MODERATE PALESTINIANS SORELY DISAPPOINTED

I have always been an optimist. I have always advocated peace. I was one of the first Palestinians to call for the recognition of Israel. I did so in 1980 on the University of Illinois - Chicago campus (although I attended Loyola University) and was ostracized by Fatah, Jabha and other Palestinian student groups.  I held my ground and was one of the few Palestinians in the Chicago area that could go to any group’s events.

I welcomed the Oslo Accords and attended the White House signing ceremony on September 13, 1993.  I witnessed the famous handshake between Arafat and Rabin and felt a sense of relief that the long hard nightmare for my people might soon be over. 

Since Oslo, however, I and many moderate Palestinians have been sorely disappointed.  

• We have seen the settlement expansion in the West Bank more than quadruple.  
• We have seen thousands of Palestinian agriculture acres (olive groves) destroyed. 
• We have seen a separation wall built around our towns and villages leaving isolated enclaves that basically imprison Palestinians especially men between the ages of 18 and 40. 
• We have seen a voluminous number of humiliating military check points that disgrace and dehumanize Palestinians. 
• We have seen democratic Palestinian elections whose results were not accepted by Israel and an American President who told us that one of the results of the Iraqi invasion of 2003 was a democratization of the Middle East. 
• We have also seen since Oslo, (unfortunately) the introduction of the Palestinian suicide bomber and the assassination of an Israeli Prime Minister (by an Israeli terrorist) which, in essence, killed the peace process.  
• We have also seen the right wing religious fanatic groups who have increased their power and because they have been and are part of the past and current coalition governments in Israel, in my opinion, hold the entire Middle East hostage.  
• We also see the continued marginalization of the Palestinians 
• because of inter-fighting; 
• because the world cannot accept that the Palestinian people have elected one party over another party that is repeat with corruption and that has not produced the liberation it has said it will deliver; and 
• because the power of the purse is used to blackmail the Palestinian West Bank leadership to accept what the people will not allow them to accept. 
• We have also witnessed in 2008-2009 and now again the barbarity of the Israeli devastating and disproportionate onslaught against our brothers and sisters and our children in Gaza as the continued Israeli blockade causes severe economic conditions of food, water and medical shortages for which, we are told, the Palestinians cannot repel and for which the world flotilla aid campaign cannot break.

Because we have seen all these demoralizing aspects of the conflict, I, as well as many moderate (if not all) Palestinians, have abandoned the two state solution.  

• It is inconceivable that the 600,000 settlers in the West Bank will get up and leave.  This is not the Gaza Strip where 21 settlements illegally inhabited by 21,000 extreme Zionist settlers can be disbanded and the settlers removed.  
• It is inconceivable that the right wing ultra-conservative/orthodox parties within Israel will agree to give up Areas C especially since their power is increasing and especially since the recent poll in Israel tells us that the majority of Israelis have no problem living in an Apartheid like state.  
• It is inconceivable that Israel will abandon its policy to allow a Palestinian limited state within Area A and parts of Area B, on the one hand and another Palestinian entity in Gaza, as the Liberman Plan has so stated for Gaza. 

Inconceivability is only in the political realm.  In realty however, the numbers (population growth of the Palestinians visa via the Israelis) will force Israel to rethink its position.  My doubts are in succeeding Israel requests to endlessly talk to no end. The Israeli policy is "let us agree to agree in the future" but the future never comes because Israel always finds ways to interpret agreements by defining terms as it defines them. My pessimism is in endless talks that attempt to fill the glass with water but the glass is always half empty.

For Palestinians, the concept of a two state solution is illusionary. Since Oslo, succeeding Israeli governments have allowed the ever expanding settlements on illegally confiscated Palestinian land, thus creating “facts on the ground.” Israel has played its hand too long. Israeli leaders thought they could exhaust us into submission; that as long as they continued to build illegal settlements and continued to appease the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank while driving a wedge between West Bank and Gaza leaders, they could frustrate the Palestinians into accepting two Palestinian entities, one in the West Bank with Area A and part of Area B; and the other in Gaza.  Thus in essence, Israel has been trying for a three state solution.  Palestinians cannot and will not accept this.

By playing its hand too long, Israel has lost the moderate Palestinians. 

Moderate Palestinians are seeking other means to assert Palestinian fundamental rights. Moderate Palestinians wholeheartedly support the Palestinian request to join the United Nations General Assembly with pre-1967 borders but understand that this is only a prelude to a one state solution to the conflict. We also support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Israeli occupation. We welcome the emergency of a new generation of Palestinians who will pick up their stone and fight for the dignity and well-being of future Palestinian generations.  We also call upon the Palestinian factions to reconcile their differences and believe that the Palestinian house needs to be united immediately.  

(© Copyright 2012, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.) 

Why Can't the Palestinians Do As the Israelis?

Several observations in response to the Jerusalem Post article concerning the Palestinian Authority building in Area C:

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=282825&fb_source=message

#1. "illegal land grabs"  The Israeli press has the audacity to call this an illegal land grab when they know darn well that Israel has been doing it for decades.  In America, we have a saying: "What is good for the goose is good for the gander." If Israel can illegally land grab so can we.

#2. " Allocation of final sovereignty in Area C was to be determined in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords and the Bush Roadmap of 2002."  Israel has determined that this means that Israel can build in Area C and not Palestinians.  They stall final "determinations" so that they can continue to build and build while not allowing us to build.

#3. "state lands" I have written that Israel already considers Area C to be Israeli state land. They have no intention to give this up. Although the Jerusalem Post article readily admits that "final sovereignty in Area C was to be determined in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority" it is Israel that has the exclusive right to build on this land. Hogwash!  Read my article at http://fadizanayed.blogspot.com/2012/02/apartheid-israel-policy-to-retain-area.html

#4. If anyone does not think that Israeli bulldozers purchased with American aid dollars from Caterpillar Corporation will not demolish these buildings then the Israeli propaganda campaign creating the world gullibility conscience has succeeded.  Long live Rachel Corrie!

الكراهية والتفوق وعقلية الإسرائيلية

( قمت بترجمة هذه المقالة على Google. كما هو محدود لغتي العربية لقراءةالكلام والقليل جدا، لا أستطيع أن يشهدوا على دقة              الترجمة، وأنا لا تقدم سوىأنها على سكن لقرائي.)                                           

الكراهية والشعور بالتفوق عنصران رئيسيان التي تحول دون التوصل إلى حل للنزاع الإسرائيلي / الفلسطيني. بعد 62 عاما من الفظائع التي تصيب بعضها البعض ضد البعض الآخر ، فإن الاسرائيليين والفلسطينيين هي تغلي بالحقد. خلال هذه العقود من حكم حجية على الفلسطينيين ، اكتسبت الإسرائيليين نوعا من الشعور بالتفوق. سوف تحصل على ما وراء هذه الصفات يستغرق وقتا طويلا وكثيرا قبل الشفاء سيكون هناك حقا شعور من الثقة والتعاون حتى بعد السلام التملص من أي وقت مضى يصل في نهاية المطاف.
الكراهية هي سمة مقلقة للغاية التي لا يمكن تجاهلها بسهولة. في حين أن التجربة اليهودية هو الكامل من الأمتعة المؤسف الكراهية التي لحقت بهم على مر التاريخ ، يبدو أن جميع قرون من الانتقام حتى المخزنة قد حان للخروج ضد الفلسطينيين.الفلسطينيون هم الذين يدفعون ثمن معاداة السامية في التاريخ.ويجري انتقم كل الكراهية التي يتعرض لها الشعب اليهودي على مر التاريخ في شكل الكراهية تجاه الفلسطينيين.
في عام 1948 حاولت الأمم المتحدة ، وهي الهيئة العالمية الجديدة التي تشكلت بعد حربين عالميتين مدمرتين التي شهدت طبيعة القبيح للكراهية والذاتي الصالحين بتفوق عرق واحد أكثر من كل الآخرين ، في محاولة لعكس الإيثار التاريخية لمعاداة السامية جرائم الحاضر والأجيال السابقة من خلال إنشاء دولة إسرائيل بناء على الأراضي التي كانت في الغالب أن للفلسطينيين. بينما كانت تلك المحاولة النبيلة وضمن المنطق لإنشاء الأمم المتحدة ، من أجل حل ومنع النزاعات في أنحاء العالم ، فإنه المخمرة الكراهية الحالية بين الاسرائيليين والفلسطينيين.
في حين أن الأمم المتحدة حاولت لتعليم العالم بأن طموحات هتلر الألماني التفوق العنصري كانت خاطئة تماما ، لم يكن هذا الدرس تغرق في التفكير الإسرائيلي. الاسرائيليون يعتقدون أنهم متفوقون على الآخرين ، وخاصة الفلسطينيين. ما إذا كان هو التوراة التي تعطي للشعب اليهودي هذا الشعور أو يرون أنفسهم على أنهم أكثر ثقافة وغربية من الفلسطينيين والاسرائيليين لم يتعلموا من التاريخ ، وبالتالي يتم تكرار التاريخ السلبية التي ارتكبت ضد اليهود على الفلسطينيين.
قبل وبعد إنشاء إسرائيل ، كان واحدا الفظائع التي يرتكبها طرف واحد هوانتقم من جانب آخر الفظائع. بغض النظر عن الذين ارتكبوا الهجوم الأول ، وتصاعد دورة دائمة من العين بالعين عقلية تخرج عن نطاق السيطرة. الراسخة في هذه الحلقة المفرغة هي عقلية الاستعمار الغربي الذي يحتاج لاستغلال "دونية" الناس لتحقيق مكاسب اقتصادية وسياسية. قرون من الشتات اليهودي داخل المجتمعات الغربية التي استغلال الشرق الدول الغربية كانت هي القاعدة ، أي هيمنة الأوروبيين جنوب أفريقيا والهند ، وضعت في نفسية الإسرائيلية التي تشجع على الاعتقاد لا أساس لها في الأخلاق من سيطرتها على الفلسطينيين.
الهيمنة الاستعمارية وعقلية والايديولوجيات القديمة من القرن العشرين ، وأوقات سابقة. حتى الآن ، فإن إسرائيل على التشبث لنظام الفصل العنصري في السيطرة على الفلسطينيين لا يمكن تحمله طويلا. في حين كشفت الثورة التكنولوجية وقبل سيطرة اليهود على الصحافة وسمحت اسرائيل لاخفاء أي وقت مضى توسيع استعمارها للأراضي الفلسطينية ، والتوسعات الاستيطانية ، أي في عصر جديد من الانترنت حيث كل شيء في أي مكان يمكن أن تبث إلى العالم على الفور لإسرائيل ما هو حقا AN - نظام الفصل العنصري الذي لا يختلف عن "غراند الفصل العنصري" مخطط لعام 1960 التي تنفذها الأقلية الأفريكانية في جنوب أفريقيا ليؤكد الانفصال الإقليمية والقمع العسكري.
في سياق حل الصراع ، ويجب على الفلسطينيين عدم السماح للإسرائيليين أن يشعر متفوقة. وكميا عندما تتفاوض اسرائيل من اجل الافراج عن احد جنودها للأسر المئات من السجناء الفلسطينيين على قيمة أكبر من اسرائيلي فلسطيني. هذا خطأ.وبالمثل ، عندما الفلسطينيين يسمح لإسرائيل تشريح أراضيهم إلى مناطق وتسمح اسرائيل لمنحهم صلاحيات محدودة والسلطة تشعر بالانزعاج المساواة بين الشعبين. الفلسطينيون هم مثل الأطفال ، مطالبين "الفضائية الخاصة" مثل الطفل ، مطالبين "الفضائية له / لها" من أحد الوالدين. ليست هناك علاقة الأم / الطفل بين الاسرائيليين والفلسطينيين ويجب على الفلسطينيين وقف يتصرف مثل الأطفال.
هذا التفوق الإسرائيلي علم النفس هو في قلب الصراع. بيان المهاتما غاندي بأن "ثقافة الأمة تكمن في قلوب وروح شعبها" يصف الشعور بالتفوق الحالي ضمن عقلية الإسرائيلية. عندما يشعر متفوقة ثقافة واحدة لأخرى ، الكراهية يتطور. التمييز يلي.يتم تطبيق القوانين وتفسيرها بطريقة مختلفة عن ثقافة واحدة على حساب الأخرى.
الإسرائيليون بحاجة إلى أن يفهموا أنهم بحاجة إلى التوصل إلى اتفاق مع مشاعرهم ، مع الاحتلال غير المشروع والسيطرة على الفلسطينيين ، تماما مثل البيض في الولايات المتحدة جاءت الى اتفاق مع قرون من التمييز ضد الأميركيين من أصل أفريقي والأفارقة مثلما جاء إلى اتفاق مع نظام الفصل العنصري في جنوب افريقيا.
يجب على الإسرائيليين أن تتصالح داخل "القلوب والنفوس" من اجل انهاء الاحتلال لفلسطين.

(Zanayed © ، فادي يسمح نشر أو توزيع هذه المواد شريطة أن لا تغيير محتواها وأشار المصدر وصاحبه).

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.)

Hatred, Superiority And The Israeli Mindset

This article was written in Oct., 2010

Hatred and a feeling of superiority are two core elements that prevent a solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  After 62 years of mutually inflicted atrocities against each other, the Israelis and Palestinians are seething with hatred. During these decades of authoritative rule over the Palestinians, Israelis have acquired a feeling of superiority. Getting beyond these attributes will take time and much healing before there will truly be a feeling of trust and cooperation even after the ever eluding peace finally arrives.

Hatred is a very troubling attribute that is not easily dismissed.  While the Jewish experience is full of unfortunate baggage of hatred inflicted upon them throughout history, it seems that all the centuries of stored up vengeance has come out against the Palestinians. The Palestinians are paying the price for history’s anti-Semitism. All the hatred inflicted upon the Jewish people throughout history is being avenged in the form of hatred toward the Palestinians.

In 1948 the United Nations, a new world body formed after two devastating world wars that saw the ugly nature of hatred and self-righteous superiority of one race over all others, tried in an altruistic attempt to reverse the historical anti-Semitism crimes of present and past generations by creating the State of Israel upon a land that was predominately that of the Palestinians. While that attempt was noble and within the reasoning for the creation of the UN, to solve and prevent conflicts around the world, it fermented the present hatred between Israelis and Palestinians. 

While the UN tried to teach the world that Hitler’s German aspirations of racial superiority were absolutely wrong, that lesson did not sink into the Israeli mindset.  Israelis believe that they are superior to others, especially the Palestinians.  Whether it is the Torah that gives the Jewish people this feeling or they see themselves as more cultured and Westernized than the Palestinians, the Israelis have not learned from history and thus are repeating the negative history perpetrated against Jews upon the Palestinians.

Before and after the creation of Israel, one atrocity committed by one party was and is avenged by another atrocity.  Regardless of who committed the first assault, the perpetual cycle of an eye for an eye mentality has spiraled out of control. Entrenched in this vicious cycle is the Western colonization mindset that needs to exploit an “inferior” people for economic and political gain.  The centuries of the Jewish diaspora within Western societies in which the exploitation of the East by Western nations was the norm, i.e. Europeans domination of South Africa and India, developed into the Israeli psychic that encourages the unfounded belief in the morality of its domination of the Palestinians.   

Colonial dominance and mentality are antiquated ideologies of the twentieth century and earlier times. Yet, Israel is clinging onto to an apartheid system of control over the Palestinians that cannot be long endured. While the pre-technological revolution and Jewish domination of the press allowed Israel to hide its ever expanding colonization of Palestinian land, i.e. settlement expansions, the new age of the internet where anything anywhere can be broadcast to the world instantaneously has exposed Israel for what it truly is—an apartheid regime which is not unlike the “Grand Apartheid” scheme of the 1960’s executed by the Afrikaner minority in South Africa to emphasize territorial separation and military repression.

In the context of resolving the conflict, Palestinians must not allow the Israelis to feel superior.   When Israel negotiates for the release of one of its captured soldiers for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners the value of an Israeli is quantified greater than a Palestinian. This is wrong.   Similarly, when the Palestinians allow Israel to dissect their land into zones and allow Israel to give them limited powers and authority the equality between the two peoples is disturbed.  Palestinians are like children demanding “their own space” like a child demanding “his/her space” from a parent.   There is no parent/child relationship between Israelis and Palestinians and the Palestinians must stop acting like children.

This Israeli psychology of superiority is at the very heart of the conflict. Mohandas Gandhi’s statement that “A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people” describes the current feeling of superiority within the Israeli mindset.  When one culture feels superior to another, hatred develops.  Discrimination follows. Laws are implemented and interpreted differently for one culture to the detriment of the other.

Israelis need to understand that they need to come to terms with their feelings; with the  illegal occupation and domination of the Palestinians—just like the Whites in the United States came to terms with centuries of discrimination against African-Americans and just like the Afrikaners came to terms with its apartheid system in South Africa.

Israelis must come to terms within their “hearts and their souls” to end the occupation of Palestine. 


(  © 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.)