Home Safe but Not So Sound

"By telling our stories, we resist the diminishing of the reality of our lives. We resist vague and generalized abstractions and we maintain the urgency and intensity of the concrete. And so I share with you something of my story in the hopes of revealing the complexity of our truth." Jean Zaru

Under the haze of jet lag I give you this prologue to my recent journey to the contested unfree land of Palestine. Admittedly this first entry is a bit disjunct, a flow of consciousness. Dear reader, bear with me. With so much to process, I am overwhelmed with exactly where to begin. I know my heart insists that I not lose sight of the struggle over there and to be a part of the movement to end the occupation. Remembering the words of Eldridge Cleaver, I am held to task: "There is no more neutrality in the world. You either have to be part of the solution, or you're going to be part of the problem-- there ain't no more middle ground." 

FIRST STEPS

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

October 26, 2014 I embarked on a journey that has transformed my life.  I traveled to Israel/Palestine as a delegate with the Interfaith Peace Builders, an organization that sends delegations from North America to learn about the conflict directly from the people who are living it daily. We stayed with families, met with activists, harvested olives, visited detention centers and refugee camps, mosques, churches, synagogues, museums, etc. And now I am finally home, safe but not so sound after my first visit to Israel/Palestine. While I am happy to be in this place I call home, I am acutely aware of the instability of home for our Palestinian sisters and brothers and the stark differences between Palestineans and Israelis and the stability of a place called home. 

While on the flight from DC to SF, I dug into Jean Zaru's book Occupied with Nonviolence: A Palestinian Woman Speaks. I believe this book is a good starting place for those unfamiliar with the current Palestinean/Israel conflict. I had the honor of meeting this amazing spirited, soulful woman in Ramallah at the Friends Meeting House.  Jean writes of the importance of telling our stories. I have returned home forever changed and the stories I will share on this blog will outline why.  

To begin - I am clear that anyone who remains neutral after learning about the Israeli occupation of Palestine will be complicit in the proliferation of the imperialist colonial project unfolding not only over there, but globally.  In other words, I'd read that the tear gas used in Ferguson was the same as is used by Israeli military against Palestineans. As a matter of fact, the tear gas that was used on the Interfaith Peace-Builders African Heritage delegation in Palestine just the other day was produced by the same company that supplies the police force in Ferguson. Watch video here of the gassing of the IFPB African Heritage delegation. Knowledge of this requires that I step up my support for the actions in Ferguson. (I had the fortunate opportunity to move between this delegation and the Olive Harvest Delegation and was not with them this day, however, the army did a very similar operation when the Olive Harvest delegation visited the wall.  Our experience was not as severe since the gas did not reach us. It could have been much worse and that's more the issue.  Much of the violence meted out on the Palestinians occurs at the whim of young 18 to twenty-something year old young adult men and women.

I will be writing and sharing my journey in the coming weeks. There is much to digest, study, read. I look forward to the journey with you, the conversations, the questions. I know that the Palestinian story is our story. Like it or not, ALL of our futures are intricately and inextricably tied to the struggle for Palestinian freedom and until Palestine is free, no one is free.

In closing, meet Jean Zaru.  Her works reminds me to stay viscerally aware of our shared humanity and believe me when I say that after visiting the contested land of Palestine, I have to work very hard not to harbor hate.  

 Wishing you peace ALWAYS and in ALL WAYS. Shukran!

"I hope that through our work and efforts we are able to
transform the structures wherever they are - in the US, in Palestine, in Israel - and there will be more structures and it will
 bring peace to the different areas of the world."

Inshallah!
Angela