The Twin Faces of Palestine

"We did not take land from people.   The land was empty, the people did not exist."  (Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel, 1969-1974.)

"There is no Israeli settlement that has not been founded on what was an Arab village."  (Moshe Dayan, Israeli solider and statesman, in explanation to a seven-year-old Jewish boy who found a human bone in the park where he was playing.  The park was built on an ancient Arab cemetery.)

"To be born Palestinian is to be a political crisis waiting to happen." (Hatem Bazian, director of Al-Qalam Institute.)

Palestine, like two sides of an ancient coin, bears the cultural imprint of two very different nations. The question is: Who has more rights to the land? The Jewish people who claim the right of biblical mandate, or the Palestinians who have worked the land for thousands of years? Some label the warring factions as nothing more than a family feud. But the "cussing cousins" explanation does little justice to this the most religiously complex battle for land in modern history. In this situation there is no terra firma. One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter—judgment depends on what side of the barricades you stand.

Travels in Israel:

My own travels in Israel were nearly twenty years ago.  The time I spent there was short in duration, but strangely eclectic in breadth.  I celebrated a traditional Jewish Passover and attended classes at the Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, but I stayed in a Christian convent in the Arab quarter of the old city.  The singing of the Holy Koran, which is the Moslem call to prayer, was my pre-dawn alarm clock.

Once a year, believers stage a reenactment of the last walk of Christ on the street in front of the convent.  Hundreds of people from around Jerusalem join in the processional, but the various Christian sects could not agree from which denomination the man to represent Christ should be chosen.  To settle the issue, the processional is led each year by a devout Moslem who portrays Jesus.

Although relatively peaceful while I was there, there was, nonetheless, an unavoidable military presence wherever I traveled.  The Israeli soldiers I saw on the streets were heavily armed and seemed quite comfortable in their role as  “protector.”  Once, on a visit to the Red Sea, I witnessed a group of soldiers sharing their military jeep with some young American women.  The soldiers allowed these tourists to sit with them and to wear their camouflage helmets.  Later on this warm afternoon, I observed one solider strolling on the beach, naked except for a Speedo and a machine gun.

Questioning Today’s Headlines:

Today, with nearly 400 dead and 10,000 wounded in the last four months, there is no peace in the Middle East.  Here I find myself in a situation I can no longer ignore.  I don’t identify as a political animal, but recent events have persuaded me to make a political stand.  I started asking the question “why?”  and for an adequate answer, I needed to look beyond the televised thirty-second sound bite.

The responses I got when I visited the website of the Israeli Embassy seemed stale.  I wondered if the articles I read in the American press might not also suffer a Jewish bias.  [Note: As the months of violence have progressed, I have seen an increase in sympathy for the Palestinians in the press.] 

Day of Solidarity:

In 1948, the United Nations designated November 29 as the international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.   On last November 29, I plunged into the morass and attended a Palestinian solidarity event.  The event entitled: “After the Night Sky,” was held at the Women’s Building in San Francisco.  

There were hundreds of people crowded into a hall decorated with national flags and banners shouting:  “Intifada, Liberate Palestine!”  Here, amongst the faces of the fallen painted on murals to look like spray-painted graffiti, I listened first-hand to the stories of the individuals who live every day in the occupied territories.

The smoke of incense and the melancholy music of the Palestinian songs filled the air.  But if I was expecting a volatile atmosphere, I was in for a surprise.  In fact, the evening began with a long moment of silent prayer for those who have been killed.

The emcee of the evening, Sema Dudum announced to the room:

“We call for a moment of silence for the Palestinian Martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of their homeland.  Their blood will continue to flow through the land, through the olive trees, through the groves of almond and apricots, until Palestine is Free.”

“Inshallah, no more shall die.”

Despite the passionate cries for justice and an end to the years of living under what they consider a hostile occupation, I did not hear anyone calling for the annihilation of the state of Israel.  I did not see hatred. 

The agenda for the evening seemed to be to put a face to the mounting number of casualties we see in each day’s headlines.   The speakers clearly distinguished between someone who is of Jewish descendant and someone who identifies as a Zionist.  As Hatem Bazian, director of Al-Qalam Institute explained: “We have lived as neighbors with the Jewish people for generations.  It is the Zionist government who separates us.  They discourage the Jewish settlers from supporting our stores and they instill fear into the people against their neighbors.” 

Jewish Democracy:

But the Palestinians want more than the right to occupy a certain portion of land.  They want the right to govern themselves. Palestinians say, “No, peace without Freedom.”  At present the Arab population living under Israeli restrictions do not have free access into the Jewish parts of the state.  Nor are they permitted to purchase building permits—permits that would grant thousands of Arab families the legal right to continue to live in the homes they have lived in for generations.        

Exactly how much freedom the State of Israel will allow the Palestinians has yet to be determined.  The average Zionist, however, is most likely to defend their views as being Pro Jewish rather than anti-Arab. “How much ‘Jewish,’ and how much ‘democracy,’ is there in Jewish Democracy?” questioned Ami Ayalon, former head of the Shin Bet, in a recent issue of  “The Jerusalem Report.”   He elaborated further on Israel’s practice of encouraging Jewish isolation from the Palestinians by asking:  “Is the Israeli apartheid option feasible?  I don’t think so.”

Elias Rashmawi:

When Elias Rashmawi, an ADC-Sacramento Board member, spoke his voice was a passionate call to action:  "From the day we lost our land to the occupiers, the solidarity movement began." 

He reminded the many Americans in the audience that thousands have stood in funerals every day since late September, and that it was the responsibility of the American people to put a stop to the situation:  “Your continued silence is seen as support for what can only be described as murder."

Noura's stories:

A young woman, Noura Erakat, showed slides of recent activities in the occupied territories.  Some images showed Israeli snipers crouched behind parked cars while women and children, oblivious to their presence, did their daily marketing.  Other photographs showed Israeli soldiers shooting through a chain-link fence at eight- and nine-year old children who were taunting them by throwing rocks.  Although the army is ostensibly dispatched to safeguard the Jewish settlers, it was hard to determine exactly what was being protected since they were in standing in open desert.

Just as her images were hard to watch, so Noura’s stories were hard to hear.  Noura, herself, was twenty—older than many of her friends who have become martyrs in this latest confrontation.  The stories that follow she either witnessed first hand or heard directly from the people involved.  "My family was more concerned than I was for my safety, so I returned home to the United States."

Time magazine, on December 18, 2000, reported on the death of fourteen-year-old Wael Imad, who died when an Israeli sniper shot him between the eyes with a rubber bullet.  But Wael is far from the only young causality of this “war.”  Statistics tell us that as much as 40% of the Palestinian dead in Gaza are younger than eighteen.

Noura tells stories of dozens of young men who take no interest in their lives because they believe they have no future.  She tells the story of a 13-year old boy who had been dragging a wounded and unconscious man toward an ambulance when an Israeli sniper shot the man in the head.  When the dead man's brains fell onto the street, the boy picked them up and put them in his pocket.  He has been silent ever since.

Another story she told was about a young man who was unlucky enough to have his cell phone ring one night when he was watching the conflict from the roof.  His parents were calling to see if he was safe; unfortunately, the Israelis zeroed in on the transmission and, drawing a clear target on him, shot him through the chest with a high-powered rifle.

He didn't die immediately.  He was put in the car and rushed to the hospital.  Because of Israeli roadblocks, a ride that should have taken twenty minutes took over two hours.  "Please, he will die if we can't get to the hospital," begged the driver.

"But you don’t understand," said the guard.  “We want him to die.”  And he did, ten minutes from the hospital.

Efforts of the International Red Cross:

The Israelis claim that the ambulances are being occupied and used by the Palestinians to shoot at them from.  No ambulances are currently allowed through police checkpoints.

On December 20, Younis Al-Khatib, president of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and Moshe Melloul, President of the Magen David Adom of Israel met in Geneva to discuss the situation.  They were trying to agree on the practical steps necessary to increase cooperation between the two organizations.  Ensuring that the wounded and sick receive adequate assistance and that the medical personnel are protected is their mutual goal.

Mr. Al-Khatib further explained in an article for the International Red Cross, “We also have difficulty gaining access to populations under closure who are completely cut off, so no ambulances can move in or out.  This has created tremendous difficulties for our system to function properly. . . .The irony is that while we were discussing the agreement one of our ambulances was confiscated.”

Read the article in its entirety at  http://www.RedCross.org

Jewish Fear of the Arabs:

In her book, Coming Home to Jerusalem, Jewish American Wendy Orange describes daily life in contemporary Israel.  She moved from her home in New Jersey to pursue a career in journalism in Israel.  Perhaps due to the propaganda of the Jewish press that urges caution when dealing with the Arabs, the average Jewish settlers appear to have no relationships whatsoever with their Arab neighbors.  Wendy lived in Jerusalem for more than a year before crossing the “green line” and venturing into the Arab quarter of the city.

 “I [didn’t] mention the plan to ‘cross over’ to anyone,” Orange writes.  “My guess is that all my friends would try to dissuade me. . . . I’ve begun to see Israel as a stage set that’s half darkened and I long to see into that darkness.”

Despite her good intentions, when she later finds herself seated in an office in East Jerusalem waiting to interview Mr. Raid Maliki, a spokesman for the PFLP (the Palestinian Front For the Liberation of Palestine), her fear of the Arab people becomes so intense she has to "stifle an impulse to run from the room." [Wendy Orange, Coming Home to Jerusalem, Simon & Schuster, 2000.]

Yockay Ron, a religiously active Jewish settler, puts a voice to the collective unconscious when he states: "All Arabs are a danger to us. . . . They threaten the very existence of the Jewish community on the West Bank." [Mark Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God, University of California Press, 2000.]

Violation of International Law:

According to international law, it is illegal for Israel to occupy land on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  It is illegal because Israel is not allowed to settle land that has already been settled.  But the government of Israel establishes and abides by its own laws, and settlement continues unabated.  According to current U.S. statistics, there are over one hundred Jewish enclaves in the West Bank alone.

On Occupation:

Occupation of the land works this way: hidden by the cloak of night, Jewish settlers drive a mobile home onto a piece of desert.  The Israeli army immediately moves in to “protect” them.  Palestinians can surround them on all sides, but they will not shop or converse with them.  The army gives them protection back and forth along the roads as they travel back into the Jewish villages to work and shop.

As an example of the tenacity of Jewish settlers, read this account from Terror in the Mind of God: 

"In 1979 a small group of Jewish women and children from Kiryat Arba crawled through the window of an abandoned hospital, occupying it and illegally establishing a Jewish settlement on the site, Beit Hadassah.  In time the settlement grew to more than fifty families, with some 450 Jews sequestered in what amounted to an armed fortress in a city of more than one hundred thousand Arab Muslims." 

The U.S. has repeatedly condemned the settlers, and even within Israel, many see them as an obstacle to peace.  “You are endangering yourselves and us in vain with your hopeless obstinacy,” wrote novelist A.B. Yehoshua in an Israeli paper last month.

From Time Magazine, on December 4, 2000, the article entitled: “Who Wants to Settle Here?” offers the following account explaining the motivations of the settlers: 

"Despite the danger to their small children and themselves, the Jewish settlers here stay largely out of religious conviction, a belief that the land they occupy was deeded to the Jews by God. . . .This difficult life requires obstinacy.  There are no stores for shopping.  The settlers must travel the roads outside their homes in high-speed convoys, for fear of snipers.  Last week the army uprooted crops for more than 50 yards on either side of the road and cut down palms on the median strip. . . . Perhaps most stressful is the fact that life is filled with the tension and rage bred by living among people who hate your presence."

International law and the Geneva Convention:

Amnesty International Reports

Israel’s continued use of tanks and sniper fire against the rock throwing of the Palestinian rioters has drawn the fire of human rights organizations. Amnesty International is preparing to send its fourth delegation of human rights observers into the occupied territories in early January.  Three previous delegations, sent since the eruption of violence on September 29, have reported countless cases of human rights violations such as, the use of excessive force against a civilian population, police brutality, the arrests and torture of children, and the denial of legal representation.

“Attacks deliberately targeting civilians can never be justified under any circumstances,” Amnesty wrote in a November 3, 2000 article entitled:  “Amnesty International Condemns attacks against Civilians.”   

“We call on Islamic Jihad and other armed groups, Palestinian or  Jewish, to stop such killings immediately.  Only a new mindset by   governments, opposition groups and individuals which recognizes that the rights to life and physical integrity are basic and fundamental rights, can bring an end to this violence." 

To read Amnesty’s accounts in full, see:  “Israel and The Occupied Territories:  Mass Arrests and Police Brutality,” (October 11, 2000), and “Amnesty’s Annual Report 2000 on Israel and the Occupied Territories.” 

Both are available at www.Amnesty.org  

Israel’s Population Calls For Stronger Measures:

Both the U.S. and the U.N. have accused Israel of using excessive force.  But restraint has been a hard concept to sell.  As much as 80% of  the Israeli population think that Prime Minister Ehud Barak has been too easy on the Palestinians.  In Israel today a popular slogan reads:  “Let the Army Win.”

But even in their own press, some saner voices can be heard. Major General Yom Tov Samia, newly retired head of the Israeli army's Southern Command, is quoted in "The Jerusalem Report" as saying: "The slogan 'Let the Army Win' makes no sense. . .(it) is damaging to the army, and to all the security forces."

Peace Talks:

According to the New York Times article written on January 4, 2001, Clinton’s formula for peace would establish the state of Palestine on 95% of the West Bank and eliminate the 144 Jewish enclaves where 170,000 Israeli settlers currently reside. 

On a personal note, Clinton has said he was proud to be the first U.S. president to visit the Gaza Strip and the West Bank where he witnessed firsthand the “suffering,” and also the “resilience and courage” of the Palestinian people.

In his farewell address to an American Jewish group, the Israel Policy Forum, President Clinton made one final bid in his last weeks in office for compromise and a resolution to the Mid East peace process.  While Clinton’s plan would allow for Israel’s continued settlement within its borders, it would also allow the Palestinian refugees the right to return to Palestine.  Clinton’s plan as he verbalized it would allow the state of Israel to “maximize the number of settlers in Israel while minimizing the land annexed.”

For Palestine to be a viable state, Clinton continued, it must be “geographically continuous.”  Speaking directly to the governmental powers of Israel, the President said:  “You discovered that your land is also their land, the homeland of two peoples.  There is no choice but for you to divide this land into two states for two people and make the best of it.”

He also said Jerusalem should be an open and undivided city and it should “encompass the internationally recognized capitals of two states—Israel and Palestine.”  The United States would have embassies in both capitals and in time, if properly managed, could give rise to a Jerusalem that is “larger and more vibrant than any scene in history.”

Palestinians Fear More Than Bullets--They Fear Cultural Annihilation.

“The horrors that will follow when man  loses sight of the sanctity of life.”  (“Rita” A Holocaust Survivor)

That evening I spent with the Palestinian people, I was amazed to meet individuals who were just as eager to dance the traditional songs as they were to discuss politics.  Perhaps for these vibrant people these activities are two sides of the same coin.  Dance and politics can both be seen as part of the battle against obliteration.  For the Palestinians there is more at stake here than just physical death.  They face the possible end to an entire way of life.  And that, perhaps more than any other message, is one the Israelis should have sympathy for.

L.D. Magee

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