No Time for Injustice

“Banksy-homage” on the Separation Wall, Bethlehem

July 16th, 2013 // 3:38 PM

How is it possible that another week has gone by so quickly, even though everyday feels like three. Even the simple past-time of playing referee as my niece and nephew jump on the bed, or running down the steps to the corner-store, or sitting down to read in the rare moments of lucidity are more potent. The best moments are like the produce here – smaller, but much sweeter. But there are also so many reasons to start feeling desperate.

This week: George Zimmerman’s not-guilty verdict was released for the murder of Trayvon Martin, from a “justice” system that works in favor of the fear-mongering, waning white majority, alive and well in both the United State and Israel; Israel is in the process of legalizing forced feeding to detainees on hunger strike, like the US performs in Guantanamo; Israel’s suspected attack on Syria at the beginning of July was confirmed, and another suspected this week, reflecting an approach and mentality much like that of the US in the Middle East, somehow above international reprimand; and yesterday, massive demonstrations in Palestine against Israel’s Prawer Plan, which passed in parliament in early June and threatens to confiscate 1,000 square meters of Palestinian Bedouin land and expel between 30,000 – 50,000 from their homes.

There are so many reasons to feel hopeless, and yet here I constantly come across people filled with hope. This evening I was invited to dinner in the garden of new friends. Abu Sami showed me proudly around his plot of land, where he grows everything from pomegranates and figs, to tomatoes and zucchini, and guided me back to visit his goats. Abu and Imm Sami, his wife, whom he doted on throughout the evening, sat us down for an organic meal of taboulleh (the parsley and tomatoes coming from their garden), pickled eggplant and cucumbers also from their garden, home made bread, and even organic wine made by Abu Sami himself. Sitting us down for a massive meal that he demand we consume in its entirety, Abu Sami joked that he was crazy, but that Palestine was a place only for crazy people. His joy was effusive, and even boosted the low spirits of my friend and her husband. Imm Sami said, “Please, eat more. You hardly ate anything,” with the reply, “It’s our spirits that need nourishing, not our stomachs.”

My friend and her husband, a Palestinian, met and were married more than twenty years ago and lived for many years in the United State. Some years ago they moved back to Palestine, however in that time their application for family reunification status has not been granted by the Israeli government. Now my friend’s visa is about to expire, and she is terrified to leave the country to renew it as she may not be permitted re-entry. These kinds of restrictions on movement affect not only the Palestinians themselves, but those with familial and emotional ties to Palestine. These tactics of intimidation and control not only cut off Palestinians from their loved ones in and outside of the country, but attempt to limit and obscure the Palestinian voice from reaching outside its parameters (primarily, to the “western world” with whom the Israeli government is most concerned).

Nonetheless, Palestinian voices and those who accompany them are being heard (although the end results are still to be seen): Today, the Israeli government responded with frustration to the European Union’s ban of EU cooperation with Israeli institutions operating in illegally seized, occupied Palestinian territory.

For more information about BDS (Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions): http://www.bdsmovement.net/