11 Days in May
In 2008, I was living in Beirut. It was a very unstable year in Lebanon, complete with a violent takeover of our Sunni neighborhood by Hezbollah forces on my birthday in May. Late in December, Israel launched a military operation in Gaza called Cast Lead.[1] Over 1400 Palestinians died, including 188 children. I experienced an Israeli bombing firsthand; they bombarded Beirut in the summer of 2006. I knew some of the hell being experienced by Gazans.
When there is an Israeli operation in Gaza, it destabilizes the entire region. I worked in a Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Beirut. It greatly affected Palestinian refugee camps across the Middle East. People were angry. It triggered people. Some have relatives still in Gaza. People were rightly worried. I was upset as well as I watched from 176 miles to the north. I posted on Facebook with the daily causalities including how many children died. My American friends thought I was being dramatic. My Palestinian friends and coworkers became very distant as they grieved losses. It brings the violent reality of Al-Nakba[2] front and center; to watch helplessly as their occupier killed more of their community.
As I witnessed how they suffered watching Gaza be pounded, I realized Palestinians carry something collectively that the rest of us cannot understand. As much as I empathize, as much as I fight with them, as much as I love them, it is something that I can never share or fully enter with them. I learned to respect that gap between us and hold it in my heart.
In 2014 there was another Israeli operation in Gaza called Protective Edge.[3] It lasted 7 weeks from July into August. 2,251 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, including 1,462 civilians. The dead included 551 children and 299 women. This time I watched from the United States. Again, horrified and feeling helpless. I had a speaking gig at a local conservative church. I felt a tremendous responsibility to speak truth, present Americans with facts, and share stories of my Palestinian friends. A few members of their congregation were not happy about the topic. One brought a full-size Israeli flag and placed it in front of my presentation. I had a hostile audience while Palestinians were dying. Normally this is a charged topic in America, I can never really figure out why. But when there is an Israeli bombing in Gaza, it becomes even more elevated. I gave myself a five minute self-talk. Basically, what could this audience to do me? Boo me? Argue with me? Would I die like the people in Gaza? I mustered my courage and gave my presentation. I got heckled a bit at the beginning. So much for churches being a respectful place. After, the man who placed the flag in front of me apologized.
This past month I watched another massacre in Gaza from Colorado. This time in 11 days, 230 Palestinians were killed including 65 children.[4] Again, I watched my Palestinian friends suffer, many still have family in Gaza. It was a painful situation to witness, and once again I felt helpless. I cried, I raged, I didn’t sleep. I tried to channel that energy into educating on the Palestinian narrative.
The problem in my country is we are not having the right conversation. People always tell me, “but…Hamas…but…this…but…that…” The horrible truth is that Palestinians will continue to die with a ceasefire or without. Why? Because the occupation continues. Because Al-Nakba continues. This is what we need to talk about. The most important thing you can do right now is educate on the Palestinian narrative. We cannot bury our heads in the sand. Our ignorance is complicity in their suffering.
Currently, over 5.6 million Palestinians are registered as refugees in four countries – Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, The West Bank, and Gaza.[5] They lack basic human rights including education, employment, and healthcare. They have no path to citizenship in any country and are denied the basic human (and LEGAL) right to return to their country and live at peace with their neighbors.[6]
Four generations of Palestinian refugees inhabit 58 refugee camps scattered throughout the Middle East. None of these displaced Palestinians have ever received compensation for their loss of land, their homes, or their livelihood.
In Palestine, Al-Nakba continues with an illegal Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinians face home demolitions, forced displacements as we see in Sheikh Jarrah right now, razed villages, home raids, lack of free movement, and arrest campaigns which include detention of elementary school children. This week we saw how Palestinians (historically, both Muslim and Christian) are restricted from practicing their religious duties at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, just as recently happened with the Church of the Holy Sepulcher this Easter.[7] These events and others have led Human Rights Watch to officially accuse Israel of the war crimes of apartheid and persecution.[8]
In Gaza, a 15-year blockade has left 1.9 million people, most of whom are already refugees from the 1948 and 1967 wars, living in an almost uninhabitable open-air prison. They have only four hours of electricity daily and 90% of their water is undrinkable. The blockade severely restricts imports and exports as well as the movement of people in and out of Gaza that is needed for medical treatment, and denies farmers and fishermen access to their own agricultural land and fishing waters.[9]
Add to this an 11-day onslaught this May. 77,000 Palestinians in Gaza are displaced.[10] The only COVID-19 testing center in Gaza destroyed. Dr. Abu al-Ouf, the doctor that headed up the COVID response at Al-Shifa Hospital was killed.[11] I fear if the bombings didn’t kill them in May, a COVID surge will in June.[12]
Another important thing you can do, yes you, is to amplify Palestinian voices. Listen to them and their stories. Learn from them and share their voices. Here are two Palestinians I learn from, check them out on Instagram and Twitter:
Noura Erakat, a human rights lawyer
Mohammed al-Kurd, writer from Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem
After 17 years of working with Palestinians, I noticed in those 11 days more people were confused and admitted how much they don’t understand or know about the Palestinian narrative. I heard compassion for the Palestinian people. I feel like a dam is breaking. I hope it continues. I am even more committed, if it is possible, to fight for justice and the basic human rights of Palestinian refugees. I hope you join in. I hope you see just how valuable they are. I hope you remain informed. I hope you share what you learn. I hope you stay curious. I hope you continue to educate yourself. I hope you stay present to the suffering. I hope you get uncomfortable. I hope you use your voice to elevate theirs.
But mostly I hope for freedom and liberation for the Palestinian people in our lifetime.
------------------------------------------------------
For more resources, follow IMEU- Institute for Middle East Understanding for news and updates on social media. Watch the movie, 5 Broken Cameras. Take our free course on Palestinian Refugees starting June 8th.
[1] https://imeu.org/article/operation-cast-lead#:~:text=On%20December%2027%2C%202008%2C%20Israel%20launched%20Operation%20Cast,killing%20some%201%2C400%20Palestinians%2C%20most%20of%20them%20civilians.
[2] https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/PalestineRemix/al-nakba.html#/17
[3] https://imeu.org/article/2014-israeli-attack-on-gaza-one-year-later
[4] https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/gaza-20-may-2021-situation-update-9
[5] https://www.unrwa.org/palestine-refugees
[6] https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/palestinian-right-return-legal-key-undoing-zionist-conquest
[7] https://imeu.org/article/45-years-of-occupation
[8] https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution
[9] https://www.un.org/unispal/humanitarian-situation-in-the-gaza-strip-fast-facts-ocha-factsheet/
[10] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57148580
[11] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57148580
[12] https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/05/a-covid-wave-may-be-the-next-disaster-to-strike-gaza.html