Human rights groups documenting Israeli abuses towards Palestinians (within the Green Line and without) frequently complain that Palestinians have become so used to their rights being compromised and trampled that they feel no need to report them.
Since I have come to live in the West Bank, I can attest to the truthfulness of those complaints. The occupation is so overwhelming, so deeply rooted in every single aspect of life, that to list all the abuses levied against your basic human rights would be an exercise in futility and, possibly, a quick slide to insanity.
Nevertheless, accepting such facts just makes it easier for Israel to levy even deeper rooted abuses against us. For years, Palestinians did not bother challenging Israeli checkpoints, especially when they were made up of no more than a few concrete blocks and soldiers. Yet over the years checkpoints, and their growth, became an accepted part of the occupation, so that we have reached a point today where checkpoints within the West Bank have become akin to international border terminals, with only those carrying foreign passports or special IDs allowed to pass, and at Qalandia and Huwara (Nablus), the passage of Palestinian vehicles is banned.
The point I am trying to make is that we need to challenge ourselves so that the occupation becomes alien again to our consciousness. By no means is that easy; in my view the psychological occupation and dispossession inflicted upon the Palestinians since 1948 has been the biggest obstacle to achieving our freedom. But here I will make a small, personal start, and record some of the things my family deals with under Israeli occupation and control-not because my family suffers more than others, but because the following is simply typical of the Palestinian experience in Palestine yesterday.
I got a phone call from my uncle Mahmoud in Gaza. He is earning his Master’s in Education, but due to the fact that electricity is so scarce he is having trouble making any headway into his research. With no books allowed in to the Gaza Strip, no freedom of movement to travel in order to conduct his research, and electricity, and therefore any online databases, available only at random and limited hours of the day, he asked me to start finding any data I can for him. I told him I’d go check out the library at Birzeit University. He asked if I could visit at least one other university-but I can’t, the restrictions on freedom of movement are just as draconian in the West Bank.
A few hours earlier, my uncle BJ had been turned back by Israeli forces at the Allenby Crossing between Jordan and the West Bank. He was trying to come back home and see his young children, his wife, his sisters, nieces and nephews after being deported two years ago. A university teacher, my uncle had lived and worked in Ramallah for most of his life, save for a few years in the 80s and early 90s when he travelled to the US to complete his university education. When he came back, the Israeli occupation refused to reissue his ID card, claiming that they had lost his record. He had lived here as a foreigner, leaving the West Bank every few months to renew his visa and return home. About a year ago, with no prior warning, he was told at the border that he wouldn’t be allowed back in again. He has been living in the US ever since, with no stable work or income. His young children, now aged 12, 10 and 3, have been effectively fatherless ever since. He had attempted to return twice before, each time working until he had saved up the cost of the plane ticket, each time being held and deported. We were hoping this time might be different; his wife and children had finally been issued their own local ID cards by the Israeli occupation, and we anticipated that the occupation authorities would allow him in to at least visit his family now that they had been deemed ‘legal’ residents by the occupation.
He is staying in Amman for now. We’ve hired an Israeli lawyer to look into his case. If that track fails, he’ll wait a few more days until his children’s winter vacation starts and they can visit him in Jordan. After that, nobody has a clue what we are going to do.
Continuing the uncle theme, I talked to my uncle Mohammad in Gaza later that night. Despite not seeing each other for the last 3 years, we have a close bond and usually call each other to laugh off the pressures of daily life under occupation and siege. Recently however, he had become noticeably more despondent, complaining of how tough work had become (he works in Gaza’s banking sector, which the World Bank has said is on the verge of collapse because of the Israeli blockade). Even as far back as 2005, he had confided in me that if he had the chance, he would emigrate at once in an attempt to try and build a better future for his children abroad. These days, the psychological pressure of living in near constant darkness (he lives in Gaza City, which is worse hit by the power cuts), the lack of cooking gas, and the inability to give his five young children any semblance of a normal life was really getting to him.
He told me he was making his way back to Gaza City from ‘the City of the Tunnels’ (Rafah). He had gone to buy diapers for his baby son from one of the tunnel merchants. Diapers had run out in the entire Strip, so a father of five had to travel to the sealed Egyptian border to buy smuggled diapers at twice the normal price. And then go back home to see his kids trying to do their homework by the dim light of an oil lamp, before tucking them in knowing that if they got cold this winter, there wouldn’t be much he could do about it.
Again, this is just a snapshot of the tribulations and pressure facing one family in Palestine under occupation. Uncle BJ may have been deported, but I’m also unable to see my uncles in Gaza, barely an hours drive away. The pain and abuse goes back all the way to the Nakba; the expulsion of my grandparents from their village, the tents they lived and got married in for years afterwards before the refugee camps became permanent, the occupation of 1967, the closure of Gaza that actually began in 1992 (i.e. not in response to Hamas’ election victory 14 years later). Everybody has their own history; uncle Mahmoud was arrested and convicted by an Israeli military court of throwing rocks as a teenager in the first intifada. He was sentenced to a year in prison, and ever since has been banned from leaving the Gaza Strip. He is now in his late 30’s, a father of five and again, his story, for all its bizarreness and cruelty, is far from atypical.
I intended to write this in an attempt to expose the harsh reality of life under occupation-a reality that can truly only be understood by those who directly experience it, and therefore a reality usually disregarded by many of those on the outside who have something to say on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It is only as I was writing it that I realized how important it is to begin peeling away the level of normality Palestinians try to will upon their own existence, and reveal it to as many people on the outside as possible. There needs to be a greater effort at communicating what life as a Palestinian under Israeli control means in full, moving deeper beyond the limited media coverage that tends to focus on today’s news, but hardly ever the history driving it.
Related posts:
- Life Under Israeli Military Occupation
- Wiping out a family is how Israel says ‘no’
- Palestine’s First English Daily
- A Journey Through Occupation
- Christmas Under Occupation
This is very insightful. Often we forget about the regular suffering that Palestinians endure and only focus on when the tanks/bulldozers/f-16′s are blowing shit up.
Its good that you brought it down to the human level. Often Israeli civilians are shown as being more human than Palestinian civilians. During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon (2006) hundreds of Israeli’s were considered “wounded” because they suffered from “shock.” Now I dont discount the fact that they suffered from “shock,” however, the amount of Lebanese people that suffered from “shock” was never counted (only those that lost a limb/broke a bone/or suffered from something serious were counted as wounded). Its as if the Lebanese civilians were immune to psychological disorders despite the fact that 2ton bombs were falling on their homes for a month straight.
I can imagine that in Palestine, the daily trauma of raids/bombings/targeted assassinations on top of the poverty/checkpoints/and daily harassment must have some sort of negative psychological effects on their minds as well.
Back on topic: Excellent post !
Posted by Super Sayyin | December 21, 2008, 7:43 pm“”Its as if the Lebanese civilians were immune to psychological disorders despite the fact that 2ton bombs were falling on their homes for a month straight.”"
I have immense sympathy for them, but something to remember — at the time the Lebanon war started, there weren’t any *really* important problems between Israel and Lebanon on the border. The Lebanese in southern Lebanon voted Hezbollah into government, and they committed an act of war against Israel. Israel’s bombing was disproportionate, but they were not the primary villains of the tale. Hopefully, next time, the people will think twice about voting for Hezbollah.
Posted by Joe | December 24, 2008, 8:18 pm“Hopefully, next time, the people will think twice about voting for Hezbollah.”
I suppose Israeli’s should think twice before they elect Likud back into power. I mean if the suicide bombers come… well you know its their fault for voting Likud and Netanyahu!
Cmon, you know both of these arguments are retarded.
I wont deny that Hezbollah acted in a rash way. However, to say that there were no border problems between Lebanon and Israeli is incorrect.
1) Territorial disputes such as the Shebaa Farms.
2) Lebanon still demands a map of all the land mines Israel placed in southern Lebanon from its earlier 18 year occupation.
3) Continual air and sea violations. (Israeli war planes would constantly fly so low over south Lebanese villages that the sonic booms would destroy all the windows)
4) Oh yea.. and the continual kidnapping of people mainly shepherds on the border.
On top of all this it should be understood that Hezbollah is far more than a militia group. There social division takes up far more resources than all of their armed divisions combined. They represent a huge chunk of Southern Lebanon due to their resistance to the Israeli occupation in the 80′s and 90′s and because of the huge social programs that they continue to maintain for the poorest socio-economic group in Lebanon.
There are some pretty good books on Hezbollah, they are quite fascinating =P
Posted by Arayus | December 24, 2008, 11:25 pm“”
I suppose Israeli’s should think twice before they elect Likud back into power. I mean if the suicide bombers come… well you know its their fault for voting Likud and Netanyahu!
Cmon, you know both of these arguments are retarded.”"
Depends. The suicide bombers were coming either way, and from a variety of sources; there’s not really a direct causation like that.
In the specific case of Lebanon, the causation is MUCH more direct — the political force that those people elected committed a direct, intentional act of war against Israel.
If the people in Israel voted for Likud, and Likud committed a direct act of war? Then yes, frankly, I’d say “they know not to vote for Likud next time”.
I’m equal opportunity on these things; I’ve said that, from a moral perspective, if people are using lethal force to oppose the illegal settlements, frankly, I don’t consider that wrong of them.
“”I wont deny that Hezbollah acted in a rash way. However, to say that there were no border problems between Lebanon and Israeli is incorrect.”"
That *would* be incorrect… except that that’s *not* what I said. I said there weren’t any *really important* border problems, of the sort that would merit an act of war. The things you named are the sort of things you send angry diplomatic messages back and forth over and posture diplomatically about, not the sort of thing you directly attack your neighbor’s armed forces over.
“”On top of all this it should be understood that Hezbollah is far more than a militia group. There social division takes up far more resources than all of their armed divisions combined. They represent a huge chunk of Southern Lebanon due to their resistance to the Israeli occupation in the 80′s and 90′s and because of the huge social programs that they continue to maintain for the poorest socio-economic group in Lebanon.”"
I think, at this point, everybody knows this. Or at least, everybody paying attention. Same with Hamas, to some degree. At some level, though, “vote for the guys who give you the most social services” has its natural price when their foreign policy is insane. Southern Lebanon is poorer than Beirut, but it is not North Korea. If you make yourself into a single issue voter that ignores foreign policy, in a region where foreign policy flare-ups destroy regions and cost lives, you’re asking for trouble.
“But they do lots of social programs!” is a bit of an excuse.
But it’s not that much of an excuse.
Posted by Joe | December 25, 2008, 12:27 pm