IsraelPalestine: Progress Begins Here

The following article was written by a Palestinian from Bethlehem. For security purposes, his last name is not listed here.

Netanyahu looked old, tired, and angry as he delivered his “speech” in front of the Knesset.  He had nothing new to say so he regurgitated the old myths about protecting Israelis from being charged with war crimes, lectured his audience (who also looked tired and bored) that the Goldstone report was a lie, that Israel will defend itself, that the world better  “deal with Iran”, and that Palestinians better recognize Israel as a Jewish state in order to have peace on the occupier’s terms.

A little bit earlier, Mahmoud Abbas gave a speech in which he stated that Hamas leaders are using the Goldstone issue to escape from signing reconciliation agreements.  He reiterated his other positions that are now well known.  He also looked tired, angry, and old.

Then the leader of Hamas in Damascus, standing in front of a picture of the Syrian president, gave a speech that reiterated Hamas’s known positions.  He too looked angry and tired. George Mitchell came and went on another trip with no results (I lost count of how many times he had met with the “leaders” on all sides here). He too smiles for cameras but when giving his remarks appeared frustrated and angry.

The US administration said it is likely to “ramp-down” the peace efforts (thanks for the Nobel Peace prize anyway).  Israel simply refuses to abide by its signed agreements especially by the requirements of the road map to freeze its colonial settler activities and return things to what they were before 2000 (a rather minimum and mild request I might add).  Other parties issued tired statements and declaration for against this or that position.  On the ground, things look rather poor.  We now have a situation in which every Palestinian town or city has gates that can be locked or opened at the whim of the Israeli army.  That Israeli occupation army kidnapped 12 more Palestinians in the West Bank in the past 24 hours.  Doctors in Gaza report an increased incidence of birth defects (likely related to use of illegal weapons by Israel, polluted water, maternal malnutrition or all of these).  In the West Bank, we learn to bathe with a bucket of water (and save it for other uses and do it less frequently!).  Farmers are fending off increased settler attacks during the traditional olive harvesting season. Some are denied access to their lands.  Homes continue to be demolished.

Surveying this obscene scene, one is tempted to feel discouraged.  I know some Palestinians even give up.  We were thinking of these things as we visited the Biotechnology Center at the Polytechnic University.   Coincidentally, Western-Backed Mohammed Dahlan was to give a speech there.  His public appearances have intensified as he is being groomed to replace Abbas as “president” of the “Palestinian Authority” (the quotes are deserved since we have no real authority other than the Israeli occupation).  But we were not there to see Dahlan.  We met with some faculty and students who are doing some real science.  Practical, decent, hard-working people.  This got me thinking about hope.

…Hope because of deep belief in the goodness and decency of common people.  Here, we mean the 11 year old amateur photographer in Aida refugee camp who has more wisdom and certainly more practical energy than many adults I know. The 70-year-old gentle man who smiles as he tells me that he still goes to his land even though checkpoints and walls are in the way. The old woman who was offered millions for her home in Jerusalem but refuses to sell it to colonizers and occupiers. The university professor and dear friend who lost his wife to an illness and keeps on pouring his heart and soul to educate a new generation.  The blind girl who keeps up with her classmates. The unemployed man who keeps his dignity and asks for no help and keeps trying and hoping for work.  The farmer who treats her vegetables as if they are her children. The Imam in the mosque and the priest in the church who listen to the people’s problems with uncommon decency and compassion.  Millions upon millions of those who by their mere presence and steadfastness inspire us.

Every morning when we drive to the University (my wife teaches classes at 8 AM so we drive together), we see school children laughing, holding hands, running, and in their eyes, we see hope.  In their olive skins, jet-black hair, strong features, we see our Canaantitic ancestors egging us on.  The difficulties of the present take their natural role as bumps along the road between our past and our future.   Thus even a visit to a cemetery which we do just about every week as people die, becomes strangely connecting and empowering. The old died content in their homeland.  The martyrs are remembered and praised for their sacrifice.  Past, present, and future become only meaningful in the love of the land.

We have been farmers, shepherds, and artisans for hundreds of years and despite all the difficulties, WE still are.  I smile as we begin preparation for the olive harvest (even though this year looks like it may not be as good as last year).  I smile as I stop my car in a main road in Bethlehem to let a flock of sheep cross the street led by a guy who looks exactly like those individuals in those ancient images.

Yes, the Zionist movement destroyed 530 villages and built a European style metropolis…[but]…We as Palestine can never change as a land and its people are far from being defeated even if we are forced to live in these ghettos and in these refugee camps for another 10 or 30 years. The land is pot-marked with ugly edifices of the occupation including the apartheid wall. But the land is red and soft and productive and patient.  After all, it is all mixed with ashes of sweat of our ancestors.    History is not static. We have more love and community than the amalgam of different people living in fancy homes in settlements with unlimited supplies.

Despite difficulties, most Palestinians live comfortable psychologically and content in their lot in life certainly more so than the aloof usurpers or those few who have given up among our own people.  Many Israelis and Internationals who come here every day to support us become part of this wonderful living healthy mosaic.   That spirit is the spirit that moved African Americans to sing together while holding hands with decent white people “we shall overcome someday”.  That is the spirit of Jaffa, Haifa, AnNasra, Nablus, Jenin, Bil’in, Ni’lin, Al-Quds, Rafah, Gaza, Khan Younis, and the 1400 other towns and villages that we live in or those villages that still live in the heart of their owners who vow: we shall return someday—we shall be free someday—we shall overcome someday.

Mazin

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home

http://qumsiyeh.org