For Israels, seeing peace is seeing the end of the occupation

(This article first appeared in the Times of Israel on November 7, 2015)

In my last blog on this site, I made a profound statement. While I said that Israelis and Palestinians need to see the conflict from each other’s eyes, that is not the statement I am referring to. I said, believing that I would evoke some stark heartfelt emotions:

“Israel needs to have its first day  of peace.”

I was expecting a reality check from Israelis.  Seeing none amazes me.

No one said anything  to me or replied in a comment about this profound statement which I say again in a more humanistic way:

No Israeli citizen has ever seen a day peace.

No one has questioned me about this statement because in reality and fact, it is a true statement.

Since May 15, 1948, Israel has been in a perpetual state of war. It has not had one day of peace. In fact, in Israel, no day is free from the fear of war as even on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in 1973 Israel had to go to war, once again. For over 67 years, no Israeli citizen can say that he or she has lived through one day of peace.

This should be shocking to the conscious, at least I thought it should be to Israelis.  I do not know if most Israelis realize the stark reality of this statement.

The question that should be on every Israeli mind is, when will an Israeli child be born on a day of peace in the Holy Land?

By the same token, over 90% of Palestinians living in Palestine (the West Bank and Gaza), having been infants or born after the 1967 Six Day War, know nothing but the Israeli occupation of their land.   And if we can look at those who are older than 67 years old, having been born prior to 1948, I would venture to say that 99% or greater of the people that make up the Palestinian/Israeli conflict have no recollection of what peace resembles in the Holy Land.   Those who have migrated to Israel, having come from peaceful countries may believe that they are living in peace, but in all reality, the atmosphere is one of war–a war that can escalate at any moment and for any provocative reason.

This leaves only a very minute percentage of individuals in all of the Holy Land that have ever seen a day of peace or have not been ruled by occupation and those minute people are Palestinians who are 55 years old or older.

This also is a profound statement for Palestinians. I do know that Palestinians whether they live in Palestine or beyond realize the reality of this statement.

The constant question on Palestinian minds is when will the Israeli occupation end.

Having the first day of peace in Israel while Israel occupies Palestine is not a mutually exclusive reality.   Israel cannot have peace while it occupies Palestine. Peace comes with the end of occupation. It does not come while the occupation endures decade after decade.

Thus the only opportunity for an Israeli child to be born in a peaceful environment is for Israel to end the occupation of Palestine.  This is the reality that Israelis must face.

If Israel wants peace, it must end its occupation of Palestine.

As a Palestinian, I cannot express this reality in more clearer terms to Israelis.  In case I have not gotten my message across, allow me to try a different means of expressing the reality.

The status quo of no peace and continued occupation cannot endure endlessly.  Like water that reaches its boiling point, the occupation of Palestine has reached that point.

The reality is that the population growth of Palestinians is such that Israelis will be the minorities in the Holy Land by 2016. Currently, the population of Israelis and Palestinians in Israel and in Palestine is said to be about equal.  With the birth rates of Palestinians greater than Israelis, it takes no great mathematical genius to calculate that the population of Palestinians will, in the very near future, be greater than the Jewish population.

Thus, how can Israelis, a coming minority, rule over the Palestinians, an emerging majority.  While Israelis do not like to be compared to the White rule era of the country of South Africa, the stark reality is that the same concept of a minority suppressing the fundamental human rights of the majority is again being played out before our eyes.

Israelis can put on blinders and not accept the coming reality. Israelis may want the status quo to endure perpetually. However, the reality is that Israelis cannot have a day of peace without coming to terms with their occupation of Palestine.

If Israelis want to live in peace, they must end the occupation of Palestine.

ييمكن للفلسطينيين تعليم اليهود الصفح

(قمت بترجمة هذه المقالة على Google. كما هو محدود لغتي العربية، لا أستطيع أن يشهدوا على دقة الترجمة.)

            مكبر الصوت في العديد من علق على WhenPalestineisFree # (عند فلسطين حرة). تويتد الأول ما يلي : "سأقوم WhenPalestineisFree # الدعوة الغفران. لن أكون مثل الصهاينة الذين يقتلون # # الفلسطينيين بعد تعرضهم للقتل في المحرقة #. "سعينا لتحرير فلسطين أن يكون العنصر البشري الذي يقول اننا لن نكون مثل الصهاينة الفصل العنصري. فإننا سوف يغفر ولكن تماما مثل يهود العالم ، ونحن لن ننسى لا.

            وتويت قرأت الفرح والسعادة وأعرب في الفكر لتحرير فلسطين. كتب hodanxo "لن يكون هناك يبتسم الاستعاضة عن الدموع ، والمحبة محل الكراهية والحرية في الماضي". SoumaiaHashad قال "أخشى أن أموت من السعادة". rolla_ramadan ببساطة ، "أنا لا أعتقد أنني يمكن أن تفسر كيفية سعيدة وأود أن يكون ".

            وأعرب مكبرات الصوت الآخر زوال إسرائيل والصهيونية. بينما أنا لا أعتقد أن هذا هو الشعور منتجة ، لا أستطيع فهم الإحباط. ترى أنا لا أريد أخوتي وأخواتي الفلسطينية للقيام الصهاينة على ما فعلت الصهاينة على الفلسطينيين.

            كان الهولوكوست حدثا مأساويا للغاية في تاريخ البشرية. يدرس البشرية التي ينبغي معارضة أي محاولة لارتكاب جريمة الإبادة الجماعية على أي شخص في جميع التكاليف. حتى الآن لم يتم غرس هذا الدرس في عقلية الصهاينة.في حين قالوا "أبدا" ، فإنه يعني فقط "مرة أخرى أبدا" فقط لإبادة اليهود لسنوات قليلة فقط بعد اكتشاف غرف الغاز في معسكر أوشفيتز ، وقادة المستقبل للدولة الفصل العنصري في إسرائيل الفظائع المرتكبة التي لا يمكن للمرء تصالح مع المحرقة التي ارتكبت ضد اليهود. كان النفاق في شكل الحقيقي لها.

            كما سيكون من النفاق بالنسبة للفلسطينيين لارتكاب أعمال عنف ضد اليهود عندما تقوم دولة فلسطينية تأتي إلى حيز الوجود ، وأنه سوف يأتي إلى حيز الوجود. نحن الفلسطينيين بحاجة إلى أن نتعلم من التاريخ والحاجة إلى إقامة عالم أكثر اللائق الذي نعيش فيه جميعا. نحن الفلسطينيين بحاجة إلى مساعدة جنسيات أخرى الذين يتوقون إلى أن يكون حرا. مثلما نحن الفلسطينيين يسعون إلى أن تكون خالية من التمييز العنصري إسرائيل ، ونحن بحاجة للحفاظ على حرية الدعوة للبشرية جمعاء.

            والعنصر البشري لابد أن يكون جزءا من النضال الفلسطيني ليكون خاليا من ممارسات الفصل العنصري الإسرائيلي. وإذا لم يكن هناك العنصر البشري من نضالنا لم يكن يستحق كل هذا الجهد. إذا كان لنا أن الفلسطينيين يريدون ارتكاب الفظائع ضد الاسرائيليين بعد قيام دولة فلسطينية تأتي إلى حيز الوجود ثم فإننا سوف يكون هناك أفضل من الصهاينة الفصل العنصري الذي يرتكبون الفظائع ضدنا الآن.

            يمكننا أن الفلسطينيين لا يمكن الفصل العنصري مثل المستوطنين الذين يستخدمون سياراتهم لدهس الأطفال الفلسطينيين. هذا أمر سخيف. تتم هذه الأعمال يائسة من قبل الصهاينة الذين يعرفون أنهم لا يمكن أن يستمر أخلاقيا لنظام الفصل العنصري في فلسطين. بحلول عام 2016 يتوقع أن السكان الفلسطينيين في اسرائيل والضفة الغربية وقطاع غزة سوف يفوق عدد اليهود. أخلاقيا ، أخلاقيا وسياسيا ، والفصل العنصري الإسرائيليين يعرفون أنهم لا يستطيعون الاستمرار في نظام الفصل العنصري في الضفة الغربية ، لا يمكن أن يستمر الحصار على قطاع غزة ولا تزال تميز ضد 20 ٪ (أو أكثر بحلول عام 2016) من السكان في إسرائيل الفصل العنصري.ومن المعروف على نطاق واسع هذا. التركيبة السكانية تتحدث عن نفسها. عندما كنا الفلسطينيين أحرار من القمع من الإسرائيليين الفصل العنصري ، ونحن ، الفلسطينيين المضطهدين ، لا يمكن أن يصبح الظالم.

            وأعتقد أنه من واجب الأغلبية لحماية الأقلية لأن الأغلبية يمكن أن تصبح أقلية بمرور الزمن. في الوقت المناسب ، والفصل العنصري الإسرائيليين تصبح أقلية في التوصل إلى حل دولة واحدة. انه أمر لا مفر منه! عند هذه النقطة ، يجب على الفلسطينيين ألا تصبح نظام الفصل العنصري أنهم يقاتلون الآن للتغيير.

            يمكن للفلسطينيين أن يظهروا للعالم أن مفهوم التسامح هو عنصر قوي فقدت حتى على الإسرائيليين الفصل العنصري.بينما حاول اليهود لتخليص فلسطين من الفلسطينيين بعد تعرضهم لannulation القريب من خلال المحرقة النازية ، لا يمكن للفلسطينيين أن يعلم اليهود الصفح هو العنصر البشري الذي هو الحلقة المفقودة التي كان يمكن أن تمنع الفظائع التي ارتكبت في العقود السبعة الماضية.
 ثم يمكن للفلسطينيين والإسرائيليين على حد قول RobaSalibi "العيش بسعادة وبعد :)"
(Zanayed © ، فادي يسمح نشر أو توزيع هذه المواد شريطة أن لا تغيير محتواها وأشار المصدر وصاحبه).

Palestinians Can Teach Jews Forgiveness

            On Tweeter many have commented on the hashmark #WhenPalestineisFree.  I tweeted the following: “#WhenPalestineisFree I will advocate forgiveness. I won't be like the #Zionists who kill #Palestinians after being killed in the #Holocaust.”  Our quest to liberate Palestine has to have a human component that says we will not be like the Apartheid Zionists. We will forgive but just like the Jews of the world, we will not forget.

            The tweets I read expressed joy and happiness at the thought of a free Palestine.  hodanxo wrote “there will be smiles replacing the tears, love replacing hatred and freedom at last.” SoumaiaHashad stated “I'm afraid I would die from the happiness.” rolla_ramadan simply stated, “I don't think I can explain how happy I would be.”

            Other tweeters expressed the demise of Israel and Zionism. While I do not think this is a productive sentiment, I can understand the frustration.  You see I do not want my Palestinian brothers and sisters to do onto Zionists what Zionists have done onto Palestinians.

            The Holocaust was a very tragic event in human history.  It taught mankind that any attempt to commit genocide upon any people should be opposed at all cost. Yet that lesson was not instilled in the mindset of Zionists. While they said “never again,” it only meant “never again” only to the annihilation of Jews for just a few years after the discovery of the gas chambers in Auschwitz, future leaders of the Apartheid State of Israel committed atrocities that one could not reconcile with the Holocaust committed against Jews. It was hypocrisy in its truest form.

            It would also be hypocritical for Palestinians to commit acts of violence against Jews when a Palestinian State comes into being, and it will come into being.  We Palestinians need to learn from history and need to forge a more decent world in which we all live. We Palestinians need to assist other nationalities who long to be free.  Just as we Palestinians seek to be free of apartheid Israel, we need to keep advocating freedom for all mankind.

            A human element needs to be a part of the Palestinian struggle to be free of the Israeli apartheid practices.  If there is no human element than the our struggle will not have been worth the effort.  If we Palestinians want to commit atrocities against Israelis after a Palestinian State comes into being then we will be no better than the apartheid Zionists which commit atrocities against us now.

            We Palestinians cannot be like the Apartheid settlers who are using their cars to run over Palestinian children. This is absurd. These acts are made by desperate Zionists who know that they cannot morally continue the apartheid system in Palestine. By the year 2016 it is expected that the Palestinian population in Israel, West Bank and Gaza will outnumber Jews.  Morally, ethically and politically, Apartheid Israelis know that they cannot continue the apartheid system in the West Bank, cannot continue its siege of Gaza and cannot continue to discriminate against 20% (or more by 2016) of its population in Apartheid Israel.  This is widely known.  The demographics speak for themselves.  When we Palestinians are free from the oppression of the Apartheid Israelis, we, the oppressed Palestinians, cannot become the oppressor.

            I believe that it is the duty of the majority to safeguard the minority because the majority can become minority over time. In time, Apartheid Israelis will become the minority in a one state solution. It is inevitable! At that point, Palestinians must not become the apartheid regime that they are now fighting to change.  

            Palestinians can show the world that the concept of forgiveness is a powerful element so lost upon the Apartheid Israelis. While Jews tried to rid Palestine of the Palestinians after they were subjected to near annulation through the Holocaust, the Palestinians can teach the Jews that forgiveness is the human element that was the missing link that could have prevented the atrocities of the past seven decades.

Then Palestinians and Israelis can in the words of RobaSalibi “live happily ever after :)” 

(  © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.) 

Sadiq: “It is hard to live in fear”

            Just like me, Omar left Palestine after the Six Day War in 1967.  I went to America and he went to the United Arab Emerites (UAE).  He was 14 and I was 6.  But this story is not as much about him or me as it is about his son Sadiq—well maybe about them both.

     

           Omar was a hardworking Palestinian man who wanted the best for his children but also did not want them to lose who they really are—Palestinian. He kept Palestine in his heart and the hearts of his three sons. 

            Omar longed to go back to Palestine, just like most if not all Palestinians living in the diaspora. This opportunity came rather unfortunately.  In the UAE Omar was a foreman of a governmental agency in the municipality of Abu Dhabi.  When his agency was privatized, the new owners quickly turned its Palestinian labor force to Asian.  Why? Asians are a cheaper labor force.  The UAE had no more use for Palestinians.

            So Omar, aged 53 in 2005, tried to look for a job in the Arab Gulf states but he was unsuccessful. Sadiq describes this as “2rza2 inkat3t”—the luck was cut off.

Longing to go back to Palestine and wanting to keep Palestine alive in his sons’ hearts, he went back to his village, Qusra, Palestine, located southeast of Nablus, to build a home for his family.  And he did.  Omar wanted to spend the last years of his life in Palestine.

Two years ago in the early morning hour of 5 am as Omar was going to work, he suffered a heart attack due to the depression about the plight of his people and the financial worries of borrowing to build his home.  Lack of a medical infrastructure because of the occupation, I am sure, contributed to his early demise. At the very young age of 57, Omar became another victim of Apartheid Israel.  You see any Palestinian who dies before the creation of a Palestinian State is a victim of hope usurped by the lack of peace.

            Sadiq, Omar’s oldest son, is a 25 year old young man who is in his last year of studies at the University of Najah in Nablus studying   psychology.   Having lived the first 19 years of his life away from the occupation, adjusting to it now has been difficult.  He has a hard time understanding others and they have a hard time understanding him.  He says the conflict is within his self-being.

            He wants to become a respectable person, wants a life without dependence on others and no need to borrow money to live.  He wants to earn a respectable living and have enough money to take care of his family.  He wants a nice wife and a better life for the coming generation.  Now though, he believes that the days are dark—2yam Sooda.

I naturally ask whether he has any hope.   His answer is yes and then tells me that those who live outside of Palestine have it better than those who live in Palestine.   I try to relieve him by telling him the economic conditions are hurting many people but then I realize he may not be speaking about the economy but rather about the freedom inherent in the human spirit.  He tells me that for those who want to come back to Palestine it will be very difficult. Therefore he wants to leave.

While I believe the people of Palestine should continue to be steadfast and stay on the land of Palestine, I find it difficult to tell him to stay. 

His freedom of movement is limited.  Before Salem Fayyad became Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, the checkpoints from Qusra to Nablus dotted the roads forcing Omar and others to use the hill roads (tareq algbal ) to get to Nablus.  What usually took 15 minutes to get to Nablus from Qusra, took 5 hours--unimaginable for any American to comprehend and accept.

His spirit is controlled.  He wants to provide better living conditions for his future offspring but in Qusra life stays the same under the cruel occupation.

His only alternative for a meaningful job is in Apartheid Israel after he graduates next spring; but being 25 years old he will not be able to travel through the checkpoints for a job.  Apartheid Israel restricts the movement of Palestinians between the age of 16-49 from entering for work.  He will need to obtain forged Israeli identity documents.

Before that however, he needs to cross into Apartheid Israel through the back roads and yes sewers.  Paying 500 shekels, Sadiq will be able to sneak through sewers, bypass roads and tunnels to get to the other side of the Apartheid Wall.  He will be able to join his brother and work as an investigator, mentor teacher or with aid agencies.  This way he can support his mother and younger brother who is also attending college.

Sadiq next makes a profound statement that takes me aback.  He says “It is hard to live in fear.”  Fear of the apartheid soldiers coming knocking at your door at any time of day or night.  In the book Kafir Boy, a book about living as a Black boy/man in Apartheid South Africa, I thought I knew what living in fear was.  But to hear it from a person that I can more readily identify with, a Palestinian, that statement hit me like a ton of bricks.

Sadiq turns to the violence that the apartheid settlers are committing upon the people of Qusra and upon the agriculture around the town.  Apartheid soldiers aid the settlers in their terror escapades. 

He provides a website for an article dated September 24, 2011 about the death of Essam Aoudhi, a son of Qusra, who was shot by apartheid soldiers protecting apartheid settlers in their vicious burning assault on one of the olive groves around Qusra.  Essam was shot at very close range according to Dr. Sameh Abu Zaroh, a doctor at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus.  Others were also injured   Read the article and look at over 25 pictures from this incident. http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/essam-aoudhi-martyred-in-defense-of-qusra/.

Sadiq sends me another website which contains a slide show of pictures of what apartheid Israeli settlers are doing to the Palestinians in Qusra. It is a slide show of pictures about what the apartheid settler  are doing.  Although most of the pictures are heart ranching, one picture moved me to tears.   It is of a young woman whose one side of her face is burned while the other side is intact showing how beautiful her face really is.  I am told that apartheid Jewish settlers committed this horrific deed.  See the pictures at: http://www.google.ps/search?q=settlers+destroy+mosque+in+qusra+village&hl=ar&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=dSn7TpuOIojY8QPegb2vAQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CBcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=568&safe=active

As I peruse these pictures and see what the apartheid Israeli settlers are doing: destruction of  Qusra Village mosque; chopping of the olive groves; the offensive Hebrew writings on the buildings of Qusra; the agony on the faces of the villagers; the old lady hugging the olive tree (read my poem:  The Olive Tree Howls For Justice http://poetrybyfadizaanayed.blogspot.com/2011/12/olive-tree-howls-for-justice.html) ; the pictures of martyrs; the gunfire of apartheid soldiers; the apartheid Jewish settlers being protected by apartheid soldiers; an apartheid settler throwing a liquid at a Palestinian lady as he passes her by on an otherwise empty street; and the bulldozers demolishing Palestinian homes, I reflect upon Sadiq’s statement, “It is hard to live in fear.” 

This is exactly what the apartheid Jewish settlers want the Palestinians to think.  I am writing this article in the comforts of the University of Chicago Hospital as I am accompanying my 47 year old brother for a medical test relating to his cancer.  My brother is getting the best of treatment.  It is easy for me to say from this venue that the people of Palestine should stay on the land.  It is easy for me to tell them Samood, Samood, Samood—Resistance, Resistance,Resistance.   However, this is the only answer that I can give and the only answer Sadiq’s father, Omar, knew, for he went back to Palestine for his children to keep Palestine in their hearts.  I wish I had Omar’s courage.

While I say Samood, I am doing everything I can to expose the Apartheid State of Israel so that one day soon Sadiq and all my Palestinian brothers and sisters can be free of fear.

( © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)