Back in Palestine: Reflections
SUCCESS
To laugh often and much
to win the respect of intelligent people
and affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child a garden patch or redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
After two days on the road Jessie and I are back to Palestine 'safely' from our 53 day tour of the Australian continent. The smell of the hot summer air laden with memories made me nostalgic. In crossing the bridge from Jordan to Palestine through Israeli checkpoints, Jessie and I both wore our necklace gifts given to us by the Maori people of Aotearoa (New Zealand). Mine is called a Manaya in Maori and it is to guard us from evil and to exude a blessing of the land. It worked as we made it to the ghetto of Bethlehem (the concentration camp or people warehouse). The long trip was worth it in every conceivable way. A nice reception of staff and volunteers at the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability ( palestinenatue.org). I reflect on the goodness of so many people we have met on this successful tour, so many great memories and great friends we made, on the hard work and its anticipated results for Palestine. I reflect on the remarkable transformation in our country in the past 76 years. There was a methodical diabolic program to transform our country from a pluralistic country called Palestine (multiethnic, multicultural, multireligious, multilingual) to a monolithic rogue state called Israel (by Jews for Jews). That meant by necessity attempts at ethnic cleansing and genocide of our people. The entity created is monstrous in other ways and it is now culminating in a frenzy of slaughter and genocide by famine the world has not witnessed in the past 100 years. Here to "rescue" 4 prisoners, 43 other Israeli prisoners were killed by Israeli airstrikes and during the "rescue" operation, a mass slaughter of 274 Palestinian men, women and children were killed as distraction and with US direct support channeled through a pier system that allegedly was built for humanitarian purposes. To sustain the system meant convincing enough Jews that it is good for them, it is worth fighting and dying for, it is worth lying for and selling your soul to the devil to defend this golden calf of Zionism. I reflect on the racist education of Israelis and their Jewish Zionist supporters around the world that makes them callous to the slaughter of children. In editing my forthcoming book on Joyful Participation: Reflections on activism for sustainable human and natural communities I was rereading sections relating to the massive Zionist backlash against human rights including those who serve in the system of colonization and apartheid and those who support that system financially or politically.
I thought I need to expand the section relating to good people and work we encountered on this and earlier speaking tours to 45 other countries. These are people who have that joyful participation in the sorrows of this world but also people who help us . I reflect on the thousands of people we met on this tour who support human rights and justice. We have much to catch-up on in Palestine. The work accumulated. There are research papers to submit, hundreds of emails to write/respond to, proposals to write, projects to work on (like our work on wetlands, our new exhibits, our field work etc), management issues (personnel and resources), garden work and much more. Please visit our facebook page to see pictures of our tour (in four installements/ posts): but also think seriously of visiting us! We would welcome you.
Bisan reporting from Gaza.
Christ at the checkpoint conference concludes. Recordings here.
US and British aiding genocide in Gaza.
The Australian Greens and their campaign for Palestine.
The Olympic committee banned Russia just four days after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and they barred South Africa in 1964 as a way to demonstrate unified international disapproval for apartheid. As with Russian athletes, a ban could still allow Israeli athletes to participate as neutrals, unaffiliated with a government whose leaders have now been charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Tell US Congress: war criminal Netanyahu is not welcome.
Sign to help academics in Gaza Manduca et al. 2024. On the duty to protect the people of Gaza: how the collapse of the hospital health care system has reinforced genocidal intent. Journal of Public Health and Emergency, 8.
Attacking ambulance drivers.
Crackdown on Israeli universities.
Stay Human and keep Palestine alive
Mazin Qumsiyeh
A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director Palestine Museum of Natural History
Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability Bethlehem University Occupied Palestine
facebook pages Personal Institute
French
