Strangers for Ancestors #15: Peace & Love Bangkit/Arise Palestine

Megan Wilson, From The River To The Sea, woodcut and poster, 1992 (woodcut) 2023 (poster added)

Avenging Angels

In my last Strangers for Ancestors post, my Wilson family is on the run from the Latter Day Saints’ Avenging Angels hit squad because of their loud mouths and speaking truth about the Mountain Meadows massacre that had been carried out by members of the Mormon Church against over 125 settlers traveling west. The Mormon Church was denying any direct involvement in the massacre, but my family knew the truth and they were speaking it. This breach with the Mormon Church was a major turning point in my family’s history on this stolen land we now call the United States, and it ended up being a lie that the Mormon Church would not take responsibility for for 150 years. However, the lie of the Mountain Meadows Massacre was just one lie within the Big Lie of the United States - that this country was a gift from God for the good white Christians from Great Britain who came to settle on it, and who worked hard, often together with the few poor Indians who were scattered here and there wandering the land, and yes, some of the white people had slaves, but that was just the way it was … and so on, and so on. Because of that Big Lie, there are so many other lies that sprout forth from it. As I’ve been writing these posts, it’s hard not to constantly be thinking about the Big Lie of this country and how big lies just spiral into many others, and spread. So for this post I’m focusing on the legacy of Big Lies, and in particular Israel.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, belonging to the anti-Zionist group Neturei Karta, hold placards during a protest. (Photo/ AFP)

Vicious Cycles

It has been almost three months since Israel began its genocidal attack on Gaza, which has moved to the West Bank, as well; over 22,000 murdered/martyred, though likely many, many more. It’s hard to take in what is happening and what it means for the world. The genocide taking place in Palestine is in no way the only one that is happening across the globe, sadly, there is no shortage of places to look, including Sudan, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar/Burma, China, and Kurdistan. However, what is different about Palestine is that the current conflict has actively been in motion for over 75-years with massive support for Palestine from countries and communities throughout the world, now in full demonstration thanks to the internet and social media. That support is now much more visible due to the fact that as a global audience we are watching the genocide taking place live as the Israelis indiscriminately bomb Palestinian families in Gaza and the West Bank, and many of us are responding through protests and civil disobedience, through boycotting and divesting, and through social media. There is a cacophony of voices around the world screaming,

STOP! CEASEFIRE NOW! FREE PALESTINE! FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE!

Sadly, these cries of support have also been extremely traumatizing for many in the Jewish diaspora. I am acutely aware of this, and the uncontrollable shaking that I’ve been experiencing in response to the genocide, has also been in response to that trauma, which admittedly, I have also contributed to by speaking out loudly through posts and other missives. I’m not proud of this, I don’t want my friends to feel my pain as additional pain and then respond to that through some other form of pain. It’s a vicious cycle that truly feels unending; and it is. The nation/state of Israel will never be a safe space, and I don’t say that with any ill will towards Israelis, I say that out of love for Israelis. The concept of Israel is beautiful - to hold a space for the Jewish people to have a permanent home of peace and protection is one I fully support; I want Jews to be protected and to live in peace. However, this space does not exist in Palestine. Palestinians and their Arab neighbors never wanted a Jewish State, and not because they hate Jews; they did not want a Jewish State because Palestine already existed, and for the most part existed harmoniously and with its neighbors.

To understand this state of being and the demonstration of hostility by Palestinians and their Arab neighbors towards Zionists, one must imagine what it would be like to gradually see military installments being placed around your city and to see droves of new people moving in. You might feel uneasy and wonder what is happening. You might try to be friendly with these new people who you do not share a language with; you might take them food and drink, or you might learn more about them through friends who are able to translate. You try to be welcoming, yet you also feel uneasy because there are more and more people coming and you don’t know what to think. Soon there are fights that are happening because these new people are not behaving friendly towards you and your family. Your family begins to stay inside more and they only leave when absolutely necessary because life outside is feeling less and less safe. Then one day, military officers shows up at your door and announce you must leave. It is time for you to leave. You must pack your bags because it is uncertain how long you will need to be gone for. You have no choice but to pack up and leave. You see that your longtime neighbors who have also lived there for generations have also been asked to leave. Soon you see everyone from your city fleeing as commanded by the armed military officers who are yelling at you to get out, to go, get out. As this is happening, you are trying to understand what is going on, when will you be able to return to your home. You’ve left so much behind.

Next, you see your home and your neighbors’ homes completely destroyed by these new people who you have never done anything to; you have no idea why they are forcing you out and why they seem to hate you. And they all have weapons. You have nowhere to go, this is your home. Soon the people from the surrounding cities are also incensed, they wonder why these foreign assholes are forcing you out and destroying all the homes in your city, what is their plan here, and where will this end?You then learn that some new government organization power has designated that your city is to be divided and you must accept these new people on your land because this is now their land and they’ve been granted rights that you don’t even have, even though they don’t speak the language and are completely foreign to the land, except that they say have ancestors who lived their two thousand years ago. And these new people look just like the people who you have seen in the news doing this to other neighborhoods, where they come in and take over and claim they are entitled to anything they want, and the powers that be are backing them, you have no choice.

And so it was, and is. It is easy to see how variations of the above scenario can get twisted in others that are happening today; I’m thinking of all the emigrants who are traveling from Central and South America to the United States, as well as all of the migrants traveling from Africa to Europe. However, both those situations are nothing like Palestine and the Zionists who invaded. In both the cases of Central/South America and Africa, those people are fleeing circumstances that were brought upon them by the countries they are fleeing to, either through environmental distress or through capitalism. In the case of Palestine, Zionism was thrust upon them by a foreign entity, which was also a western power. However, what these situations all have in common is The Lie; they are all swept up into Big Lies that are created and perpetuated by people with power and money to hide the truth.

Central and South Americans are not traveling by foot in caravans because the want to take away our jobs, they are emigrating because their land has been poisoned/destroyed environmentally and/or their jobs have been taken away by U.S., European, and/or Asian corporations and/or they are no longer safe in their countries because of circumstances created by the United States, Europe, and Asia. Likewise, Africans are emigrating to Europe for the same reasons. The bad behavior of the west - colonization, enslavement, and genocide - is finally catching up to bite the west in its cruel, greedy, and ungodly ass.

Palestine - A Land Filled with Villages of People, including Muslims, Christians, and Jews

Girls' school in Gaza, 1890. By Fadi Salymieh.

Israel was not a desolate land with a few roaming bands of Arabs before Israel, and the Arabs did not hate the Jews. Palestine was populated with a complex and well-connected network of over 500 villages made up of Muslims, Christians, and Jews living together relatively peacefully. Israel has turned Palestine into a settler-colonizer political state that is in a constant state of peril due to its origin as an unwelcome force of disruption and violence in the region. The only act that will make Palestine/Israel a safe place to be for anyone is for Israel to make a formal apology to the people of Palestine for its abuses, and for Palestinians to be allowed the right to return to their land as full citizens and to have self/political determination in their land and the greater global community. One of the greatest lessons the world has witnessed through this current crisis is that the vast majority of people around the globe wants Palestinians to have right of return, self-determination, and political recognition; they do not want Israel or the United States to make decisions for Palestine, they want to see Palestine in the driver’s seat here, and as well it should be.

Yes, this might sound insane to some; however, it is truly the only thing that will bring peace.

The overwhelming majority of the People of the World want peace, it is only those who are holding onto power and money out of fear and/or greed that do not want peace, and who will sacrifice whomever and whatever is needed to hold onto their Big Lies, even if it means no one, including themselves will ever be safe or protected, and instead will be constantly in danger.

And those of us who are part of that majority of People Power will continue to push for peace and justice and we will continue to dismantle the Big Lies and continue to share the Truth broadly and generously. Some day in the not-too-distant future, the paradigm of power will shift from its current position that is sowing these seeds of violence, cruelty, collective punishment, untruths, supremacy, and ignorance to a position of peace, loving kindness, generosity, collective liberation, and knowledge.

Peace & Love Bangkit/Arise Palestine