It Doesn’t End
Attn: Celebrities, Will you stand up for the Palestinian people?
By Nancy Stohlman in East Jerusalem
April 9, 2002
I received a call from Beth Daoud as I was attempting to make my
way through the noisy streets of Jerusalem. We ducked into a
storefront as she told me of the horrors of Nablus: On the streets of
the most recently beseiged city, the IDF drove down the streets with
loudspeakers announcing "We are stronger than you. You are weak. You
are all alone. No one will come and help you." In addition to the
apparent standard of blocking ambulances and leaving the dying in the
streets, Beth reported that two mosques and the ancient turkish baths
have been or are being destroyed. "It sounds like they are trying to
erase all roots of Palestinian civilization," Beth yells in my ear
over the obnoxious honking on the street behind me.
Our now somber group continued towards the media center in
Jerusalem, and I remember surviving Bethlehem, and how it felt to be
on the other end of those desperate calls. It makes me angry, and I
want to shout at all the taxi drivers and cigarette venders. "Do you
know what's happening to your brothers and sisters now?" Of course
they all know--it is the only topic of conversation. This knowledge
marks deep lines into every face, worried forehead creases and
patches of gray hair from the shock. A twenty year old man looks
thirty-five in Palestine. A thirty-five year old man has probably
been in jail more than once. A sixteen year old boy probably has at
least one family martyr. A fifty year old man might remember leaving
his home village, and a seventy year old man might still hope to
return there.
Leaving Bethlehem yesterday, I realized that I had been living
under seige for over a week. We gathered our belongings and carefully
hurried down the deserted street. After a moment of sanctuary inside
the gates of the hospital, we jumped in a van which sped us to Beit
Jala until the roadblock. Boulders and piles of dirt did not stop
determined Palestinians from rapidly passing vegetables into occupied
area from the back of a truck. Before I knew it, I was in Jerusalem
for the first time, weeping behind my sunglasses at what I had left
behind. Weeping for the people without "international status" or a
navy blue passport. I realize that I can exit Beit Jala with relative
certainty of my life, unlike even the staff of the Bethlehem Star
Hotel who fear sniper fire every time the internationals leave the
lobby. The constant fear of death, which I only partially tasted for
10 days, paints permanent bags under their eyes.
How many emails do I have to send, or how many articles, or press
releases, or books, before the desperate situation here will be
truthfully told? It sickened me to walk by front page newspaper
headlines that reported "Three soldiers killed in Jenin," knowing
that the public would not hear of the genocide of hundreds of
Palestinians in the same city, by those same soldiers! Though the
media must be held accountable, this is not just the responsibility
of the media. When Americans see newspaper pictures of IDF
soldiers "rescuing nuns" from the Church of the Nativity, they have
to question the propaganda, question whether those same soldiers
provided the pictures! The destruction of the Palestinian people and
their way of life is the responsibility of everyone. Rhetoric of
a "global community" ultimately means that whatever happens to our
neighbor happens to us. Even science has proven that we are a part
of, and affected by, global situations on "the other side of the
world," from nuclear meltdowns to ocean dumping, to volcanoes erupting
in distant lands. The apartheid of the Middle East is everyone's
problem. Yesterday I saw a commercial that implored people to help
save the endangered tigers of Asia. All I could think of was which
celebrity spokesperson was going to stand up for the Palestinian
people?
Will it be you?
* Nancy Stohlman is one of five members of the Colorado Campaign for Middle
East Peace that have joined other internationals with the International
Solidarity Movement in witnessing and standing against the Israeli invasion and
occupation of Palestine. More on their trip at:
www.ccmep.org/palestine.html