Palestine LIBRE!
Preface: I fully recognize that the US government is keen on watching people who are part of the pro-Palestine movement. I am in no way against Zionism or the Jewish people. Israel does have a right to exist, but within the Israel-Palestine borders established in the proposed partition plan of 1947. I am, however, against war crimes, violation of international law, genocide and the unfair captivity of the Palestinian people. I am also against the complicity of world powers in allowing these atrocities to continue.
So…I’m always learning new things. When I find out I am wrong, I apologize and do better. Twenty years ago, I read an amazing book in my Children’s Literature class at University. The book is called A Stone in My Hand by Cathryn Clinton. It’s about a little girl who lived in Gaza City. The story is set between 1988 and 1989 during some of the first major uprisings after the Israelis violated the 1967 Israel-Palestine borders. The Palestinian people had been pushed out of Palestine completely and into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
This story completely changed my perception of what Zionism has become and the Israeli government. I did research and found that conditions had only worsened and that the State of Israel seemed to be going for the complete eradication of the Palestinian people. I was angry. I have been on the Free Palestine bandwagon ever since. I tried to talk about it at church and was told that Jewish people deserved a state of their own after the atrocities of WWII and that returning them to Jerusalem was God’s plan (sidenote: Zionism started way before WWII; see Mr. Khalidi’s book in my references below). I was already on the fence about religion in general, but that put a large wedge between me and the church I was attending (amazing that I stuck it out another 15 years after that…they really didn’t like question-askers or anyone who made them justify real reasons for the treatment of others…I know mistreating others isn’t God’s will). Jesus, who was a Jewish Arab, is probably in heaven weeping about the mistreatment of his Palestinian brothers and sisters (he was after all born in the land of Palestine).
Now, I want to take a moment and clarify. I am anti-genocide and anti-pushing people from their homes, not anti-Zionist or anti-Semite (note: there is some argument that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism….please see the article linked below). I love people of all faiths. I believe everyone should be free to practice whatever religion seems right to them. I don’t, however, believe that God, or Allah, or Iloheim, or whatever a religion calls Him, approves of displacing people from their homes, killing them, starving them, and allowing them to live in deplorable conditions that are essentially an open-air prison. This God, happens to be the same for three of the major world religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. They have the same origin story, the same 10 commandments. The same great flood. They also have the same fundamental principles: be kind, love your neighbor, don’t covet, don’t worship other gods, be a good person, don’t kill people……
I am frustrated that major world powers continue to let this injustice occur….and get worse. The bombs being used by the Israeli government to bomb hospitals and “safe routes” south were funded with first world taxpayer dollars. Instead of calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, making an effort to send aid to the people of Gaza, the governments aim to punish those who speak out. The US government for instance has House Resolutions 888 and 894. These resolutions make speaking out about Zionism (which I am NOT doing) an antisemitic hate crime (again, I direct you to the article below) and condemn Hamas.
Yes, Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by many world governments. I’m not saying their methods are right, but Hamas is also fighting for the rights of their people to land and a dignified life with basic human rights. They are the government of Palestine. Yes, they took hostages, but so did Israel. The hostages returned to Israel speak of how well they were treated. Some hostages were let go specifically so they could get the medical care they needed. Is this the case with hostages taken by Israel? No. Hamas is cited with starting this war on October 7, but they were responding to decades of mistreatment and unrest. Every band of people fighting for freedom is considered a terrorist by someone.
I want to tell you about another terrorist organization. They are called the Sons of Liberty. Were they being killed, made to live in deplorable conditions, or heavily oppressed? No, they wanted to self-govern and didn’t want to have to pay high taxes to England. So they threw tea in a river, wrote a Declaration of Independence, and started a war. They used propaganda campaigns in newspapers, they killed their oppressor’s military forces, and they disrupted supply lines. They fought for what they felt were their basic freedoms.
The Sons of Liberty won their war and received their independence, creating a democratic government. But what did that government do? It followed the footsteps of its colonizer parent country. It turned around and gave blankets infected with smallpox as a “gift” killing a significant portion of the First Nation peoples. It then pushed them out of their lands and onto tiny reservations. It took away their children and forced them into schools so they could be assimilated (or murdered in some cases). It grew into a world power that would assert its military power in any situation where it felt people were oppressed (i.e., Korea, Vietnam, the Soviet Union, the Middle East).
So why not Gaza? Why not save the Palestinian people from the oppressive Israeli government? Well, because then colonizing governments (and people) would then be forced to face their history of colonization. Remunerations would have to be paid. These world powers would have to admit colonization was wrong.
As if the situation in Gaza weren’t bad enough. Have you heard about what is going on in the Congo? Slavery, child labor, rape, murder….all funded by colonizer countries (article linked below). Why? To mine the precious minerals needed for the world’s technological advances….like the cell phone or computer you are reading this blog post on.
I will step off my soap box now with a plea for you to educate yourself. It’s okay to admit you were wrong. It is okay to have not understood. But when you know better, you need to do better. The more people who lift their voices to end the oppression and genocide in Palestine, the sooner governments will have to listen.
Here are some additional resources for you:
How The UN Partition Plan Led to Israel’s Birth, by Dov Lipman from Honest Reporting: https://honestreporting.com/united-nations-partition-plan/ (includes 1947 map).
Palestine National Charter, 1964, from the International Security Network: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/125413/2123_Palestinian_National_Charter.pdf
Palestine National Charter, 1968, from Yale Law: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/plocov.asp
History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict by the United Nations: https://www.un.org/unispal/history/
Article on the difference between Anti-Zionism and Anti-Sematism: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/11/anti-zionism-not-anti-semitism/675888/
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017 by Rashid Khalidi (Metropolitan Books IBSN:1627798552)
A Stone in My Hand by Cathryn Clinton (Candlewick Press IBSN:0763625612)
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Industrial mining of cobalt and copper for rechargeable batteries is leading to grievous human rights abuses, from Amnesty International: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/09/drc-cobalt-and-copper-mining-for-batteries-leading-to-human-rights-abuses/
