity as a source of strength instead of a challenge.   They would have to change because the world does not tolerate apartheid, just as it did not tolerate Hitler or South   Africa, because sensible people know that countries capable of inflicting harm on others have the ability to inflict harm on them.  So, as horribly as we may see authoritarian rule, the Arabs in Israel would prefer it to Israeli apartheid.   Democracy is only a dream and a fantasy in their mind.

Naomi Klein wrote in the Nation on January 7,  2009, “It’s time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa.”