Day 5...
Today was my first day of class. The class I am taking is called "The Palestine Question" it is basically the last 100 years from the Palestinian perspective. Our professor did a basic overview of the semester, and I found that I was much less upset by the things he said than when I had heard them in previous years of my education on the conflict. At one point the topic of anti semitism vs anti Israel came up and he went off on a long tangent about how Palestinians are not anti semetic, they are not even (for the most part) anti Israeli any more. They are anti those who perpetuate the occupation. He said it wasn't about your religion or where you come from, but where you stand. It was then that I began to evaluate where I stand. I have been thinking about it all day, especially because I have an overwhelming desire to stop lying about who I am.
I think I have come to the conclusion that I am not a Zionist. The Jews don't have a right to Israel. Im sorry if this upsets a lot of my friends, but I want you to remember that I came to this conclusion based on what I learned before I came here. I believe the Jews needed and need a home, and now thats its here I believe it should stay here. you cant airlift all Israelis to Canada, but Israel should not have been created at the expense of the Palestinian population. We dont deserve this land more than the Palestinians. In Sunday school I learned that Israel was the land with out a people for a people without a land, but that was a lie. There were people here and they were properly fucked from several directions. I also believe that the Palestinians have the right to return, but because of the facts on the ground it is no longer logistically possible, but this doesn't mean they cant get some kind of compensation for what has happened to them. There needs to be recognition of this right and then compensation from Israel. Then the wall (and I mean wall, an electric fence with sniper towers and ditches on either side is just as much of a wall as cement) must come down, and the check points and all the settlements must go. If there was no occupation what would the Palestinians have to fight against. They have already accepted 22% of a land that was once theirs entirely, why should they accept any less.
Most of you who would take the time to read this know that I love this land and its people and one day I want to make Aliya and live in Israel, but I want to live in an Israel that is no longer occupying another people. I want to live in an Israel that stands proudly next to a State called Palestine that has control of its own borders, and constant access to water and power. It will take generations to over come the animosity, distrust and fear between Israelis and Palestinians but the reconciliation process cannot even begin to happen until the occupation ends and the Palestinians have a viable state. This is how I feel. This is where I stand
Today was my first day of class. The class I am taking is called "The Palestine Question" it is basically the last 100 years from the Palestinian perspective. Our professor did a basic overview of the semester, and I found that I was much less upset by the things he said than when I had heard them in previous years of my education on the conflict. At one point the topic of anti semitism vs anti Israel came up and he went off on a long tangent about how Palestinians are not anti semetic, they are not even (for the most part) anti Israeli any more. They are anti those who perpetuate the occupation. He said it wasn't about your religion or where you come from, but where you stand. It was then that I began to evaluate where I stand. I have been thinking about it all day, especially because I have an overwhelming desire to stop lying about who I am.
I think I have come to the conclusion that I am not a Zionist. The Jews don't have a right to Israel. Im sorry if this upsets a lot of my friends, but I want you to remember that I came to this conclusion based on what I learned before I came here. I believe the Jews needed and need a home, and now thats its here I believe it should stay here. you cant airlift all Israelis to Canada, but Israel should not have been created at the expense of the Palestinian population. We dont deserve this land more than the Palestinians. In Sunday school I learned that Israel was the land with out a people for a people without a land, but that was a lie. There were people here and they were properly fucked from several directions. I also believe that the Palestinians have the right to return, but because of the facts on the ground it is no longer logistically possible, but this doesn't mean they cant get some kind of compensation for what has happened to them. There needs to be recognition of this right and then compensation from Israel. Then the wall (and I mean wall, an electric fence with sniper towers and ditches on either side is just as much of a wall as cement) must come down, and the check points and all the settlements must go. If there was no occupation what would the Palestinians have to fight against. They have already accepted 22% of a land that was once theirs entirely, why should they accept any less.
Most of you who would take the time to read this know that I love this land and its people and one day I want to make Aliya and live in Israel, but I want to live in an Israel that is no longer occupying another people. I want to live in an Israel that stands proudly next to a State called Palestine that has control of its own borders, and constant access to water and power. It will take generations to over come the animosity, distrust and fear between Israelis and Palestinians but the reconciliation process cannot even begin to happen until the occupation ends and the Palestinians have a viable state. This is how I feel. This is where I stand
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