On the international day of peace, considering the horrors being unleashed in Gaza and Lebanon, I reflected on my last visit to Lebanon July 2023. In my opinion, on this day of "peace" we all need to reflect on two things: our vision of peace and how do we get there (our individual and collective responsibility). To colonial settlers, peace is essentially pacification and quiet. To oppressed people, peace means restitution of justice, removal of oppressive regimes, and living on our lands as we did before the invasion. In its wider and more logical nature, peace means harmony with ourselves, harmony between people and also harmony with nature. Achieving that is imperative and existential. I have written much about the path forward for us in Western Asia. Here are some of that:
1) "Sharing the Land of Canaan" book available here
2) the path forward
3) A Palestinian Reflection on What We Learn. In Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders & Intellectuals Speak Out (Ramzy Baroud and Ilan Pappe, editors), Clarity Press.
I also argued before that for real peace, we should not be duped to focus on the suffering while ignoring e.g. root causes. Instead we must change ourselves
I also wrote on hope. On 29 December 2023, I explained why I was hopeful for the new year, and on 1 Jan 2024, I wrote about what we at the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and sustainability have been doing and plan to do going forward (for a peace based on sustainability).
So here I merely want to wish all people to have peace. Yes including colonizers who can only have peace by shedding their colonial mentality (liberation from their mental colonization). See my paper on this.
Stay Human and keep Palestine and hope of peace alive
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