Through Palestinian Eyes: Obama’s Visit or “Yes, We Can”
My intentions were
to write a blog post examining and analyzing Obama’s three day visit here. However, time slipped away as I kept reading
article after article about what he might say or should say or what we most
surely won’t say. In the end I have decided to share with you what the
Palestinians here are saying in word and action. To do this I have created a
collage post of different voices and images.
I invite you to
open up the ears of your heart and listen to what the people, Christians and
Muslims, activists and children are saying. There will continue to be much ink
spilled on the two state versus the one state or security versus international
law or war with Iran or oil. But I invite you to listen to the people for a
moment and take in how they see him, us, how they see our civil rights history,
our “core values.” Like death itself,
take in the loss of hope and the possibility of a way out. Take in the humor
and steadfast belief that victory will come with or without us. It is a threat
and a promise. Stones are removed from tombs. Resurrection did and does happen.
Where are we? Outside weeping for the pain of it all? Hiding in an upper room
wag for more proof? On the road ahead open to new beginnings?
I start with an
excerpt from Amer Zaher whose insights about the entry into Israel process are
funny and for me a little too real as I was interrogated for 4 ½ hours and then
asked to sign a document saying I would not enter the Occupied Palestinian
Territories. So how come a Christian minister can’t go to Bethlehem but Obama
can go to both Ramallah and Bethlehem?
“OK, finally, when you leave, Israeli security officers are going to search
your bags. And they don’t do it casually with a smile like our airport
security here. They go through your stuff like a wife looking for
evidence of an affair. You might remind them that you, as the President
of the United States, sign their checks.
And they’re going to strip search you again. Yes, on the way out
too. Strip searches in Israel are “buy one, get one free.” They
perform the strip search in a section of the airport aside from where the
normal operations are conducted. You’ll run into a few of your
Palestinian-American constituents when you’re there. I know it’s a weird
place for someone to ask to take a picture with you, but to us, it’s just part
of visiting home.
You don’t have to mention to us that you are the President of the United
States. We already know. We supported you, twice. Maybe you
can return the favor.”
Classic
Palestinian humor/satire is useful, so here Amer Zaher gives “A Few Travel Tips
to Barack Obama”: http://www.civilarab.com/barack-a-few-travel-tips/
Dear President Obama,
I am 14 and live in the Palestinian Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East
Jerusalem. Almost four years ago my family and I were evicted from part of our
home by Israeli settlers, backed by Israeli court decisions. The process has
made life almost unbearable for me and tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Settlers are working towards Jewish control of all of East Jerusalem, at times
using violence against Palestinians.
This was once a beautiful neighbourhood. Everybody was so close, and before
part of my house was evicted, I was never afraid of going to sleep. We used to
have no worries. Now it doesn't feel like a Palestinian neighbourhood any more.
All the signs are in Hebrew, and the music too.
The people who've been evicted have lost financially and emotionally. My
father has stopped going to work for almost a year, because it was so crowded
and dangerous and every day there was tension and violence, so he couldn't just
leave us alone in the house with the settlers. The little kids wet their beds.
My sister couldn't sleep. The settlers have a dog in our house and every time
it went past, she wet herself.
This thing that happened tore us apart. We were one big family, and now
everyone lives in a different city. We are extremely uncomfortable and
uncertain about what is going to happen here. Children my age and much younger
are regularly arrested, interrogated and beaten by Israeli police, and
violently attacked by settlers. For most of my life I have felt unsafe and
threatened in my own neighbourhood and even in my own home.
Mr President, you have the power to change that. The most simple thing you
could do is see our situation for yourself and speak out about it, to see the
reality and talk about what you see. It's not like you don't know what's
happening here. I'm sure you know everything.
On this trip I hope that you will speak out against the Israeli
government's role in supporting the settlers and pressure the Israeli
government to change its policies. US military aid to Israel is used directly against unarmed Palestinian
demonstrators. I hope in the future you will stop giving military aid to
support Israel's illegal occupation of my people.
I also hope that in the future justice will return to the people. I hope
the world will begin to speak out against the oppression we face in my
neighbourhood and [the oppression] against all Palestinians. That you and
others will not remain silent while our homes are taken, children are arrested
and injured, and our future threatened.
Mr President, we want our houses back. And our pre-1948 land. It's not fair
what's happening here, and most of the world doesn't realize it. So if I had
one wish I would get everyone's rights back. From a little ball they stole from
a boy in the street to a big farm they stole from a grandfather.
Next is a Letter to
President Obama from the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries (Justice and Peace
commission)
en.lpj.org. It focuses attention on what is happening to all
Palestinians including the Christians it was signed by Yusef Daher:
We urge you, in your position as President of the United States of America,
to require from the State of Israel to respect international law and to stop
all illegal policies targeting the Palestinian population of the Holy Land;
this would be the best way of contributing to preserve and protect the
Christian presence in the Holy Land.”
 |
| Plaque of the map of Palestine removed and replaced by dove in Bethlehem |
In thinking about Obama’s visit to
Bethlehem, Munther Issac, Vice
Academic Dean and Director of Christ and the Checkpoint Conference from
Bethlehem College reminds Obama of the other sites he shouldn’t miss in
Bethlehem. He title his open letter: Don’t
visit Nativity Church in Bethlehem, witness Separation Wall & refugee camps
instead by Munther Isaac:
“…I know that the President is planning to visit the Nativity Church to pay
homage to the child of Bethlehem. If so, then I would like to remind him of a
story the person he is planning to give homage to once said - and it it the
story of the Good Samaritan. It is a story about mercy. It is also a story
about apathy. The two men who did not do mercy were religious. They were so
occupied, it seems, with the religious task ahead, that they neglected to see
the suffering of the man they passed by. I mention this story because we in
Bethlehem are tired of people visiting our town on a daily basis on a
"religious duty" without paying attention to the plight and suffering
of the people of Bethlehem. This is why we were so moved by the visit of Pope
Benedict XVI to Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem.
Would the President do the
same?
…May I, therefore, suggest, that instead of visiting the church of the Nativity,
that you go instead to the town of Beit Jala and visit the area of Cremesan.
There you will hear from Palestinian Christians how they are fighting to keep
their land from being confiscated, and maybe you can join them in their weekly
prayer. You will be giving, after all, homage to the child of Bethlehem, when
you show compassion, and work for peace and justice. It is Jesus who said after
all: "Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of
God".
Antan Saca, Advocacy Officer at
Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem also wrote a letter to Obama about his
upcoming visit to Bethlehem. This time
reminding him not only of his Christian roots but roots as an African American
committed to racial justice and equality:
Barack Obama, Yes you
are welcome in Bethlehem.
Mr. President you are
welcome in Bethlehem of the occupied Palestine, with open arms, in the hope
that you are devoted to justice and a positive peace.
Bethlehem, March 20,
2013
“In that spirit of leadership, we look to you Mr.
President. If you are in support of justice and a positive peace, I call on you
not to be of those who prefer “order” and the “absence of tension” rather be of
the blessed who are the peacemakers. You are welcome to visit the Church of the
Nativity, every corner of this historical city, every street and every house. It
is after all the birthplace of Jesus Christ whose footsteps we follow in our
search for peace.”
“OBAMA
YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN PALESTINE”
In addition to letters
and statements Palestinians formed groups like Palestinians for Dignity who called for huge demonstrations against
the upcoming visit and the entire U.S. policies supportive of the occupation;
military, financial, and diplomatic support for the Israeli occupation. The
following excerpts come from Palestinians who do not offer welcome.
The first excerpt comes
from a post from Tarabut-Hithabrut, a Palestinian and Israeli human rights
group. I have included the whole post:
”We are a movement of Jews and Palestinian women and
men, pursuers of peace and justice, and we say to US President Barack Obama: do
not come to our blood-soaked country, do not come. You are not wanted here.
With the election of Obama as president, many thought
that the time for the US to take a different role in the world has come, that
it will stop being the automatic supporter and main profiteer of our wars, and
that it will take the need for Palestinian independence seriously, an end to
occupation and a peace agreement based on at least some measure of justice.
Obama even got the Nobel Peace Prize before he did anything. Let's put aside
what the US does in the rest of the world for a second. If we judge him by his
last four years as president, he hasn't done much in our region in relation to
peace. Quite the opposite. He continued to give unconditional military support
to the ruling Israeli establishment, which gives the government the sense that
it can continue to occupy and build settlements without interruption. The
disagreements between him and Netanyahu were tactical, not over principles.
Worse, under his leadership, the US began treating the settlement blocs as an
undisputed fact, on the road to legitimacy. Attempts to prevent Palestinians
from attaining international legitimacy and access to international courts
clarify how unilateral the different US regimes are in their approach. Telling
from its policies on the ground, the US is not a potential option to mediate
and solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is part of that conflict and an
integral part of the problem.
Every American president raises the illusion of brokering
a peace agreement at least once or twice during his administration, but a final
calculation of US interests brings him to support another war and more
bloodshed.
From another letter to
Obama from Palestinians (can’t recall what group this is):
Listen to your own people...rich or poor; black or
white; Latino or Asian. Listen to the cries of Rachel Corrie’s
parents. Listen to the cries of other parents, especially those in
Palestine. Do you know hear the cries of Ahmad Jaradat's mother?
Her son brutally tortured and killed in an Israeli prison? Do you know
hear the cries of Samer Issawi's parents, their pleas, their prayers that their
son does not die from hunger because he is simply dying to live?
What we hear from you is: I won't recognize the wrongs
and call them out. I won't say it is wrong to oppress and occupy a nation
of almost 4 million people. I won't say Apartheid is wrong. I won't
say that Jewish only roads and Palestinian only buses is wrong. You say
that "yes you can," but what we hear is No I won't.
You said that America is an unlikely story. That
you face impossible odds, and told you weren't ready, that you shouldn't
try. We have a simple creed too, Mr. President. We believe we do
have a right to be recognized as a state. Right now. We do believe
we are entitled to all the freedoms and all the rights that Israeli citizens
are entitled to. When you say No I won't we say Yes we can.
Finally in addition to
these statements and demonstrations, another tent village was erected on
Wednesday in Eizariya east of Jerusalem.
Mohammad Khatib, a spokesman for the
activists, said soldiers handed protesters a document declaring the area a
closed military zone. "We are staying. We are Palestinians, and we will
stay here. They will have to evacuate us. They will have to use their power to
do it, but we will not do it by ourselves," Khatib told Ma'an News.
"We are staying here because this is Palestinian land. This is our land,
and no one has a right to evacuate us. As US President Barack Obama arrived in
Israel, activists set up 15 tents on a hillside near the site of the Bab
al-Shams protest village that Israeli forces tore down in January. They have
named the new neighborhood Ahfad Younis, after the main character in the novel
Bab al-Shams
See youtube of protest: Palestinian
Tent Protest Against Obama's Visit 20.03.2013 By Haitham Khatib
In addition, more than 50 children in
Hebron were detained on Tuesday on their way to school.
With our without US support, the
Palestinians will continue rising up and throwing off their shackles. They will
continue to demand their freedom and human rights. The question then is not
what Obama says or does here trying to people please everyone but what are we
going to do? How are we going to hold ourselves and our country accountable?
How are we going to stand with those who are seeking a just peace? How are we
going to live into the Passion taking place throughout these holy lands today?
And finally how are we going to live resurrected lives that the support the
life and liberty of all of God’s people?
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