Unto All The Inhabitants

“Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”                                     

     Leviticus 25:10         Inscription on Liberty Bell in Jerusalem’s Liberty Park

It’s International Peace Day.  The weather is changing but not the decades long political turmoil surrounding the Israeli and Palestinian Conflict. Today is also the opening of the UN General Assembly where world leaders come together to try and resolve world problems and work for and support peace throughout the world. 

And as of today, September 21, seven Palestinians have been hurt in clashes with armed settlers outside Ramallah and hundreds more have been injured at the Qalandia checkpoint where new weapons like “screamer devices” and more toxic tear gas are being tried out, thanks to US military aid. A state of maximum alert has been issued authorizing an increase of checkpoints and soldiers. And once again Palestinian flags are prohibited.

In addition, in the past few weeks many more Palestinians have been arrested at nonviolent demonstrations throughout the West Bank with many more expected in the days and nights to come. On top of all this, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has also stepped up training for more than 100 settler Security Teams in anticipation of protests accompanying the Palestinian bid for recognition. These teams are said now to have tear gas and stun grenades in addition to their M-16s for use and/or protection.  Operation Summer Seeds has been going on for the past few months in anticipation of violent confrontations with Palestinians. The IDF has drawn up boundaries around each (illegal) settlement that protestors will not be allowed to cross or else.

I have witnessed the “or else” and know how quickly a nonviolent demonstration can turn violent when soldiers use bullets (real or dum-dum), tear gas, or sound bombs or when settlers attack civilians, or kids throw rocks.

I remember watching the soldiers loading up their guns with real ammunition and shooting their tear gas canisters at the rock throwing youth at the Qualandia checkpoint on May 15, the day of the Nakba. I remember the way they tear-gassed the nonviolent protestors at the weekly protests in Al’Massara.

I remember the terrible stinging in my eyes from the tear gas and the explosion of the sound bombs. I remember the pain of my Swedish team- mate who had to seek a doctor to check on possible hearing loss after one such an attack.

How could it get worse? More toxic toxic gas?  Louder sound bombs? All of this paid for by yours and my tax dollars in the name of security? All of these weapons are now not only in the hands of more and more pumped up and terrified soldiers but in the hands of hateful settlers already well known for their violent attacks.

It could and will most likely get a lot worse no matter how the vote goes. I know already also that the media will not cover the attacks on civilians or will spin it to look like self-defense or “for security.” They will show the youths with their rocks but not the massive number of soldiers and their weapons. They will not talk about how the occupation is not only a sin against humanity as the Kairos Document so boldly states but is a form of structural violence that begets violence in response.

What will be the human cost for seeking liberation this time? What kind of collective punishment (withholding of tax revenue) or price tag violence will be “allowed” for asking the world to honor a people’s long over due right to self-determination?

And so it is also no accident or maybe divine coincidence that this week also marks the 18^th anniversary of the Oslo Peace Accords, the Framework that was supposed to yield a Palestinian state in five years (1999).  Many believe that not only did this Framework not work, it actually provided the Israeli government more time to change the “facts on the ground” by allowing them to confiscate more land, build more settlements, destroy more olive trees, and build an illegal separation barrier.

Direct talks have not only failed but they have masked the entrenchment of the occupation and colonization process. During this period of time too, the Israeli government has also refused to accept UN resolutions as terms for the peace process.  In addition Jerusalem, the refugees, settlements, and the 1967 borders have been nonnegotiable

During this time, the United States could not provide a solution or broker a peace. No surprise if you consider that we have vetoed 42 Security Council resolutions condemning Israeli violations of international law or human rights and that we provide Israel with thousands of dollars of military aid and have promised to provide over $30 billion over the next ten years. No wonder the peace process has broken down or never got started.

And finally add to this the discrepancy between our country’s words and our actions.  It is hard not to shudder when we hear these words from Obama’s speech in Cairo in 2009 and compare it to what has been happening during this stalled peace process.

“The situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.”

Are we not turning our back on them when we refuse to make Israel accountable for its violations of international law? By not holding them accountable for the way they spend our military aid on killing unarmed Palestinian civilians or destroying billions of dollars of infrastructures including homes and hospitals, schools and farms? Are we not turning our backs when we allow Israel to maintain its blockade and siege of Gaza or build Israeli-only colonies on Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem? When we refuse them their right for recognition before the world to have a state of their own?

"Israel deserves recognition. It deserves normal relations with its neighbors. And friends of the Palestinians do them no favors by ignoring this truth, just as friends of Israel must recognize the need to pursue a two state solution with a secure Israel next to an independent Palestine."

Obama made it clear this morning in his address to the United Nations that the only acceptable path to statehood that the US would accept is through negotiations. 

"One year ago, I stood at this podium and called for an independent Palestine. I believed then – and I believe now – that the Palestinian people deserve a state of their own. But what I also said is that genuine peace can only be realized between Israelis and Palestinians themselves."

"Ultimately, it is Israelis and Palestinians who must live side by side.  "Ultimately, it is Israelis and Palestinians – not us – who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them: on borders and security; on refugees and Jerusalem.”

I respectfully disagree with Mr. Obama on most of what he said to day but am not surprised just saddened by what was said and not said. First, Israel is recognized by the PLO leaders and was also, ironically, first recognized as a state through a vote at the United Nations. Second, Israel is not the only country that needs a solution with security, so does Palestine. They need to know that they won’t be rounded up in the middle of the night by IDF forces or shot at demonstrations, or attacked by Israeli setters, or their land confiscated, their homes demolished. Security should be a basic right for both countries. Lastly, given that Obama was standing in front of the international body responsible for upholding international and humanitarian law, it would have been appropriate that the US make a commitment itself to uphold international law and applaud the Palestinian use of nonviolent approaches for resolving this conflict including coming before this international body to be recognized as a fellow nation.

 Let us hold Palestine and Israel in the light

 ask that all refrain from violence

in the name of the God who seeks peace

for all inhabitants of the land

seeking

              and proclaiming liberty