I am a strong believer in coexistence between peoples of different cultural backgrounds. To me, humans are on this beautiful planet for the basic purpose of knowing and cooperating with each other to make our present and future better, just and peaceful. Only through coexistence and cooperation mankind will be able to transcend all egocentric temptations. I owe these qualities to the teaching instilled in me by my grandfather. He was an unlettered Palestinian farmer who tilled the land in his little village in Palestine by the coast of the Mediterranean. Yasour, his town was the summer home for the kings of Canaan. He, like his ancestors before him worked the fertile land, enjoyed its abundance and maintained a life of dignity. He often talked about the good neighborly relationships he kept within the extended community with Palestinians of various religious persuasions. At age nine I, much aware by then of the catastrophic conditions of Palestinian refugees including my own family who were expelled from Palestine by Israel, was the beneficiary of personal insights from my grandfather that still influences and shapes my outlook on life: “We were living in Yasour in happiness and peace. We farmed the land and had plenty to eat and barter for goods that we needed. We had a few Jewish and Christian neighbors and we lived in harmony and maintained excellent relations. This lasted until the ‘damn European colonists’ came.” The last phrase struck me like a bolt. I remember asking him “Who are these ‘damn European colonists’?” “First came the English soldiers then came the European Zionists” he said. “The soldiers governed over us with an iron fist imprisoning and torturing people for wanting to defend themselves and live free in their homeland.” he continued. “Not far from Yasour there was a large English military camp and airbase where the English trained the Zionist forces who later attacked our village in early June 1948 and expelled us from our homes” he said. “In 1948 the Zionists destroyed everything in Yasour except for a few houses” he stated in a trembling emotional voice and with tears streaming down his beautiful bronze face- A scene that haunts me and I carry with me to this day. My grandfather did not need to tell me anymore. This eyewitness on history and his short story sums up the Question of Palestine for me: A peaceful people living in dignity by the sea for reasons beyond their control or understanding were attacked and occupied by foreign forces (Great Britain) that enabled foreign colonial settlers (Zionists) to expel them, destroy their villages and claim their property as their own, and establish Israel in Palestine. This is the essence of the story of my family and people. Historians, philosophers, academicians, and activists might differ on the use of definitions, actors, data, policies, practices, etc. But they will not be able to swindle the Palestinians of their collective memory and yearning to go home. Zionists, Israelis and their apologists, nevertheless are trying through deliberate deception, lies and the most advanced techniques of Zionist exceptionalism and self-pity to claim that Palestine was desolate, deny the very existence of the Palestinians, to demonize them and their heritage and story, and to dismantle their legacy. Palestine was declared by them vacant and Palestinians as uncultured. Clearly, the story of Palestine and its indigenous people, the Palestinians, is worth revisiting and investigating. The story of Palestine and its people is a unique case of settler colonialism that is awaiting decolonization and self-determination. As the nineteenth century ended and a new one began, the homeland of the Arabs witnessed drastic changes that involved a score of significant events involving major international actors. The outbreak and end of World War One, the issuance of the Balfour Declaration, The Sykes-Picot Agreement, the creation of the League of Nations, the Mandate System, the diminish role of old and the raise of new superpowers, the creation of the United Nations, and the establishment of Israel in historic Palestine are just a few examples of such events. The homeland of the Arabs came under French and British military occupation and later on, was arbitrarily divided into foreign spheres of influence that resulted in the creation of sub-national units (most never been on the political map before) where each unit began to develop and adapt to new realities that are created by the colonial powers. The Palestinians are no exception. Israeli supporters argue that Zionism, the political ideology guiding Israeli policies and practices since its establishment in Palestine in 1948, is God’s chosen national movement for the re-establishment and maintenance of a “Jewish homeland” in “biblical lands”. Moreover, they want us to accept that Zionism is Judaism and that present day Israel is the Jewish Promised Land. As a religion, Judaism considers the return of Jews to Palestine before the coming of the Messiah a sacrilege. God has never been involved in real estate transactions; neither has the Bible ever been considered a source of International Law governing relations between modern states nor a reliable source of human history or archeology. If the world were to be reestablished according to the Bible, the United States, Europe and most modern states would not exist. Furthermore, there are no eyewitness accounts or scientific evidence linking current Israeli Jews to the ancient Hebrews. Some historians and archeologists even dispute that Jews ever had a significant presence in Palestine.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Oct 2013 23:48:29 +0000
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