[Peace-discuss] Christmas under occupation

Fri Dec 19 21:28:17 CST 2008

FYI.  --mkb

Begin forwarded message:

> Christmas under Occupation
> By Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh – Bethlehem
> http://palestinechronicle.com/
>
> When I look out the balcony of the faculty lounge at Bethlehem  
> University I hear the constant hammering of the construction in the  
> settlement that separates us from Jerusalem and I see Israeli  
> settlements built on Palestinian lands surrounding Bethlehem on  
> three sides. Every two weeks, Jewish settlers “visit” the hill on  
> the fourth side (called Ush Ghrab) that they have set their eyes  
> on. Yet, I hear the US media is focused on other things including  
> the weighty matter of dodging shoes.
>
> After living 29 years in the US, it is not easy to be living in  
> Bethlehem area especially this Christmas season.  Life can be at  
> times hard, exhilarating, depressing, fun, and hopeful. Israel  
> occupied this area in 1967, but the landscape had begun to change  
> well before that. In 1948, Bethlehem became home to thousands of  
> Palestinian refugees after more than 750,000 people were driven  
> from their homes in what became Israel. Palestinians were forbidden  
> to return, and three cramped refugee camps (Dheisheh, Azza, and  
> Aida) add to the local migrants from villages whose lands were  
> taken over.
>
> Since 2002, we have faced the enormous human costs of a massive,  
> concrete segregation wall.  The wall zigzags around Bethlehem,  
> placing fertile Palestinian agricultural lands on the "Israeli  
> side" and in many cases goes straight through centuries-old  
> villages - separating Palestinian families from each other and from  
> their jobs, hospitals, schools, churches and mosques. The wall and  
> checkpoints meant that many faculty and students can no longer make  
> it to school at Bethlehem University and our student body has  
> steadily lost its geographic diversity.  The biblical and literal  
> path from Nazareth to Bethlehem is blocked by many checkpoints and  
> thirty-foot high slabs of concrete.
>
> Many of my relatives lost jobs in Jerusalem or lost livelihoods  
> that depended on the city of which we are a suburb. It is virtually  
> impossible for West Bank Palestinians to obtain permits to enter  
> Jerusalem or for Jerusalemites to engage in commerce with us. Even  
> if one gets a rare permit, checkpoints make travel unpredictable  
> and often impossible, precluding maintaining a decent economy.  
> Unemployment is now at 45%, nearly twice what it was during the US  
> Great Depression. But we can be thankful that we are not living in  
> Gaza where things are far worse. Yet, the whole area feels like a  
> ticking time bomb.
>
> Israel's desire to acquire maximum geography with minimum  
> Palestinian demography is the root of the suffering afflicting the  
> Holy Land. Today there are 6 million Palestinian refugees and  
> displaced people. Amnesty International has observed that the  
> “peace processes” failed because Israel has ignored human rights,  
> including the right of native Palestinians to return to their homes  
> and lands. There is now a broad international consensus (with the  
> exceptions of the US and Israeli governments) on the danger to  
> international peace and security posed by Israel's continued  
> violations of human rights and international law. Clearly if one  
> wants peace in the Middle East and beyond, the path starts by  
> giving justice to Palestinians. I am doubly pained as an American  
> and a Palestinian Christian because my taxes support this 60-year  
> carnage. Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid and the  
> US administrations still go out of their way to cater to Israeli  
> lobby influences.
>
> The logic of military and political power dictates that Israel is  
> now building more Jewish settlements and demolishing more  
> Palestinian homes and farms inspite of its obligations under signed  
> agreements and under International law. The current Israeli  
> government is even moving further right to fend off the extreme  
> right of Netanyahu before the elections. The incoming Obama  
> administration has appointed Israeli apologists to key positions of  
> power (Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel) indicating we should expect  
> no “change”.
>
> Israel as the occupying power is responsible for the welfare of  
> those under its belligerent military rule per the applicable Geneva  
> conventions.  Yet, Israel has intentionally de-developed the  
> Palestinian economy. With the collusion of the EU and the US the  
> economy of the West Bank and Gaza became even more dependent on  
> Western “humanitarian aid”.  Some 30% of this aid is siphoned off  
> into Israel and some 30% goes to support Palestinian “security  
> forces” whose job seems to focus not on protecting Palestinians  
> from settler attacks but to fight any Palestinian who dares to  
> resist the occupation or challenge the usurpation of his land.
>
> There is a system of corruption involving governments and  
> “authorities” trickling down to people. This is coupled with a  
> media strategy that makes it look as if the only choices available  
> to Palestinians are blowing themselves up or capitulation and  
> endless negotiations. This sad state of affairs did not just happen  
> but was engineered and is actively managed to perpetuate occupation  
> and dependency. Why else would Israel deny entry to academics  
> coming to teach at the universities here or entry to equipment for  
> even the simplest of industries? Why deny Gaza electric power and  
> equipment to treat the sewage and thus let sewage of 1.5 million  
> people flow into the Mediterranean Sea polluting Europe and even  
> Tel Aviv?
>
> But we are hopeful; history is not static as is amply illustrated  
> by many historical example including the rise and fall of the Bush  
> dynasty. Here in Bethlehem, we derive strength from knowing that  
> the foreign military occupation that existed at Jesus’s time has  
> ended. We derive hope from the thousands of visitors who come every  
> year to show us solidarity. We derive contentment and patience from  
> our faith and prayers. We derive energy from our work for peace  
> with justice. The heads of our churches this year asked the  
> International community to consider “what would Jesus do” in this  
> situation of injustice.
>
> In this season celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace, let us  
> all resolve to pray and work for ending the occupation that began  
> in 1967 and for implementing other Internationally recognized  
> Palestinian rights. When we succeed, people of all religions (Jews,  
> Christians, and Muslims) and all backgrounds will share this small  
> piece of earth in harmony and peace. This will be the real change  
> that we have been working for and that will finally shed the  
> shackles holding US foreign policy.
>
> This is our prayer this holiday season.
>
> - Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD is Chairman of the Board of the Palestinian  
> Center for Rapprochement Between People - www.pcr.ps - and is a  
> professor at Bethlehem University in the occupied West Bank. He  
> contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Contact his  
> through his website: http://qumsiyeh.org
>
> Previous material I wrote in Previous Christmases (some directly  
> relevant to today, some depressingly showing how little things  
> change):
>
> http://www.qumsiyeh.org/christmas2007/
> http://www.qumsiyeh.org/christmas2006/
> http://mideastchristians.virtualactivism.net/newsarticles/mazin.htm  
> Christmas 2002
> http://www.jerusalemiloveyou.net/spip.php?article60 Holiday message  
> 2002
> http://www.mediamonitors.net/mazin1.html Christmas 2000
> http://qumsiyeh.org/aseasonofmayhem

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