Over the past 45 years, I have been active on the streets and on the
internet for our people struggle for return and self-determination in the
face of a most brutal and merciless colonial regime. I read thousands of
books and wrote a few myself. I read tens of thousands of research and
analytical papers (and wrote hundreds myself). The problem of our country
can actually be described very briefly. Its solution (remedies) can also be
described briefly. Implementing the solution would be doable and is the
only way to avoid a catastrophic world war.
So briefly, we have 15 million indigenous Palestinians, over 8 million of
us are intentionally made refugees or displaced people (and that number
increases daily). So far over 250,000 Palestinians were killed or perished
prematurely thanks to genocidal policies since 1948. A million were injured
and another million imprisoned since 1948. The perpetrator Jews fell under
the spell of an idea called Zionism that tries to convince people that
Jewishness is a nationality (Constantinian Judaism as called by Marc Ellis)
and thus that Jews as a collective not only have a right to this ancient
land but have an exclusive right to it. Gathering as many Jews as possible
from around the world to take over indigenous land was done by force of
arms and forces of lobbies around the world that go Western Governments to
adopt this project of ethnic cleansing and genocide (and ecoside and
scholasticide!).
The main problems faced by this colonial project are 1) that it arrived at
colonialism a bit late after colonialism lost its appeal (the shiny city on
a hill, promised land, inferior races and all that), 2) A stubborn
resistance of the local people (Christian, Muslim, Bahai, Druz etc) who
would not simply go away (see my book on this
http://qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/), and 3) difficulty to
control information in the 21st century (e.g. live feed of genocidal acts).
The main support for the Zionist project and why it persisted so long were
several (not in any particular order): 1) very good hasbara /propaganda
disseminated largely through well controlled western corporate media and
Hollywood creating an illusion (pop culture) that Israel is a democracy,
that it is redemptive and good for Jews, and that it is defending itself
against barbarism, 2) A well-oiled Zionist network willing to do anything
to advance the cause including bribery, blackmail, and arms twisting in
other ways, 3) A policy of creation and support of Arab and Muslim
autocratic “leaders” willing to support the project to keep their seats.
These three pillars have received significant blows thanks to the obvious
intentional and ongoing genocide and a global (including Arab and Muslim
awakening). But the pillars for now seem to hold though shaky. My thought
is that the pounding at those pillars must increase significantly to end
this nightmare for humanity and to avoid a catastrophic world war (where
ALL will be losers). What are the hammers pounding that need to be
strengthened?
1) Resistance: naturally in colonial anti-colonial struggles, most of the
resistance is unarmed and some of it armed. International law recognizes
not only a right to resistance but obligation to resist. This includes the
imperative of building institutions of sumud (resilience/resistance) on the
ground like our own institution (palestinenature.org) and hundreds more.
Over the past 150 years, it has been shown that killing more Palestinians
creates more (and even smarter/more innovative) resistance (again see my
book on this http://qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/).
2) Support by all people of conscience around the world. This includes
things like Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanction (See bdsmovement.net),
media work, civil disobedience and more.
3) Truth telling: Putting out the real narrative of what is happening and
dispelling the myths and lies including about colonizers “right to defend
themselves”, nature of racist apartheid regimes, and the myths of a
“two-state solution”. For the latter, see my 2004 book
http://qumsiyeh.org/sharingthelandofcanaan/
4) Dismantling the support network of colonialism. This includes exposing
al individuals and entities that support Zionism including the “Palestinian
Authority” (PA). The PA was created by the “Oslo accords” and supposed to
be interim for 5 years but is now 30 year old and had made “Israel”
economically and diplomatically successful while destroying our society
methodically. This is now the most profitable colonial occupation in
history. Undermining this rigged system is an imperative as is pushing for
the alternative “decolonization” and anti-apartheid struggle. That is much
harder for colonialist to cope with. See books by Edward Said on this.
Note I did not add a fifth point about the UN, International laws or
conventions since their implementation depends on mechanisms where the US
can and has used veto power on those thus giving Israel impunity. The jury
is still out on whether such mechanisms or even statements by human rights
organizations have utility beyond their public relations value. The four
points above should suffice in synergy to hammer more at the three above
listed pillars of Zionist colonial support. This is our human path which is
away from the Zionist path which leads to world annihilation and
self-fulfilling prophesy of Armageddon. We still can save humanity but the
window is closing so we must act urgently. Your thoughts are appreciated.
Finally a poem with translation
أتظن أنك عندمـــا أحـــرقتنــي ورقصت كالشيطان فوق رفاتي
وتركتنـــي للذاريــات تـذرنــي كحلاً لعين الشمس في الفلـوات
أتظـن أنك قـد طــمست هويتي ومحــــوت تاريخي ومعتقـــداتي
عبثا تحاول …. لا فنـــاء لثائر أنــــا كالقيامـــه ذات يـــــوم آت
أنا مثـل عيـسى عــائد وبقــــوة مــن كــل عاصـــفة ألـم شتـاتي
سأعــود أقدم عاشــــق متمــرد سأعـود أعظـم أعظم الثــــورات
سأعود بالتوراة والإنجيـل والــ قـــرآن والتسـبــيح والصـــلواتي
سأعـود بالأديـان ديــناً واحـــداً خــــــال مـــن الأحقـاد والنعرات
رجل من الأخدود ما من عودتي بـد … أنا كل الزمــــــان الآتــي
مهذل الصقور
My rough translation (Poet Mohthel AlSqour)
Do you think that when you burned me And danced like devil over my remains
And left me for thrashers to thrash me Shades to the eyes of the sun in
sockets
Do you think you have suppressed my identity And erased my beliefs and my
history
In vain you try - no extinguishing a revolutionary I, like the
resurrection, one day coming
I am like Jesus coming back strong and from each storm gathers mself
I will come back - oldest revolting lover and back as the gloriest of
highest revolutions
I will be back with the Torah, the Injil* and the Quran and the tasbih**
and the prayers
I will be back with all religions as one religion devoid of hatred and
divisiveness
A man from the trench inevitable my return.. I am all the coming times …
*= new testament
**=glorification of god/supplication
Stay Human and keep Palestine alive
Mazin Qumsiyeh
A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home
Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director
Palestine Museum of Natural History
Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability
Bethlehem University
Occupied Palestine
http://qumsiyeh.org
http://palestinenature.org
facebook pages
Personal https://www.facebook.com/mazin.qumsiyeh.9
Institute https://www.facebook.com/PIBS.PMNH