Facebook response

One of my friends posted an editorial from the Huffington Post (written by Desmond Tutu about divestment in Israel). The comments that followed that post prompted me to write the following. It's a bit of a primer and just barely touches on the major issues. But, for your reading pleasure and as food for thought for the day:

I'm currently living in Palestine for a few months to work with a program that works with and assists Palestinians who are using non-violent forms of resistance to end the occupation.

There have been suicide bombers and rockets from the Palestinian side. This is true (although the majority of this happened during the second intifada 10 years ago).

Statistics show, however, that there have been a greater number of human rights violations against Palestinians by the Israelis than the other way around. The number of Palestinians who are detained without due process is high (the reverse has never happened). There are also a high number of children (ages 12-16) who have been detained for weeks or months (these are not necessarily stone throwing boys, by the way. These are kids who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time) without any notification of family.

But, what has been more appalling to me than any of that is the daily grind of humiliation and inhumanity of military occupation which affects

• economy (the unemployment rate is quite high, esp. in some areas of Palestine and, of course, in Gaza),
  
• family life (more than one village is cut off from their social network of family and friends because of the occupation and the separation barrier--often manifest as a 26 foot high concrete wall topped with an electric fence),
  
• education (kids who want to and could go to college/university are denied, by the Israeli military, the permits to go),
  
• religious expression (for example, Palestinian Christians and Muslims alike are limited in their movement for religious worship. At Easter, Palestinian Christians were denied the right to go to East Jerusalem (which is legally part of Palestine) to worship at the holy sites in the Old City. The Old City was full of faithful people, but they were all from other countries) and
  
• many other aspects of life.

In the mean time, there is a policy from the Israeli government and military to expropriate land, which is owned by Palestinians, to continue to expand housing, farming and construction for Israelis. When Palestinians attempt to use legal means to respond (read: attempt to keep their land), the courts often rule against Palestinians, or if the courts rule in favor of the Palestinian family, the military overrules the civil law and imposes military law.

Many Palestinians find themselves caught in a bind and are frustrated. Everywhere they turn, they encounter the reality of someone else (who has guns; every Israeli has the right to carry a gun and believe you me, many of them do) who tries to stop them from just living their daily life of family, work, learning religious expression.