I am amazed at the individualistic environment we now live in. As if people don’t realize that for survival we need each other. Maybe I’ve repeated this too many times to too many people, maybe I haven’t changed myself to live this way, however I am only human, like everyone else. The main thing is to realize this, and do something.
I recently bought a book called Destination Palestine, to prepare myself for my trip. I want to understand the history, the culture, and the people as well as I can. I was amazed at how the book started. Here is a short section where she quotes John Stanley Grauel, a Methodist Minister and crew member of the SS Exodus.
"This is the refugee ship, Exodus 1947. Before dawn today we were attacked by five British destroyers and one cruiser at a distance of seventeen miles from the shores of Palestine, in international waters. The assailants immediately opened fire, threw gas bombs, and rammed our ship from three directions. On our deck there are one dead, five dying, and one hundred twenty wounded. The resistance continued for more than three hours. Owing to the severe losses and the condition of the ship, which is in danger of sinking, we were compelled to sail in the direction of Haifa in order to save the 4,500 refugees on board from drowning.”
(Retrieved from http://www2.motl.org/resource/curriculum/curriculum_14.htm 6/19/2010)
Definitely makes me think of all the recent flotilla stories. Constantly seeing news clips of either “Freedom Flotilla,” or “Anit-Israel Flotilla.” Stories of Israeli soldiers attacking the peace activists, or the terrorist groups attacking Israeli soldiers. Hard to know which side is telling the truth, especially with Israel capturing all the crew’s media equipment….hmm I wonder why? I was hoping to remind the Jewish people of their story, arriving to the homeland. Their struggles with the British and the struggles experienced entering the “Home land.” Do I really have to remind them to put themselves in Palestinian people’s shoes? Do I have to remind them it wasn’t the Palestinians that kept them from coming home? Do I have to ask them why they feel it’s ok to do what the British did in 1947?
Opinions welcomed.
My precious Galina....we missed each other in our farewells but you will always remain in my mind and heart. So great to see you fully immerse yourself in this work which I know is deeply personal for you and start this very important and interesting blog.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is out and it will continue to be so. We will chose, and should chose, who and what to believe depending on our knowledge capacity and the values we hold dear. Systems and structures of oppression, managed by authoritarian elites, will always manipulate the truth of injustice to confuse people and keep them in a place of ignorance, powerlessness, and indifference.
For me, in today's world, truth is about social justice, it is about revolutionizing and transforming systems of oppression. In order to have a more in depth understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we must arm ourselves with the knowledge of the economic, political, and cultural root causes, which I might add, all intersect, to thoroughly analyze this conflict. And we must share our findings with others as you are doing here.
I am not to clear on the response from Anonymous but am very interesting in fully understanding. Any clarification from you Anonymous would be great.