Mazin Qumsiyeh

12-year old Dima Al-Wawi was just released

When we watch the way the world currently works, we can get extremely depressed. Just the last few days we saw Israelis in their thousands celebrate the release of a murdering occupation soldier who was videotaped executing a wounded Palestinian.. While 12-year old Dima Al-Wawi was just released from 3 months of Israeli gulags, hundreds of Palestinian children are still imprisoned unjustly by an occupation that has gone on far too long. We noted the vote rigging and rigged “election process” that will ensure Americans have a choice between apartheid-supporting,war-mongering and corporate-backed liar (Hillary Clinton) and an apartheid-supporting, war-mongering, women-bashing, racist cheater (Donald Trump). Both of those very wealthy individuals would tighten the noose on Americans and Palestinians as they lick the boots of the Israel lobby.

Both would continue the wrecking process of the US economy that ensures the elimination of the Middle Class and making the rich richer and the poor poorer As I am in Italy now, I noted many people speaking out about the murder of Giolio Regeni and the hypocritical western backing of genocidal governments of Egypt, “Saudi Arabia”, and “Israel” [3]. But the train of oppression continues thanks in part to “mental occupation” of many people’s minds who refuse to see the reality. Thousands are still drowning as they try to flee the conflicts that are generated by Western Governments (it turn in compliance with their Zionist lobbies). The American-Israeli- Wahhabi/Saudi alliance is still hoping to “win” against local resistance in places like Yemen and Syria. A whole generation of young people are lost and even if peace would come soon (unlikely considering the array of greedy billionaires getting enriched and the pervasive apathy of millions), it will take many decades to recover from the devastation. Seven million of us Palestinians are still refugees or displaced people and the number rises weekly as Israel commits more ethnic cleansing. Our history of the past seven decades is a history of accumulating atrocities by a racist genocidal entity relentlessly focusing on transforming Palestine from a multi-religious and multicultural society to a “Jewish state of Israel”

As those elites divert energy of people towards fear of the other, endless “manageable conflicts”, and basically begging for jobs that are essentially slavery, the rich get richer while the earth is being pillaged at an accelerated pace. I am reminded of the latter on earth day (April 22). On April 22, 1970 over 20 million demonstrated in the US for a healthy, sustainable environment. For 46 years, the people held events marking “earth day”. However, greenhouse gas emissions have increased uncontrollably and the Paris summit on Climate Change recently acted as a feel good for governments that wanted to relieve the pressure via PR efforts. Occasionally lazy politicians utter words. Mahmoud Abbas for example said that settlements damage the Palestinian environment. He was challenged on it and his office seems reluctant to find environmentalists and ask their opinions. His is actually an understatement of colonial settlement impact on our environment

Madness could come to any who contemplate this Orwellian world we came to live in. Madness did come to many people we know and others decided to take action. Some decided to take their own lives in striking back at the system (in the 1960s it used to be “sticking it to the man”). Others took more modest symbolic actions. Nearly five years ago, we were arrested as we engaged in riding the bus: Palestine freedom riders. Push back is coming in many shapes and forms against the neo-liberal, no-colonial world order. Literary stars learned what is going on and are now writing more on the occupation. Truth is coming out as more and more books are written that expose Israeli crimes against humanity (even by Israeli authors)[. The BDS (boycotts, divestment, sanctions) movement is picking up steam even as Israeli apologists and lobbyists try to stifle it in Western Countries.British Doctors Demand Israel’s Expulsion From World Medical Association Truth is coming out even in unexpected corners like Israel’s use of LGBT communities to pink-wash the occupation/colonization

I guess one can summarize many things by saying that there is some push-back from humans against the unfeeling and powerful machine that is grinding humans and bringing humanity to the brink of collapse. Yes this struggle(between greed and humanity, war and peace etc) has existed since the dawn of human civilization. But never in our history were the stakes so high: our own continued existence on this planet. That is why the pressure is building and it stretches our resources and our abilities. Yet, humanity must rise to this existential challenge. Indeed “you can’t be neutral on a moving train” (Zinn). Many people are joining the struggle, millions more are needed. The sane action we can do is to join the larger struggle. The insane thing to do would be to be so focused on our own immediate needs that we become like “consumerist robot slaves” while the elites lead us like lemmings to the edge of the cliff.

BTW, my trip to Siena was very productive developing new partnerships for peace and justice. As I prepare to go back to Palestine (last talk I give is Tuesday), I am more determined than ever to pursue the course of speaking truth to power and thinking globally while acting locally. While we occasionally have pressures, occasionally see the betrayal of individuals who decide to go over to that dark side (greed, selfish interest etc), we are sustained by those who stay the course and the many who join it. I see this even in the small scale projects that we do like the Palestine Museum of Natural History and the Botanical garden. Rare people come and go thinking they need to watch their own interests (actually damaging their long term interests) but more and more peoplecommit to join a bigger cause that actually helps all have a sustainable future. Thus we have a choice of trains: greed and self-interest train taking us over the cliff OR the train of collective work towards a sustainable future. The choice has never been clearer and never been moreconsequential. Please email us if you would like to switch trains. All aboard!

[1] https://electronicintifada.net/content/video-inside-tel-avivs-death-arabs-rally/16411

[2] See this American tells it like it is to a politician https://www.youtube.com/embed/m0ejuG05N1s

[3] Regeni murder: If only Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall had been Italian http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/how-deaths-foreign-nationals-israel-and-egypt-prompt-different-reactions-2033931239#sthash.a04tf3e4.dpuf

[4] For a good expose of this I recommend “The Land Speaks Arabic” a documentary on the ethnic cleansing of Palestine that I reviewed it favorably in the Journal of Holy Land Studies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfFN8gw1jSI | https://kanan48.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/the-land-speaks-arabic-reviewed-by-prof-mazin-qumsiyeh.pdf

[5] see http://qumsiyeh.org/environmentalnakba/

[6] We should do it again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSWF68Yx6tI

[7] Literary Stars Learn ‘Occupation 101’ Firsthand in Tense Tour of West Bank by Naomi Zeveloff http://forward.com/news/338815/literary-stars-learn-occupation-101-firsthand-in-tense-tour-of-west-bank/

[8]Review of Jeff Halper's recent book by Richard Falk

https://richardfalk.wordpress.com/2016/04/07/reading-jeff-halpers-war-against-the-people-israel-the-palestiniansand-globalpacification/

[9] British Doctors Demand Israel’s Expulsion From World Medical Association. The letter follows another in 2009, which laid out similar concerns about the Israeli medical establishment’s collusion with the country’s security apparatus and other violations of international medicalethics.

http://www.mintpressnews.com/213478-2/213478/

[10] see https://bdsmovement.net/

Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri has called for the expulsion of BDS leaders because “you cannot turn the other cheek to those who beat us.” In their extremist incitement against the BDS movement, Israeli leaders have made it absolutely clear that they are serious about seeing the end of the movement before it achieves its objectives, namely freedom, justice, and equality. Haidar Eid writes from Gaza about the power of BDS.

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/0/palestinian-reflections-on-israels-hysterical-attack-on-bds/

[11] Did the Israeli government just admit to 'pinkwashing?' LGBTQ organizations in Israel are threatening to cancel Tel Aviv’s yearly Pride Parade unless the government allocates more money to their groups and causes at home — and not just use the parade to promote Israel as a bastion of progressive liberalism overseas. The government’s response? Pull the international promotional budget

http://972mag.com/did-the-israeli-government-just-admit-to-pinkwashing/118691/

Restiamo Umani

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Mazin Qumsiyeh
Professor and Director
Palestine Museum of Natural History
Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability
Bethlehem University
Occupied Palestine

http://qumsiyeh.org

http://palestinenature.org