On July 8th 2009 I had the opportunity to take part in a Peace and Justice project in Israel and Palestine. Our objective was to gain greater understanding of the conflict that exist, receive new insights, and even be challenged as to how we are to respond to the scale of injustice and violence being perpetrated in Israel and Palestine.
Each day we met with various Peacemaker groups that educated us about the current realities and their nonviolent efforts to promote unity and peace. Among them was ICAHD (Israeli Coalition Against home Demolitions) which is a non-violent, direct action group established to oppose and resist Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories.
To discover the root causes of the tension that exist between Israelis and Palestinians it is important to understand the background. For the last forty one years, the Palestinians have been engaged in resisting the occupation of their country. The entire Gaza Strip and the West Bank including East Jerusalem came under Israeli occupation in the war of 1967. It has been an oppressive military domination.
Today over three million Palestinians are longing for independence and freedom. Instead, most of them are under siege and are subjected to curfews and humiliation. The state of Israel has been consistently confiscating their land and building exclusively Jewish settlements on it, restricting their movements, demolishing their homes, devouring their water resources, and controlling every aspect of their life.
The Palestinians have tried through different methods to shake off the occupation but to no avail. For many years they have worked through the international community to bring an end to the Israeli occupation but they have been unsuccessful. Indeed, the United Nations has been powerless to implement its many resolutions on Palestine.
After the Gulf War, the Palestinians went to the Madrid Conference on October 1991 with the hope that it would lead to the implementation of UN resolutions 242 and 338. Instead, the negotiations took a circuitous route and opened the way to the Oslo Peace Process in 1993. With enthusiasm on the part of many, and scepticism on the part of others, most Palestinians entered the Peace Process with the hope that it would lead them into a negotiated settlement with their Israeli neighbours.
People expected that the presence of the Palestinian Authority with its democratically elected leadership would certainly enhance that process. Instead, Oslo led to entrenching the Israeli domination system, the deterioration of Palestinian economic life, increased in the confiscation of their land, and the deepening of their oppression.
With the apparent failure of the Peace Process, the second intifada (Palestinian uprising) started on September 2000 using armed resistance against the occupation as well as nonviolent resistance. Israel heightened its intransigence and intensified its oppressive policies.
With the benefit of hindsight, it seems that the second intifada was also indirectly pointed at the Palestinian authority that failed to deliver a just peace. Most of its active perpetrators were extremist militant Palestinian groups who were critical of Arafat’s policies. In other words, it is possible to stipulate that the anger of the people was directed not only against Israel but also against the Palestinian authority that seemed unable to curb the injustice.
With the increase of Palestinian resistance, there has been an immeasurable increase in Israeli oppression. Every aspect of Palestinian life worsened as the Israeli army escalated its malevolent policies against them. It has become a slow but steady process of strangulation of hope, and greater despair.
Each day we met with various Peacemaker groups that educated us about the current realities and their nonviolent efforts to promote unity and peace. Among them was ICAHD (Israeli Coalition Against home Demolitions) which is a non-violent, direct action group established to oppose and resist Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories.
To discover the root causes of the tension that exist between Israelis and Palestinians it is important to understand the background. For the last forty one years, the Palestinians have been engaged in resisting the occupation of their country. The entire Gaza Strip and the West Bank including East Jerusalem came under Israeli occupation in the war of 1967. It has been an oppressive military domination.
Today over three million Palestinians are longing for independence and freedom. Instead, most of them are under siege and are subjected to curfews and humiliation. The state of Israel has been consistently confiscating their land and building exclusively Jewish settlements on it, restricting their movements, demolishing their homes, devouring their water resources, and controlling every aspect of their life.
The Palestinians have tried through different methods to shake off the occupation but to no avail. For many years they have worked through the international community to bring an end to the Israeli occupation but they have been unsuccessful. Indeed, the United Nations has been powerless to implement its many resolutions on Palestine.
After the Gulf War, the Palestinians went to the Madrid Conference on October 1991 with the hope that it would lead to the implementation of UN resolutions 242 and 338. Instead, the negotiations took a circuitous route and opened the way to the Oslo Peace Process in 1993. With enthusiasm on the part of many, and scepticism on the part of others, most Palestinians entered the Peace Process with the hope that it would lead them into a negotiated settlement with their Israeli neighbours.
People expected that the presence of the Palestinian Authority with its democratically elected leadership would certainly enhance that process. Instead, Oslo led to entrenching the Israeli domination system, the deterioration of Palestinian economic life, increased in the confiscation of their land, and the deepening of their oppression.
With the apparent failure of the Peace Process, the second intifada (Palestinian uprising) started on September 2000 using armed resistance against the occupation as well as nonviolent resistance. Israel heightened its intransigence and intensified its oppressive policies.
With the benefit of hindsight, it seems that the second intifada was also indirectly pointed at the Palestinian authority that failed to deliver a just peace. Most of its active perpetrators were extremist militant Palestinian groups who were critical of Arafat’s policies. In other words, it is possible to stipulate that the anger of the people was directed not only against Israel but also against the Palestinian authority that seemed unable to curb the injustice.
With the increase of Palestinian resistance, there has been an immeasurable increase in Israeli oppression. Every aspect of Palestinian life worsened as the Israeli army escalated its malevolent policies against them. It has become a slow but steady process of strangulation of hope, and greater despair.
“… We as Palestinians have not been responsible for the suffering of the Jews in Europe, yet we are the ones chased out of our land and made to suffer so the world could soothe its conscience and pretend to repair the evil done against the Jews.” – Elias Chacour
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