Ghada Karmi: The Strength of Palestinian Narrative in the Face of Violence

thank you Bina for this important and powerful post :-)
Apart from the Guardian and the Independent (especially Robert Fisk`s excellent articles) the majority of the British media is also terribly biased towards the Israelis and any criticism of Israel is immediately brandished as anti-Semitism; the result is that most people here have no clue about the terrible situation the brave and noble Palestinians are enduring. Their struggle for liberation is definitely a jihad and it is a constant shame on the leaders of the Muslim lands that not one of them is doing anything to help our Palestinian brothers and sisters gain their land back and their freedom. I met a person from their and he said that although the Muslim governments don`t help much the peoples of the countries help a lot via monetary contributions and he singled out the Saudis for special praise saying they `give too much!`. He also told me that almost all Palestinians support Hamas` veiwpoint and not the PLO who are discredited...
Allah`s Habib sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam said that the people of that region will be undergoing jihad until the Day of Judgement and we know that the whole area is sacred. May Allah grant them freedom soon.
Amin.

Again thanks for highlighting this Palestinian sister`s book--where can one buy it from? What is it called?

Nice
Thank you Bina.

struggles are an admirable thing.

however, civil disobedience - non violence techniques should be adopted.

Dear Naqshbandi,
Can I know where Allah said that and the precise words, please?

SALAM AND SHALOM

This illusion of peace will not be easy
Like the one before Europe developed a late guilt
After the “Final Solution” on helpless Jews
And before the demonizing in the Western Press
Of followers of another monotheistic faith
Who choose to call the same God “Allah”

To hide the anger and memory of genocide
Committed by another people who are forgetful
A once wandering people of the Torah
Ironically practice today a policy of Apartheid
And fight battles in the town where Jesus
Brought peace and spread love to the soul of man.


Not to rekindle our already many biases
At the Al Aqsa Mosque or the Wailing Wall
One could only have hoped that the landless Palestinians
Would get a much better deal from a people who
Remained thirsty, many centuries
For a place of their own
But the tanks rolling through Ramallah hint otherwise

Hope keeps us going, as heavy hearts wish for solutions
Hesitant handshakes, children playing, wishing together
But who can change the direction of this hostile wind?
And calm the rage of landless generations as
Their young without dreams become human bombs
Where Salam and Shalom now must coexist.


By

Ras H. Siddiqui

Bina,

The problem with the palestinians is that the society does not tolerate multiplicity of views. No one in palestine can say that terrorism should stop and hope to see another sun rise.

All of the muslims complain about islam being portrayed badly, the fact is that the world is against only one aspect of islam, the jihad, the idea that every muslim has to search for the non-innocent kafir and kill him.

So many muslims keep ta;lking about what jihad is, it is the fight against the internal eveil blah blah..no one dares to say what it is not.

The day a muslim country, for that matter aly muslim leader dares to say that, no jihad is not killing of kafirs...it would be a new day for islam.

Even on the anonymity of chowk, no pakistani dares to say what jihad is not, the simple fact is that ISI will be after them.

yeah naqshbandi,

where does it say that that region is cursed with everlasting jihad?

americanexpress:
the Prophet once said `war is strategy`. strategy is the important word. adopting violence without any strategy is stupidity and deserves to fail. what were the words of ol man bala...something like apni taqat pay naaz hai nadanoun ko...what strength?

palestiine cause as you say has dwindling support. and naturally so. without public support, nothing can be achieved. non violent methods are the way to go- they`ve shown to work- in america, in india, in south africa. there are thousands of jews in israel who support peace but hesitate to actively pursue it due to the fear of being compromised by the stupidity of the violence prone palestineans.

i know little about history. but in modern history, apart from Cuba, has any country ever achieved true independence through a violent revolutionary struggle?

Re: Bina

Jihad is not going to solve the Palestinians` problem. If one moves beyond the emotional appeal to the problem, it soon becomes clear that root of the problem is multi-natured. There is no legitimate representation of the Palestian cause; there is the acute frustration from the Israeli occupation; there is no economic hope for the territories; there is the feeling of being ignored by the world and being the orphans of the Muslim world.

Israeli policies are not without blame and Ariel Sharon`s policy towards the problem is only increasing the cycle of violence. The need is to end the violence, but for that to happen the methodology of jihad, as a political leverage, has to be discarded. Isreal has to deal with the immediate and pressing problems of the territories and both sides have to realize and admit that violence is not the answer to their problems. The daily humilatations of the Palestinians has to end, otherwise a new generation will simply adopt anger and resentment as an expression of their frustrations. Both the Palestinians and the Israelis have to start the slow process of re-humanizing each other and stop demonizing each other. Empathy for the other`s legitimate concerns will have to be created and more than, a level of tolerance will have to found, which allows meaningful dialogue which addresses the causes of this problem. Like another crisis, in another part of the world, the solution does not lie with the politicans, but with the ordinary people. Politics is a part of the problem in the region and not a solution, but ironically this a political crisis and it will be only solved through secular politics.

Violence has to be rejected in its totality and in all its manifestations, regardless of its justifications.

Ciao

I would just like to point out that Palestinians term themselves as Arabs and always appeal to Arab unity raher than Muslim. This is because both Muslim and Christian Palestinians are fighting for their just cause alongside each other. Hence, bringing religion would be detrimental to their cause.

I just wanted to mention this because Pakistanis castigate Palestinians on their lack of support for a `Muslim` Kashmir in turn for Pakistan`s support for them.

Again, Palestinians, Pakistanis and Kashmiris need to fight for their cause on diplomatic and media front, as most of the wars are being fought and won in these arenas these days.

attended one of her lectures yesterday...i thought karmi wasnt a particularly powerful orator but what she had to say made sense... suicide bombing is tragic, she said repeatedly... instead of being labelled monstrous and horrific every time it happens, why dont the people with so many eons old civilizations try figure out in all their wisdom why its happening? no efforts made in this vein..why bhai?

cheese,

``no efforts made in this vein..why bhai?``

that would make sense, you see. we can`t have that happening, silly girl!

Bina: I think we Pakistanis should have nothing to do with the Palestinian politics. They (Israelis and Arabs) have been killing one another for fifty years, and they will keep on doing so until one of two things happens: (a) One side militarily prevails and the other side is defeated - this is not going to happen from all indications. The whole thing is a military stalemate - the only likely thing militarily is that the Israelis throw all the palestinians out of the West Bank and Gaza. They are capable of doing that militarily, and the Arabs are incapable of stopping them. But Israel cant go further than that, I think, even if it wanted too. And the Arabs simply lack the capacity to do anything more than murder civilians. (b) The Arabs come to their senses, and realize they have been banging their heads against a brick wall. And also realize that there is enough room in the middle east for both arabs and israel. What is driving the palestinians is frustration, anger, pride. Not rational calculations.
They say a fool does the same thing as a wise man, but only after much time and suffering. With no disrespect meant for the palestinians, I think therefore that (b) is what will happen sooner or later.
If the Pakistan government really cares for the sufferings of the palestinian people, it would seek to promote (b), rather than encouraging palestinians to continue their senseless course of action. Unfortunately with friends like those in Pakistan and in Arab countries, the palestinians do not need any enemies.

Re:tahmed32#17
I think Palestinians need to realize that ends do not justify the means, irrespective of how legitimate their objective is. Setting off suicide bombs in populated cafes and causing civilian deaths is no way to achieve any kind of political goal. It cheapens the struggle and creates a demonic image that the Israelis have successfully exploited. So the Palestinians need to stop using these means, not as a strategic cease fire, but as a fundamental change in strategy.
What is really tragic is that the Palestinians actually have a very strong case. They have lost most of their original country, become refugees and are occupied in the small amount of land that they inhabit. Their conditions would have generated a lot of sympathy in the west, were it not for the collective guilt felt by the west about the holocaust against jews. The determination to see Israel survive and succeed comes from this guilt, which currently outweighs the sympathy for Palestinians. So, the best the Palestinians can hope for is that both Israelis and Palestinians are viewed with the same level of sympathy. Essentially that means, settling for a compromise, along the lines proposed by Barak and Clinton. If the Palestinians are smart, they can get quite creative in this matter. For e.g. get their own state on West Bank and Gaza and demand a ``green card`` for living and working in Israel, in exchange for permanent peace.

Excellent reportage Bina.

I don`t think anyone, including religion, is in a position to give sanctimonious shitt to Palestinians about whether suicide bombings are moral or not. It is not a failure of Palestinian morality, it is a failure of us as human beings for we are responsible for their misery.

American Express #18 I agree with you that both Israel and Pakistan should remain separate states. However, I think it is academic to say, as you do, that both share the same (religious) basis for creation and that is why both have a ``right``. However, the reason I agree is because these states are already there. Any attempt to undo either of the two states would cost human life. And the life of a single human being is worth more than any political boundary. Political boundries may peacefully dissolve through the willingness of populations concerned (as is happening in Europe). But it is criminal, I think, to try to change them through violent means. Since there is nothing sacred about nation-states despite all the bs that one reads on chowk between ``Indian`` and ``Pakistani`` patriots. And there is plenty sacred about human life.

amit #19 I think the point you make about the ends not justifying the means is not only morally sound, it also is a good guide for practical actions. And the reason for the latter is that the ``ends`` to which someone is focussed are not the only option, and alternatives - often far better in the long run - are available. In case of palestine this means that palestinians should think of substituting confrontation with israel `` (and ``confrontation`` itself means different things to different palestinians I am sure), with a different ``end``, namely the ``educational and economic betterment``. This means required for this end (i.e. development resources) are available in abundance and do not require making enemies or violence of any kind.
Land is increasingly irrelevant as a factor of production anyway, while knowledge is increasingly relevant.