Israel: The Wild Wild West
By Mark Schneider
January 8, 2002
Palestine
Midnight in a small Palestinian village in Salfit
province,
Palestine. Three weeks ago, with a Palestinian family I watch their
satellite cable TV beam a Hollywood Western from the 50s in full
color depicting predictable "noble" battles between "Cowboys and
Indians." The irony is enormous.
When I was a child my friends and me would play
"Cowboys and
Indians." The mostly white-European cowboys always had the bigger
guns, were more cunning and always were victorious. Though, as
Hollywood always proved, the Indians were noble in losing. Sure it
was all play, but what did it mean?
In Ramallah, Palestine, I met kids who played
"checkpoint."
Have you heard of this new game? Palestinian kids play both the
roles of the violent and sadistic Israeli soldier and the roles of
their Palestinian parents who must endure various daily humiliations
and degradations at over 140 illegal military checkpoints within
Palestine. Palestinian parents feel shame that their kids play this
way, but it's just a game, right?
The "game" between Israelis and Palestinians is the
worlds
latest Hollywood Western with the Palestinians playing the role of
the American Indians of the Middle East. The parallels are striking.
Over 100 years ago when the Zionists (a political
movement
sprung from persecuted Jews devoted to creating a strict Jewish
state) began invading Palestine they found a beautiful land of
hundreds of semi-rural lifestyle Palestinian villages. Every village
had a mosque and some had churches and even some had synagogues (yes,
there were Jewish Palestinians!). The soil was rich, the
Mediterranean sea inspiring and home to innumerable religious sites
holy to three major religions.
The invasion has been immense. From 1900 to 1947
over a ½
million Zionists came to Palestine. Since 1948, millions more have
descended. Of course, like the Europeans who "discovered" the "new
world" 500 years ago, the newcomers found a thriving civilization
that was immediately discounted. Visitors to Israel today hear of
how these newcomers "made the desert bloom" and how the "people
without a land found a land without a people." The same claptrap was
said of the Taino, Guaranine, Wampanoag, Seminole and hundreds of
other native american tribes.
While the European invaders of North and South America
have
exterminated hundreds of tribes and decimated the rest, Israel has
begun the job in Palestine, the results not final. Zionists have
stolen huge swaths of Palestinian land. From 1948 to 1949, because
of numerous Zionist massacres of Palestinians, over ¾ of a million
Palestinians fled what became Israel. Israel's 1967 military
occupation of the remainder of Palestine has brought a further
eroding of Palestinian sovereignty, thousands have been murdered by
Israeli soldiers and settlers, tens of thousands suffering severe
injuries. Over 200,000 Israeli settlers have illegally created
colonies within Palestine, stealing more land. Dozens of Palestinian
political leaders have been assassinated, students prevented from
going to school, and the list goes on.
As for today, Israel is just one final U.S. green-light
away
from totally conquering all of Palestine. In another round of
desperate resistance, the latest Palestinian Intifada has seen
Israeli soldiers and settlers kill nearly 1000 Palestinians and
injure over 20,000. Nearly all Palestinian villages and cities are
either totally blocked off or there are innumerable military barriers
and checkpoints. The GDP of Palestine has been cut in half,
agricultural severely disrupted.
Worse still is the tragic exodus of Palestinians, basic
political asylum seekers diplomatically called "refugees." Millions
live in other nearby Arab countries or far away in Europe, North
America and South America.
During my recent weeks in Palestine I met many
professional
Palestinians wishing they could emigrate even at the cost of losing
their land. Why? Maybe the question should be, why not?
For those Palestinians that remain in their homeland
the choices
are grim. If you choose survival (a veritable form of political
resistance) it means working multiple menial and degrading jobs
(often for Israelis) just to feed and house your family. If you
choose political resistance, no matter whether nonviolent or violent,
your fate is likely sealed: prison, torture, and a good chance of
being murdered for your politics. There is no where else to go.
Eight years ago Palestinian President Yasser Arafat
made a
historic concession that recognized Israel's permanent control of 78%
of historic Palestine. Now the fight is over the remaining 22%.
Under the current political trajectory with leaders like Sharon,
Barak, Bush and Clinton in power the Palestinians are likely to
suffer a fate similar to American Indians.
Unless internationals, especially U.S. citizens,
step up in a
dramatic way to stop U.S. support of Israel and directly support the
Palestinian freedom struggle. This is not time to just write a
letter to Congress. A Palestinian college student I met in
Palestine, when asked if there was one message she had for concerned
Americans, said, "Get serious."
Cowboys and Indians. Now you're playing the
game. You get to
choose which side you're on.