[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [HumanRights] A Palestinian in Deutschland

Sun May 29 16:26:19 CDT 2011

A determined American-Palestinian. It's his American citizenship that keeps him relatively safe in the West Bank. His theme is emotional, constant and repetitive, but that is necessary. 

--mkb

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Mazin Qumsiyeh" <mazin at qumsiyeh.org>
> Date: May 29, 2011 6:50:46 AM CDT
> To: Mort Brussel <brussel at illinois.edu>
> Cc: Human Rights Newsletter <humanrights at lists.qumsiyeh.org>
> Subject: [HumanRights] A Palestinian in Deutschland
> 
> A Palestinian in Deutschland
> 
> 
> <http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2011/05/palestinian-in-deutchland.ht
> ml>
> http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2011/05/palestinian-in-deutchland.htm
> l
> 
> 
> 
> At speeds that at one time reached 208 km/hour we drove the length of
> historic Palestine in about three hours on the Autobahn between Fulda and
> Munich.  Idyllic villages appeared occasionally between the endless green
> and fertile fields. I was with three men who had idealism and youth and
> energy. Six of us had slept last night on floors and couches in the student
> service center of The University of Applied Sciences in Fulda after a talk
> to some 50 students and faculty.  Then onto Munich, where I gave a talk to
> some 100 people.  Tomorrow I go to Berlin, then Stockholm, then Rome. It is
> strange to be in this land hearing the language that reminded me of my
> graduate career (I studied German reading as part of my needed skills for
> the research on mammals).  But it also reminded me that this is the language
> of all early Zionist leaders. The vision of a Jewish state freed from its
> original non-Jewish inhabitants was articulated so clearly in those early
> writings and protocols of the World Zionist Congress. "Der Judenstaat" by
> Theodor Herzl remains a classic.  Ironically, the fastest growing Jewish
> population in the world today is right here in Germany.  I wondered why
> among those prospering in Germany of all places cling to the lies of
> Zionism. But Germany is a land of contradictions.
> 
> 
> 
> It is not only a contradiction between the modern reality of today and the
> horrors of WWII. Here is a modern democratic country where free speech and
> historical examination is open but it is forbidden and punishable to examine
> the historical record of the Jewish holocaust.  Here where the economy is
> booming and the country beautiful but the government seems content to obey
> whatever is dictated by the US State Department (itself obeying orders from
> Tel Aviv).  Here where the lessons of violations of human rights are learnt
> well but exceptions are made for the massive violations of human rights of
> millions of Palestinians.   In my answer to a Zionist at Fulda, I stated
> that he is engaged in Nakba denial and that this is just as bad as denial of
> the Jewish holocaust (a crime in Germany).
> 
> 
> 
> In the last few years, I gave talks to tens of thousands of people in
> hundreds of cities around the world.  I had interactions with hundreds of
> Zionists, many who have worked hard to prevent my appearance but who then
> had to come and try to make their points.  Not one of those Zionists was
> honest; their talking points being the same tired ones intended to deflect
> attention from and not have to deal with facts of ethnic cleansing,
> colonization and land theft. How do you justify the largest post WWII
> refugee population and sleep at night?  The desperate attempts involve
> regurgitating easily dispelled myths.  In all cases, they try to use and
> abuse Jewish history in Europe to garner sympathy.  But even this lost its
> effectiveness as a fig-leaf to cover for war crimes and crimes against
> humanity directed at a people who had nothing to do with what happened in
> Europe. Even here in Germany and despite a guilt complex, facts seem to
> trump the Zionist perfidy.  It is not even possible anymore to hide the
> Nazi-Zionist collaboration of the 1930s and early 1940s let alone to hide
> what they did to 12 million Palestinian natives.  It is not possible to hide
> the fact that Zionists and Jew-haters share the same goal of attributing to
> Jews what Zionists and their racist apartheid state is doing.  Hence
> Zionists insist on using Jewish symbols on their racist state. 
> 
> 
> 
> People around the world are now aware of how damaging Zionism is and was
> (including to Jews around the world). How do you justify the fact that a
> beautiful ancient land was raped and pillaged and cleansed of its natives to
> be transformed to that last apartheid system on earth? Most know that
> Zionism is to Judaism what Crusaderism was to Christianity and BinLadenism
> to Islam. What Zionists promised fellow Jews was safety and security but not
> morality or justice.  But even in this simple promise they lied.  Because,
> as an ex-Zionist once remarked: a Jew in Tel Aviv today is certainly less
> safe than a Jew in Berlin or anywhere else in the world.  So while Zionists
> try to justify themselves to non-Jews based on myths about the history of
> Palestine, they try to convince fellow-Jews by using the primal human
> emotion of fear (in this case of the goyim/gentiles).  But even that
> emotional tribalism is long outdated.  More and more Jews are seeing that
> safety and prosperity do not arise from oppressing others or from replacing
> the small ghettos in Europe with the large ghetto called the "Jewish state".
> Germans had learned the lesson that repression and oppression of others does
> not work long term. Other people have learned this lesson.  Zionists will
> invariably have to internalize this lesson just like many anti-Zionist Jews
> have internalized it.  Only then will these Jews rise "out of the ashes"
> (the title of a great book by Jewish Theologian Marc Ellis.)
> 
> 
> 
> In the meantime, our tasks as Palestinians and all people of conscience is
> to assess our own roles and expand them to tell truth to power and to engage
> in resistance to tyranny for example by using boycotts, divestments, and
> sanctions. That is what the many people I talked to in Fulda, in Munich, and
> those I will talk to in the next few days in Berlin, Stockholm, and Rome are
> doing.  As the global intifada unfolds, we collectively shed apathy and
> reclaim our humanity.
> 
> 
> 
> I got interviewed over 8 times in the past week about supposed political
> developments (speeches and plans to go to the UN).  Questions about what
> Obama, Netanyahu, and Palestinian "leaders" had to say.  My answers are that
> what these folks say is very predictable and why would we want to waste time
> dealing with it.  Netanyahu is a colonialist racist and can only say what
> all colonialist racists have to say.  Obama is a politician beholden to the
> lobby and can only try to cajole the lobby as he tries desperately to hide
> the reality of US hypocrisy and war mongering.  And many prominent
> Palestinians have given up on the liberation struggle a long time ago and
> replaced it with the struggle to hold on to their seats.  None of them
> really take into account people power.    See the article by Ali Abunimah
> "What happened to Palestinian "reconciliation"?" and especially the three
> links within them that show how some key leaders of the Palestinian
> authority (Fatah) had engaged in what would be considered treasonous
> behavior in other circumstances
> 
> 
> <http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/what-happened-palestinian-r
> econciliation>
> http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/what-happened-palestinian-re
> conciliation
> 
> 
> 
> Reviews of my book on Popular Resistance in Palestine:
> 
> By Theresa Wolfwood
> <http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16885>
> http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16885
> 
> By Asa Winstanley
> <http://electronicintifada.net/content/book-review-popular-resistance-popula
> r-history/9936>
> http://electronicintifada.net/content/book-review-popular-resistance-popular
> -history/9936
> 
> 
> 
> Open letter to the people of Palestine from South African theologian Dr.
> Farid Esack
> 
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1skU_nVaMl8>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1skU_nVaMl8
> 
> 
> 
> Join us in Palestine July 8-16  <http://palestinejn.org/>
> http://palestinejn.org
> 
> 
> 
> Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
> 
> <http://qumsiyeh.org/> http://qumsiyeh.org
> 
> 
> 
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