Speak Truth (To Power)

When I came to Palestine, one of the things that I wanted to do was be a witness to the occupation and to tell stories about my experience and the stories of the people I meet, and hopefully to find a way to create openings for Palestinians to share their own stories directly.

In the U.S., we seldom hear Palestinian voices, and when we do see Palestinians, it seems that they are either at a funeral for a martyr, marching through the town center with guns in hand, or are engaged in some other act of resistance. The image is always the same: Angry Arab. This has got to change in order to move people towards a just peace. Yes, the Palestinians ARE angry--and if you saw the reality on the ground, you would empathize, rather than criticize--but they are also just people trying to make the best of a difficult situation, doing what they can to get by.

I don't think that anyone should need me to speak for them--or wants me to--and speaking FOR people is not my intention. My intention is to share stories in such a way that it changes the context that people consider these issues. It seems that another context needs to be created for Americans in this post 9/11 world, and one of the privileges of being white is having a voice. If you have a voice and do not use it to advocate for others, then I think that you are contributing to the problem. It is like the famous Martin Niemoller quote: First They Came... I am not a Palestinian, but I will speak up for them. I think that successful movements are built on the drive of the oppressed combined with a bit of grease from sympathetic people in positions of privilege. I seldom feel privileged, but am aware enough of how the race card is played to know that I hold some advantages.

The "War on Terror" has demonized Arabs and Muslims, and has created a climate in which criticism of the government's plan of action in response is deemed somewhere between treasonous and unpatriotic. When the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, most Americans - not all -- felt that it was necessary to do in order to bring Osama bin Laden to justice. When the drums started beating to start a war in Iraq based on little more than hearsay, the alarms went off, and those of us who sounded them were branded anti-American/terrorist lovers. It silenced many people at a time when they might have been effective at pressuring Congress not to pass the authorization to use military force against Iraq, and consequently, we have witnessed the loss of tens of thousands of Iraqi lives and nearly 4,000 U.S. service-people. Witness may be a slightly inaccurate term, however--the coffins have been hidden from our view of U.S. personnel, and the Iraqis are all but invisible.

Similar to those who spoke out against the war on Iraq, those who speak against the occupation and criticize Israeli policy towards Israel's non-Jewish citizens are branded anti-semite. Charging people with with anti-semitism is a tactic to deflect legitimate criticism of Israeli governmental policy and trivializes the meaning of anti-semitism. It is a charge that exploits anti-semitism and the trauma from the Jewish holocaust in order to silence debate. There are legitimate concerns with Israel's policies - both domestically within Israel and in its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. As an American, I feel entitled to speak against those policies because my tax dollars are going to support them against my will, and I am concerned about humanitarian issues.

Just as the public dialogue has changed about Iraq, it seems that the tide is shifting on the Israel-Palestine front. In both cases, the people move faster than the politicians. The use of the word apartheid to describe Israel and the occupied territories is more frequent, and we seem to hear more about books that are critical of Israeli policy...and sometimes even on late-night TV. I have no great hopes for Annapolis, but welcome the opportunity to take advantage of the media it receives to issue calls for justice. Please join me!