Touching words from a Palestinian American on Palestinerembered.com

When Israelis strike at Palestinians; they are not only sending messages to Palestinians, they are not only retaliating against Palestinian violence, they're also sending messages to their deprived self-esteem (for lack of a better term) and to the rest of the world that the Jew will not be the victim again. From my experience, rarely you rationally can discuss the conflict with neither a Jew nor a Westerner without the memories of the Holocaust being so close behind; I always felt those memories even when not a word of the Holocaust was mentioned; simply it is there, simply it cannot be discussed. That is the primary reason why discussing this conflict with many Jews and Westerners is very frustrating; you want to discuss the real issues (dispossession, ethnic cleansing, & colonization), but you can't. Sadly, the emotional barriers are so great to overcome, especially when those emotional barriers cannot be discussed. Often in such discussions, the Palestinian is painted as the anti-Semitic, and Palestinian resistance to Israeli war crimes becomes "terrorism". Sometimes I wonder why the West is scared of confronting this emotional barrier? Could it because this barrier masks the way Westerners treated their Jewish citizens for centuries? Could it be that discussing this particular problem will open a Pandora's Box? I don't know if I am right or wrong, however, I am certain that this emotional barrier should be studied further; I believe this taboo contains few of the important keys that are essential to resolving this conflict.

This analysis explains why often many Israelis believe that: Arabs understand only the Language of Force; as if the Language of Force knows how to discriminate between an Arab and a non-Arab! This racist and derogatory slogan (often repeated openly by Israeli leaders) gives the Spartan Jew the moral green light to respond as he wishes to Palestinian violence, and as a result also he compensates for his deprived self-esteem. In that respect, the Spartan Jew sees no Palestinian resistance to Israeli war crimes, he sees only Palestinian "terrorism"!

Some of you may say: Palestinians also carry negative emotions (hatred and anger as well), however, in my opinion the source of these emotions isn't the same; the source in the case of Palestinians is more rational than emotional. Palestinians have been dispossessed and ethnically cleansed of their homes, farms, and businesses so they make way for the persecuted European Jews, and now they see alien colonizers living in their looted homes, and tilting their fields which they've farmed for generations. From my experience, this is a deeply emotional and a very humiliating experience as well. It should be noted that Palestinians directly deal with this traumatic event by directly confronting their oppressor, and they clinch to whatever is unique in their national identity (i.e. art, food, literature, folklore, customs, dresses, history, ...etc.).

Sadly, it scares me to think that we Palestinians started to look also for the Spartan amongst us; I seriously hope not. The Spartan Jews is no example. In my humble opinion, every victims has the right to defend his family and home by all possible means; this is a God given right which I extend even to the Israelis who deprived us from our homeland. However, the victimhood gives no moral grounds to become a Spartan; gives no moral ground to dehumanize the other! Once you become a Spartan, you will always live by the sword, and sadly the sword becomes the preferred communication tool.

Finally, I wish to tell every Westerner and a Jew reading this article how this conflict has little to do with religious differences; this conflict would have been the same even if other Arabs dispossessed Palestinians. We Palestinians don't wish to become anybody's psychological experiment; we don't want to become a make me feel good pill, we don't wish to become anybody's punching bag. We Palestinians don't wish to become anybody's messiah, and definitely we don't wish to be crossed for somebody else's sins. Sincerely, I wish Palestine was a commodity that can be bought and sold; I would have sold it. I could be one of the few Palestinians who actually empathizes with Jewish suffering, however, my homeland is so dear to give, no human can do that! For us Palestinians, Palestine is not only our homeland, Palestine is our identity; Palestine is the intoxication of our memories; Palestine is the Jewel of all Jewels. My homeland, Palestine, isn't for sale.

Our DATE is 60 years LATE, God willing sooner or later we shall return.

God help us all. God, please give these people back their dignity....

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Comment by Roro Faraj on January 18, 2009 at 5:38am
I am not Palestinian this is true. I am married to a Palestinian man whom I spent time with in Palestine. I now have family ties in Palestine. I should have made clear where I got the information I posted. i apologize for not making that clear. I copied and pasted it from the words of a Palestinian - American, the founder of palestineremembered.com. He is the Palestinian - American who wrote those words. I wanted to share his words on this site. I hope and pray that Palestine is soon free.
Comment by Ramsey on January 18, 2009 at 5:25am
Donna Loper's comment ignores the most basic and crucial fact - this lady is a human being who speaks the truth clearly and passionately.

The facts remain that since the establishment of the UN "to save future generations from the scourge of War", the acquisition of territory by force has been inadmissible under international law, and yet Israel has continued to acquire territory by force, relying on its own impunity. The Israeli government strategy has been the same since the foundation of the Israeli State - the forced expatriation of the majority of Palestinian residents and the total subjugation of those who remain. The only variation in this strategy has been the attitude to 'peace negotiations' as shown in "The Iron Wall" by Avi Shlaim, sometimes pretending to engage in such negotiations as a stalling tactic while erecting settlements and 'creating facts on the ground' to make a viable independent contiguous Palestinian State more impossible in practice, while other times refusing to enter into peace negotiations at all, in order to deprive Palestinians of all hope so that they will eventually give up their struggle.

This strategy has not succeeded, cannot succeed and is doomed to fail, for the simple reason that while Israel chooses to practice the Law of Might, the establishment of the UN marked the dawn of a new era - that of the Might of Law.

Israel's only viable option in the long term is to fully embrace its responsibilities and rights under international law, withdraw from all territories acquired during and since the 1967 war and use the UN system to protect its civilians. The alternative is Mutually Assured Destruction - MAD!!
Comment by donna loper on January 2, 2009 at 6:35am
This woman is not a Palestinian

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