Breaking the Silence

I decided to write a blog talking about Palestine, Israel, the conflict, the life there and so on, when I last went there. Then, because I am a lazy person, I didn’t start it. But, the idea continued to be in my mind.

Why another blog on Palestine you may wonder. Palestinian and Israeli newspapers already deal with those issues, as well as the main American, French and English newspapers do. Moreover, there are a lot of independent blogs denouncing what happens in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and in the Gaza Strip.

So, why another one?

The reasons are numerous.

First, all these newspapers are partisans and they advocate the points of view of a party instead of the other and they are extremely politicized. I don’t blame the fact that most newspapers take a right-wing or left- wing approach. It is normal and it’s an inherent right of every writers or journalists to support one political and ideological vision of the world and of the reality. Also because journalism teaches us that it’s almost impossible to be objective. Does it mean that we can’t do information? That anyone is entitled to tell stories or write editorials? And does it imply that I am objective while the rest of the world is not? No. Not at all. What I want to say is that intellectual honesty requires a declaration of purposes and an official stance on whatever we state. So, I declare that my view of the conflict is not impartial: to the contrary, is partisan because I am Palestinian. And, as many Palestinians I live the sufferance of having been uprooted by my homeland and forced to live in countries where I feel like a guest and I know what humiliations a Palestinian can suffer.

Secondly, newspapers, books and blogs don’t reflect the voice of Palestinians. Newspapers and books have an editorial policy they have to follow, so they can’t freely express their opinion or they can’t report what really happens to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, to Palestinians in refugee camps in the neighboring Arab countries and neither to Arab Israelis living in Israel. Moreover, even the Palestinian newspapers aren’t free. They support one party or the other. Thus, they depict something that can be far from the reality. As for the blogs. Well, they are often written either by internationals or by alleged left-wing Israelis and I honestly thank them for their huge contribution to the public debate, for their willingness to break the wall of disinformation and silence surrounding the Palestine- Israel question. But, still, where is the Palestinian voice?

Thirdly, and most importantly, I want to add my voice to debate. I want to be another critical and disobedient voice in the public space, fed and dominated by the same old rhetoric: Jews have suffered the Holocaust, they have right on the Holy Land because they are God’s elected people, they had to build a Jewish State to protect themselves from an anti- Semite world, they are willing to negotiate with Palestinians and if the conflict has not yet been solved is because Palestinians don’t want peace, a viable independent Palestinian State is not possible because Palestinians constitute a threat to the Jewish State and they will not be able to prevent and fight terrorism. This is just an exemplification of the much more detailed and complex mainstream version Israelis, Jewish lobbies and media spread and support. Post by post we will try to cast doubts on these statements, to have a more critical and nuanced point of view.

Before starting, few considerations are compulsory. I am not an anti- Semite. The reason is self- evident: as I have half European blood and half Arab blood, I am Semite myself, so I can’t hate myself and my ethnic roots. I am not racist and I reject every form of hate or discrimination based on sex, religion, race, political opinion and so on. I don’t like categorization, so I neither like the epithet of anti- Zionist, but if being anti- Zionist means being anti- colonialist and fighting all forms of colonization (even the creepiest ones), so I am. But, I am not anti- Israelis: first, I have never met one, so I don’t know all the differences and complexities there are in their society and, then, I don’t want to play their game. That means, they are in Israel, this is an unchallenging reality and I don’t want that the ethnic cleansing they have done to Palestinians to be done to them. This would mean lowering ourselves to their level. And, we don’t want this.

A last remark. I speak on behalf of myself. I don’t speak on behalf of the Palestinian people in its entirety, but maybe they will share with me some ideas and key- points. This blog is addressed to anyone, so I will try to be as much as I can exhaustive. This blog isn’t a newspaper, so it will be updated when possible. My background is international law, so sometimes I will be extremely boring for many, but international law constitutes one of the strongest tools Palestinians have to defend themselves (even if they never contributed to its formation. Remark that could open a huge debate on the value and the validity of international law). I would like to refer always to Palestine, but as it is divided between the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the situation is different in many ways in the two territories, I am obliged to talk about Occupied Palestinian Territories, West Bank and Gaza Strip.

I dedicate this blog to Palestinians, hoping that the considerations I develop in it could help to form a new and stronger public opinion and political élite, that will substitute the disappointing existing one.