Think Peace on Palestine
Written by Pauline Caldwell
January 2024
I believe that the most horrifying thing about the genocide in Palestine is that it displays how easily a country and a people can be overlooked and even erased by the world. We have known about Israel’s land theft, but the propaganda that this is the rightful land of all Jewish people in the world has enabled people to be silent and write it off as a religious conflict. The Israeli government and all its entities practice blatant land theft. Palestine was a country, and their land has been stolen over the course of 76 years since the first Nakba in 1948 where Zionist militias forcibly removed 85% of Palestinians from their land and homes, killing thousands of men, women, children, and elders. It’s bewildering to grasp that Israel is only 76 years old, meaning if you are older than this, you have lived in a world where Israel never existed.
Zionism is not to be equated with Judaism. Each day, the Israeli government becomes more nationalist and fascist, silencing their own people from speaking out against the genocide happening to the people of Gaza since October 7th, 2023. According to the Washington Post, Israel has killed 1 out of every 10 Palestinian journalists since October 7th, meaning fewer and fewer voices from the region of Gaza are being heard and reported on. As an Afro-German, who has both Black and German heritage, I cannot ignore that this sounds all too similar to the Nazi regime in World War II led by Adolf Hitler. Journalists who spoke out against the Nazi regime and the genocide of Jewish people, were killed. Losing one's life in humiliation was the consequence of telling the truth. Many Jewish people today do not support Israel, because in their eyes, the Israeli government is doing to Palestineans what Nazi’s did to their people during the Holocaust.
I feel the need to stress that this current genocide of Palestinians in Gaza is completely backed and funded by our American tax dollars. According to the Congressional Research Service, the United States government has given 3.8 billion taxpayer dollars annually to Israel's Foreign Military Aid and missile defense since 2019 and will continue until 2028. In early November of 2023, the House of Representatives from the United States Congress approved a $14.3 military aid package for Israel. The Senate has since blocked it, but this means that our state representatives in the House and Senate are actively making decisions about the life or death of Palestinians on our behalf.
Israel is a settler colonial state, just like the United States, which is why our government has no problem funding them. We did to Indigenous people in the 19th century what the Israeli government has been doing to Palestinians since 1948. Anyone who recognizes the Trail of Tears carried out by Andrew Jackson’s administration from 1830 to 1850 as forced displacement and ethnic cleansing should view the genocide in Palestine the same way. However, it is baffling that I hear people make rebuttals to Palestinians whose simple message is “Stop killing us”. I’m disgusted with the United States government and the Israeli government. I’m disturbed by anyone who refuses to see this for what it is: land theft. It is not about religion. It is not about Holy Land. There are Palestinian Christians who are facing the same exact discrimination as Palestinian Muslims because of the fact that their ancestry is in Palestine and they have Palestinian citizenship and documentation. For the sake of human life, open your eyes.
Books that you can read to educate yourself on the history of Palestine include Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khaldi, and Light in Gaza by Jehad Abusalim. A film that gives a historical comparative analysis between Palestine and South Africa is Roadmap to Apartheid, directed by Eron Davidson and Ana Nogueria, narrated by Alice Walker. Read and listen to alternative news sources like Al Jazeera, and Democracy Now! instead of CNN and Fox News.
I had the privilege of going to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam this past December. The exhibit ended by calling for people to stand up for democracy, and stand against dictatorship and authoritarianism. Like many Palestinian children today who want to become advocates for their communities, Anne Frank wanted to become a journalist when she grew up. In her diary, which is now a published book, The Diary of Anne Frank, she wrote, “How wonderful it is that no one has to wait even a minute to start gradually changing the world!” Don’t lose faith during this time of resistance. Speak out against genocide and fascism. Learn about the history of Palestine, Israel, and Zionism. Don’t blindly believe what you read on the internet. Become a learner during this time. Don’t shut your ears and eyes to the innocent lives that the Israeli government has stolen. I invite you to imagine a future where no more Palestinian blood is shed, a future where Palestinians return to their homes and land, singing and dancing with their families, free from colonialism and apartheid. It is possible, and it starts with you.
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