The Land That Gives
Intro: Why is this “so complicated”? (1 minutes)
The Palestinian Advocacy Movement (PAM) Tripod:
1. Mindset shift, “It’s Okay to Change Your Mind” (5 minutes)
1.1. Identifying as pro-humanity: empathy as an authentic first reaction
1.2. Protection & equal rights to all, including the Jewish people
1.3. “What-about”isms are Red Herrings
2. What Does Equality Look Like? (12 minutes)
2.1. Abolishing the Israeli-Mandated ID System
2.2. Ceasing the building & expansion of Israeli settlements
2.3. Gaining access to natural resources
2.4. Freedom of movement
3. Institutional Realities Straining Equality (12 minutes)
3.1. Realpolitik, aka Power Politics
3.2. Systemic reward of the ultra-right in the highest positions of Israeli political discourse
3.3. Attributing the Palestinian need for safety and equality to specific political parties vs recognizing them as party-agnostic rights
3.4. Violence utilized by some Palestinians
(*) Why do individuals become human bombs? Redemptive logic of suicide bombers
(*) Why do organizations promote suicide bombings? Strategic logic of insurgent groups
(*) Why do societies venerate suicide bombers? The logic of ethnic communities in conflict
3.5. Political corruption on both sides
Where do we go from here? (5 minutes)
1. Two State Solution
2. One Unified State
Hate = (Fear + Anger) x Time (1 minutes)
Intro: Why is this “so complicated”?
As a Palestinian refugee on both parents’ sides living in the diaspora, and with over half my family still living in the West Bank, the past month has been inexplicably hard to experience. Hundreds of Palestinians died, including more than 100 women and children. All throughout the past month I kept asking myself how is it humanly possible that this loss of human life is a “controversial” topic, how is it possible that this is “so complicated”?
Eventually, I was able to trace this back to one thing: many people approach this conflict by starting with the question “am I pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli?”
While this question appears benign on the surface, it’s the worst starting point because it creates emotional bias to a pre-chosen answer before you’ve had a chance to consider facts and reality of day-to-day life in that land. This emotional bias stems from one’s own identity, immediate community, past behaviors and actions. For example:
- Was I born in Israel or do I have family who were born in Israel? Likely pro-Israeli
- Was I born in Palestine or do I have family who were born in Palestine? Likely pro-Palestinian
- Did I go on a birthright trip and didn’t steer off scheduled programming? Likely pro-Israeli
- Am I on the leadership of a civil rights activist organization including Black Lives Matter, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, adn B’Tselem? Likely pro-Palestine
- Am I Muslim? Likely pro-Palestinian
- Am I Jewish? Likely pro-Israeli
- Is my grandfather Arab? Likely pro-Palestinian
- Did I recently start dating an Israeli girl who I really like? Likely pro-Israeli
One might think that humans are logic machines: beings who arrive at conclusions based on logical facts and then feel some kind of way about their conclusions (e.g. happy, proud, sad, mad, etc…). But it turns out that humans are not logic machines that feel, they’re feeling machines that think. We arrive at conclusions based on feelings and then rationalize our predetermined conclusions to ourselves and others.
Given the above, there’s a need for more constructive dialogue on this topic. This gave rise to what I’ve dubbed as the Palestinian Advocacy Movement (PAM), a concept that I’ve reimagined through this work. The goal of PAM is to provide a framework to everyone while thinking about or navigating conversations on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as viewed through the lens of the day-to-day life of Palestinians. PAM comprises 3 core tenets, the “PAM Tripod,” with each tenet housing a few underlying calls-to-action. This is a blueprint for all to use and reference widely.
The PAM Tripod
1. Mindset shift: “It’s Okay to Change Your Mind”
Whenever you think about the conflict through the lens of being either pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli, you may experience confirmation bias. An element of the emotional bias might appear in the form of moralizing of previous behaviors and actions. For example, I have friends who told me that they visited Israel on a free birthright trip and when they learned that I’m Palestinian they feel the need to express how their trip wasn’t politically motivated. Or sometimes when I meet a person in the US who tells me they’re from Israel right after I had just told them I’m Palestinian, I feel the need to say “some of my closest friends in the US come from there!”
The “past you” has no control over the current you, and you craft your own journey in life, reserving the right to evolve your opinions on any matter as time goes on. The first tenet of the Palestinian Advocacy Movement advocates for recognizing existing confirmation bias. It advocates for approaching conversations on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with flexibility of thinking and a willingness to listen, no matter where you stand on this conflict.
1.1. Identifying as pro-humanity: empathy as an authentic first reaction
The Palestinian Advocacy Movement affirms that you should never identify as pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli. You should only identify as pro-humanity. Otherwise, you’d be “inheriting” your side and that’s inherently bad as it leads to giving one side the right to do whatever it wants without moral repercussions.
For example, when you hear “Israeli planes dropped bombs on the most densely populated stretch of land in the world killing more than 100 women and children,” is your first reaction an immense sadness and sympathy for the innocent lives lost? Did it make you think about what could have been done to stop it — not mitigate the loss of life, but completely prevent it?
Or did you immediately think “hey, world politics is hard and I do not understand it, so I leave it to the politicians to figure it out. During war there are always casualties, so it is what it is.” Pause for a moment… think of how you’d feel if you lost your mother, brother, sister, or your child in an airstrike…now imagine that multiplied by a hundred people in one week…that’s what took place in Gaza.
If you feel deep authentic empathy when you hear of innocent lives lost and your instinctive reaction is not to Google justifications for this loss of life, then I applaud you. This is the most important step of all, recognizing that these civilian lives lost are as valuable as yours and that any loss of civilian life is completely unacceptable. The Palestinian Advocacy Movement is about changing our first reaction of Palestinian loss of life from “Israel has the right to defend itself” to “Oh my God, this many people died?!? That’s terrible! Politicians may not be doing the best job here, what could I do as an individual to stop more people from dying?”
1.2. Protection and equal rights to all, including the Jewish people
There is no place for anti-semitism in the Palestinian advocacy movement. And I don’t mean linguistically-speaking; where the word “semite” means “a person who speaks a Semitic language, in particular the Jews and Arabs,” so by that definition Arabs and Jews are blood-related semites and neither can technically be “antisemitic.” But I mean anyone who’s ever committed an act of discrimination or harassment towards another based on their religion is not welcome in the Palestinian Advocacy Movement. I am a Palestinian and I stand against anti-semitism — the same way that I stand for Black Lives Matter, the same way I stand against Asian-American hate crimes, and the same way I stand against growing global Islamophobia.
The protection of Jewish life has been a core tenet of Palestinian history for centuries, semites supporting semites. Jews have suffered discrimination and antisemitism in Europe across the ages, with the atrocious crimes of the Holocaust still vivid within our collective memory. But the one place that did not subjugate Jews during these dark ages was the Muslim World. Muslims offered the Jews so much safety and protection that when Christianity returned to Spain, the Jews left with the Muslims to North Africa, fearing that the prevalent European antisemitism would resurface. Jews were welcomed with open arms and they enriched the muslim-dominant economy at the time with their contributions in various professions, including the processing of silks and fabrics. They were also experts in trade with various Mediterranean centers, Jews who traded in Europe opened channels for Muslims to trade and transact business in Europe. They were cultural intermediaries in matters of trade and the economy and they enriched the lives of muslims they coexisted with by immeasurable amounts. This is why, to this day, so many Jews can be found in Morocco and the Arab North African coast living in peace & coexistence with some serving as ministers of state. This is also why historic Palestine had Muslims, Christians, and Jews coexisting — for example, in Jerusalem alone, Jews formed over half of the peaceful population 100 years ago before the ongoing divide.
“If Jews, Christians, and Muslims all lived together in peace and harmony in that land, then why is the Palestinian Advocacy Movement trying to exclude the Jews?” This question is a fallacy. The Palestinian Advocacy Movement aims to include the Palestinians, not exclude the Jews. It’s a movement of equity to all original inhabitants of that land, not one of exclusion.
A lot of religious bigotry surfaces from all sides whenever this conflict is raised, and the Palestinian Advocacy Movement aims to squash that. Of course this conflict has a religious dimension; Muslims and Jews passionately care about this conflict, but it is not a religious conflict nor is it a holy war. This is not about Jews vs Muslims. This is a humanitarian conflict that must be viewed through the lens of international law, international security, national security, human rights, and self determination. Not through lazy immoral tropes about devious powerful Jews or violent bearded Muslim terrorists. Muslims around the world are not responsible for the actions of Hamas or any other militant groups nor should they feel the need to support them blindly. Jews are not responsible for the actions of Israeli military nor should they feel the need to support them blindly. The violence there is brazen enough without adding a layer of religious bigotry to it. Jewish safety & Palestinian freedom are not opposing causes. Do not allow anyone to position them that way.
1.3. “What-about”isms are Red Herrings
The Palestinian Advocacy Movement supports the struggles of other marginalized groups and is an avid supporter of these communities. But attempting to distract from the struggle of Palestinians with statements like “but there are other marginalized groups suffering out there too at the hands of organizations like ISIS or the KKK” is a logical fallacy that we must reject.
This is commonly referred to as “what-about-ism” and is a way to distract from the oppression of one minority, through tokenizing the struggles of another minority. We must take stances against all types of oppression of marginalized peoples around the world, but enlisting all other marginalized communities whenever we talk about Palestine is a red herring.
2. What Does Equality Look Like?
The Palestinian Advocacy Movement aims to include the Palestinians, not exclude the Jews. So what would a future where all original inhabitants of that land are treated equally and with dignity look like?
2.1. Abolishing the Israeli-mandated ID system
There is a different color for each “caste” of Israeli-issued ID that grants you different treatment, access to healthcare, access to roads, access to housing, and voting status among a list of other rights and privileges.The sourced infographic below does a great job at listing the categories of colored IDs and summarizing of the rights that come with each. I hold an ID with the lighter green color, my friend Ahmad holds one with the darker green color, my friend Yasmeen holds one with the lightest blue color, my friend Dror holds one with the darkest blue color, and my friend George holds one with a medium blue color.
This type of structural discrimination is what some refer to as “apartheid” when discussing the Palestinian-Israeli cause. And it’s why so many prominent South African leaders who fought to dismantle the apartheid, such as Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela used the word “apartheid” to describe the reality that the Palestinians are living under today. It’s important to note that South African Apartheid parliament did not allow for any participation of colored and Asian individuals regardless the colors of their apartheid IDs; meanwhile the Israeli system allows for one caste of Palestinian participation in the parliament with some legal restrictions on that ID class which are explained below:
1: https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/identity-crisis-the-israeli-id-system (click on “source & data” in that link to access sources)
2: https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution
Israel has military control over the borders of the entire map highlighted above. At the top of this tiered-caste system we have Jewish Israelis — they are free to live across the entirety of Israel as well as settlements sprawling across 60% of the occupied West Bank.
Next come the Palestinians who live in Israel. These are Arab non-Jewish citizens of Israel who make up approximately 20% of Israeli passport holders. They can vote and have minority political participation but there are about 65 laws in Israel that discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel. For example, state-funded towns frequently legally deny residency to non-Jewish citizens — holders of this ID color are barred from living in 68% of all towns in Israel by admissions committees despite holding Israeli passports, and in reality, they are largely concentrated in ~3% of the land. They are also staunchly repressed when protesting discriminatory Israeli policies.
Next come the Palestinians of East Jerusalem. Unlike the two tiers of castes above, this is the first group of Palestinians who can’t vote. They have access to most of the areas of the entire land, but their IDs can be and are often revoked if they relocate neighborhoods. For example, if you fall in love with a Jewish Israeli, you’re unable to relocate to be with them. And if you fall in love with a Christian Palestinian with an inferiorly-colored ID, then if you move to be with them, you stand the legal risk of losing your higher-status ID without recourse to get it back. Jewish Israelis are the only caste of IDs guaranteed irrevocable residency.
Next you have the Palestinians who live in the West Bank. They can’t vote either and they are barred from living in all but 40% of the West Bank due to settlements and Israeli military occupation. They are barred from building in the majority of the West Bank or setting foot inside Israeli settlements. They are governed by draconian Israeli military law while the settlement inhabitants are governed by Israeli civil law. An example of Israeli military law that Palestinians are subject to is Administration Detention — a practice deemed as inhumane by a slew of human rights organizations.
Next you have Palestinians who live in Gaza. They’ve been barred from living outside Gaza since 2007, living under strict military occupation. Israel controls everything that goes in and comes out, making Gaza an open-air prison. No one can leave or enter due to complete land, sea and air siege, except in extremely rare cases, which include urgent, life-threatening medical conditions and a very short list of merchants. Many die from treatable medical conditions when they’re not allowed to leave; the WHO reported that 54 Gazans — 46 of whom had cancer — died in 2017 following denial or delay of their permits and these numbers are worse during periods of military escalation. According to the Israeli rights group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, “only 7 percent of urgent requests were accepted by Israeli authorities between May 25 and May 31 2021,” the rejected include children and elderly cancer patients.
As part of the blockade, Israel also limits import into Gaza and almost completely prohibits exports out of it. This policy has driven the Gazan economy to collapse, pushing unemployment there over the 40% mark.
A blockade means that even people without any political affiliations are not allowed to leave. This includes children who want to escape Gaza to go to the West Bank, or if they want to attend university abroad seeking refuge and a better life. I recently had the honor of meeting an amazing software engineer through YCombinator company, Manara, co-founded by Palestinian Laila Rajab. This software engineer had many international companies who wanted to hire him. He eventually accepted an offer from a Jordanian office and was excited about finally exiting Gaza and relocating to Jordan. I knew he had a baby daughter with celiac disease so I put together all the gluten-free bakeries and food spots he could take her to upon his arrival — something he didn’t have access to in Gaza. But he was blocked from moving 6 times over the past 10 years because he couldn’t get a permit from Israel to leave Gaza. He has no interest in politics and just wants to leave Gaza seeking a better life for him and his family, but his ID color prevents him from doing so.
And then you have Palestinian refugees who were either expelled when Israel was created in 1948 or fled to neighboring countries when the 1948 or 1967 war took place. Both these groups are denied their right to return. Thousands of Palestinian refugees have been shot trying to return to their homes. Meanwhile, any Jewish person around the world can fly into Israel, become an Israeli citizen, and apply to receive subsidized government housing in settlements inside the West Bank.
To be clear: the Palestinian Advocacy Movement supports immigration of all types — especially for marginalized populations, refugees and asylum seekers. At the age of 16, I boarded a plane alone and came to the US seeking a better life. When Palestinians were expelled or fled the war, they were taken in by other countries around the world as immigrants and refugees from Brazil to Jordan. In fact, more than half of Jordanian passport holders today are Palestinian refugees. The Palestinian Advocacy Movement is proud that Jews who escaped the Holocaust and global antisemitism sought refuge in this land and that other Jews continue to immigrate to it from around the world. What the Palestinian Advocacy Movement is seeking is equity and immigration rights to all inhabitants of that land, including forcibly excised refugees.
2.2. Ceasing the building & expansion of Israeli settlements
To understand settlements we need to provide a bit of context on historical events. The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are bordered fractions of the original land that Arabs, Muslims, Christians and Jews inhabited. The borders of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are marked by the “Green Line.” The Green Line divides Jerusalem in half, East and West with East Jerusalem placed inside the West Bank serving as one of the Palestinian capitals. The Green Line is often referred to as the “1967 borders” by many international bodies and national leaders including former United States presidents such as Barack Obama, George Bush, and Bill Clinton; the United Nations (UN); UN Security Council; and UN General Assembly Resolutions. In fact there have been few issues in the UN less controversial: there is a near-unanimous international consensus that Israel should withdraw to its side of the line and immediately cease the building of settlements. This has been expressed in the yearly UN General Assembly vote on the “Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine” (document A/75/L.34) — adopted by a recorded vote of 145 in favor to 7 against (Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, United States). The Assembly called for the full respect for international law. It also called for the promotion of human security, the de-escalation of the situation, the exercise of restraint and the establishment of a stable environment conducive to the pursuit of peace.
It is often misquoted that Palestinians rejected the Green Line, but the reality is that Palestinians have come to the negotiation table having accepted it. This includes the PLO/PA including current PA president Mahmoud Abbas. It even includes the right-wing militant group Hamas, who’s original charter was changed in May 2017 from not recognizing Israel to accepting coexistence if Israel withdrew from the Green Line. The Palestinians did however reject the original UN Resolution UNSC 242, which introduced the Green Line borders but also did not call for an independent Palestinian state and referred to Palestinians as “refugees.”
Drawing of the Green Line superseded the partition lines voted on by the United Nations in the Partition Plan of 1947, which Israel had accepted in the Israeli Declaration of Independence (see image below)
History aside, why is this important? This is important because of actions that are taking place today. Since 1967 successive Israeli governments have built settlements beyond the Green Line, on lands that Palestinians, with full backing of the international community, claim as theirs. Israel’s control over these Palestinian territories remains unrecognized according to international law. Every year the Palestinian territories shrink rapidly with the expansion of Israeli settlements, the demolition of Palestinian towns and villages, and the expulsion of the Palestinian residents who lived there.
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The legality of building & expanding settlements is also widely supported by the international community. Based on the result of UN resolutions that cite Article 49 of the Geneva Convention, the consensus view of the international community is that Israeli settlements are illegal and constitute a violation of international law. In December 2016, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding that Israel stop building settlements on Palestinian land. The US refused to vote on the resolution, effectively allowing it to pass.
That UN resolution was noteworthy as the US has almost always used its veto when it came to Israeli-Palestinian matters. In fact, since 1970, the US has used its veto more than China, France, Russia/USSR and the UK combined, and more than half of US vetoes were to protect Israel from international accountability.
The rapid expansion of settlements has prompted many people around the world to protest their existence through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS). Specifically, many are boycotting products made in Israeli settlements to exert grassroots pressure on Israel.
2.3. Gaining access to natural resources
The Palestinian Advocacy Movement calls for equal access to and sovereignty over critical natural resources, most importantly the water supply and farmland.
“For nearly five million Palestinians living under occupation, the degradation of their water supply, the exploitation of their natural resources and the defacing of their environment, are symptomatic of the lack of any meaningful control they have over their daily lives” quotes a key report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
95% of drinking water in Gaza is unfit for human consumption. With the collapse of natural sources of drinking water in Gaza and the inability of Palestinians to access most of their water sources in the West Bank, water has become a potent symbol of the systematic infraction of human rights for Palestinians
The report stated that natural and mineral wealth from the Dead Sea, which is partly within the occupied West Bank, were being extracted by Israel for its own benefit, while the Palestinians were denied access to those resources.
Resource appropriation is just as prevalent above the ground as it is beneath the ground. Israeli settlers in the Jordan Valley are farming more than 5,000 dunams (1,250 acres) of private Palestinian land located between the border fence and the actual border with Jordan. The original owners, some of whom fled in 1967 and returned to the West Bank in the 90s, are still not allowed to access their land due to a military order preventing them from entering the border area.
2.4. Freedom of movement
The ability to move freely within the land, without fear of reproach, is another key tenet to ensuring equality within the Palestinian Advocacy Movement.
While Israelis — including those living in illegal settlements — can travel freely through the West Bank on modern highways, Palestinians are forced onto decrepit roads, where their freedom of movement is tightly restricted through more than 600 military-manned checkpoints.
74% of the main routes in the West Bank have checkpoints or are blocked entirely, and these are not temporary. People die at these checkpoints: there have been over 100 Palestinian deaths documented at checkpoints, with more than one third of them stillbirth babies.
Then there is the separation wall. Israel began construction on the wall in 2002. Today, the barrier stretches 300 miles. When completed, it will be nearly 450 miles long. The wall wasn’t built on the 1967 borders. 85% of the wall’s planned route deep inside the occupied West Bank, routing in such a way as to annex illegal Israeli settlements directly to Israel. It has also turned what used to be a contiguous West Bank into a fragmented set of enclaves enclosed by checkpoints and a massive wall. People need to stand in line at the checkpoints for hours waiting for Israeli soldiers to allow them to pass, and some require Palestinians to get permits to travel from one enclave to the other.
Because Israel built the wall in the occupied Palestinian territory, the International Court of Justice definitively ruled in 2004 that it is illegal: “The construction of the wall being built by Israel, the occupying Power…[is] contrary to international law.”
The court has further asked for the barrier to be dismantled and that reparations be made to Palestinians who suffered damage. But the barrier remains in place today, and continues to harm Palestinians. Thousands of Palestinian farmers have been cut off from the land they are meant to harvest by the barrier.
Palestinians are separated from their family, friends, schools, and health centers by the barrier. Palestinian villages like Bil’in, Budrus, and Nil’in have waged a years-long unarmed struggle against the barrier. Israel responded with violence, unleashing tear gas, bullets and conducting night raids to arrest protest leaders.
Then there is the case of Gaza. Israel’s 14-year-siege on the Gaza Strip has effectively created the world’s largest open-air prison.
3. Institutional Realities Straining Equality
If the second tenant of the Palestinian Advocacy Movement is about envisioning what equal rights look like, what is currently preventing us from getting there?
3.1. Realpolitik, aka Power Politics
The Palestinian Advocacy Movement rejects realpolitik over the Palestinians’ right to equality and self-determination, and advocates for an equality-first approach to philosophy and policy.
Realpolitik is a political approach of self-sufficiency. Decisions on public policy, when approached from a position of realpolitik, are not afforded time for sympathy or compassion. Rather, realpolitik is an approach of pragmatism solely on the basis of political expediency — policy is centered on the pursuit, possession and application of power. This is often referred to as “Power Politics.”
Realpolitik is a tactic often employed to advance policies that may be perceived as coercive or Machiavellian. Some international relations realists, such as Kenneth Waltz, have pointed out that, in order to justify realpolitik, state policy usually paints itself in the brush of pursuit of survival or security, rather than the pursuit of power for its own sake. When the phrase “X has the right to defend itself” is used as a first response to moral questioning, that is usually the hallmark sign of realpolitik governance. We must firmly reject these hollow responses whether “X” is “Israel,” “Palestine,” or anything else.
25,000 Palestinian homes were demolished since 1967, refugees are not allowed to return, the separation wall stands tall inside the West Bank annexing it into 167 small islands & enclaves, and the building of settlements is at an all-time high. The US continues to veto UN resolutions that attempt to hold Israel accountable, and — despite widespread international consensus — a Palestinian state ceases to exist. This reality is the byproduct of power politics.
A simpler way to describe realpolitik is that there are countries & communities that are much more powerful than others, and if their leadership is getting what they want because they by far the the more powerful (e.g. all the natural resources and increasing amounts of land every year at the expense of others) why should they give that up? This is why history has shown over and over that whenever one powerful community dominates another, the oppression persists for years due to the reality of realpolitik. Realpolitik often only collapses when a movement arises to unify the people through education & integration vs dividing them by keeping them separated.
It’s important to note that while the hearts of many US politicians may well be with the Palestinians, realpolitik restrains. For example, during his final hours in office, on the same day former President Donald Trump would be inaugurated, former President Barack Obama authorized the State Department to release about $221 million in withheld funds to Palestinians living in the West Bank. The entirety of the funds was released for programs such as water, infrastructure, education, renewable energy, civil society, municipal governance, and the rule of law, as well as Gaza recovery. And a smaller amount was to go directly to Israeli creditors of the Palestinian Authority as well as East Jerusalem hospitals. None of the funding was to go directly to the Palestinian Authority. Why did former President Obama wait till the last hour to pull the trigger? Realpolitik.
3.2. Systemic reward of the ultra-right in the highest positions of Israeli political discourse
The Palestinian Advocacy Movement calls for greater representation of political diversity amongst Israeli passport holders for positions of government.
Like in any other country, Israel has people whose political ideology ranges from far left to far right. But it has a strongly-rooted political system that has consistently rewarded the ultra-right in law and the highest positions of power.
Politics in Israel are dominated by Zionist parties. They traditionally fall into three camps, the first two being the largest: Labor Zionism, Revisionist Zionism and Religious Zionism. There are also several non-Zionist Orthodox religious parties, non-Zionist secular left-wing groups as well as non-Zionist and anti-Zionist Israeli Arab parties.
Naftali Bennett has now replaced Benjamin Netenyahu as Israel’s new PM. Similar to Netanyahu and those who preceded him, Bennett is a far-right ultranationalist who staunchly opposes Palestinian statehood or self-determination of any kind. In 2013, Bennett sparked controversy when during a cabinet meeting on releasing Palestinian prisoners he declared:
“if we capture terrorists, we need to kill them… I’ve already killed a lot of Arabs in my life — and there is no problem with that.” — Naftali Bennett
In 2014, then-Minister of the Economy and Religious Services, Bennett released a letter addressed to the Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up about 20% of the population of Israel warning them against becoming a “fifth column.” In 2018, Bennett said that if he were defence minister he would order a shoot-to-kill policy against Palestinians attempting to walk across the boundary between Israel and Gaza, including women and children. In 2020, Defense Minister Bennett ordered a stop to testing Palestinian residents for COVID-19 in the Gaza Strip (who are under a blockade and have no other way of obtaining such tests) in the midst of the pandemic.
In Israeli political discourse, it’s okay to make anti-Palestinian statements:
While these are the voices elected to power in Israel, they are by no means the only Israeli voices. The Israeli left exists but has yet to be elected to meaningful leadership positions. There are several left-wing organizations calling on soldiers to refuse service in the West Bank and Gaza; the best known are Ometz LeSarev (“Courage to Refuse”) and Yesh Gvul (“There’s a limit/border”).
There’s also The Geneva Initiative and The People’s Voice (HaMifkad HaLeumi), two peace initiatives led by prominent Israeli and Palestinian public figures that surfaced in 2004. These initiatives were based on unofficial bilateral understandings between the two sides, and offer models for a permanent agreement as signed off by both Palestinian and Israeli political leaders.
The impact of the political far-right in power positions is felt strongly by Palestinians, as the occupation continues to contribute to the rampant rise of mental illness and depression. Palestinians currently have one of the highest rates of depression in the world. Take Gaza for example: 70% of refugee children in Gaza identify as depressed and 55% show poor psychological well-being. 80% of people in Gaza are dependent on humanitarian assistance, and a 50%+ unemployment rate with few new job opportunities which further exacerbates depression among the youth.
And these are not just statistics, every single one of these data points represents a real human. For example, this 6-year old girl that was unearthed from the rubble of her own home. It’s been a few weeks since she was pulled from the rubble and she no longer speaks. She only speaks to ask about her mother and 4 brothers who were killed by the bombings the day she was pulled out. After her family’s passing, she stopped playing and started screaming when someone got close to her, even if it’s a close family member. This is a girl who doesn’t understand politics, her mother and 4 brothers were murdered after their home was toppled over their heads. Why couldn’t she leave Gaza? Why can’t she leave now? 30% of Palestinian children don’t make it to the age of 5.
The right’s impact on Israeli policy is active. For example, Israel’s Supreme Court just rejected a human rights group’s request to declare it unlawful for soldiers to shoot at unarmed civilians. Re-read that previous sentence. No read it again. And again. One more time please.
3.3. Attributing the Palestinian need for safety and equality to specific political parties vs recognizing them as party-agnostic rights
The Palestinian Advocacy Movement is a set of tenets and ideals, never one political party.
The Palestinian Advocacy Movement is not the PLO or PA, the political party currently governing the West Bank. The PLO does not represent all Palestinians because of corruption allegations, media censorship and their inability to achieve results for the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian Advocacy Movement is not Hamas. Palestinians are prevented from having an army but have lived under brutal occupation for decades, so Hamas is a guerilla militant group birthed in response to the occupation. The best way to absolve Hamas is by ending the occupation and ensuring equal rights & dignity to the Palestinians.
Hamas does not represent all Palestinians for many reasons, but first and foremost, due to the belief that it is wrong to discriminate or grant privileges based on religion, race, skin color, age, gender or ethnicity. And by branding itself as an Islamist movement, Hamas is going against this fundamental belief. When political parties or nations grant special privileges based on religion, race, skin color, age, gender or ethnicity; atrocities can happen:
- If the United States declares itself as a country for whites (versus a land that ruled by a constitution that guarantees equality for all skin colors, including its back and white inhabitants), then slavery would be alive today.
- If Gaza declares itself as a Muslim-only territory (versus a land ruled by a constitution that guarantees equality for all religions, including non-Muslims inhabitants), then Christian Arabs would be treated as second class citizens. That’s why many Christian Palestinians live in the West Bank, which has a secular government.
- If Israel declares itself as a Jewish-only state (versus a land ruled by a constitution that guarantees equality for all religions, including non-Jewish inhabitants), then non-Jewish Arab Israelis who make up 20% of the country’s population would be treated as second class citizens, and they do in many areas.
The Palestinian Advocacy Movement is a fervent advocate for protecting Jewish rights and continued immigration to this land. But it calls for abolishing policies that give preferential treatment based on religion, race, skin color, age, gender or ethnicity to the Palestinians who lived or continue to live there.
3.4. Violence utilized by some Palestinians
All of the above oppression is systemic and institutionalized. On the other hand, the PLO/PA is unarmed and most Palestinians engage in unarmed demonstrations as they’re fully aware of Israel’s military superiority and understand that a peaceful resolution is their best bet at obtaining equity and self-determination. That’s a primary reason behind the large discrepancy in the number of casualties on both sides. Below is a chart that Vox aggregated from Israeli human rights website B’Tselem which has been tracking deaths on each side since 2000.
Overall, the group has recorded 8,166 conflict-related deaths, of which 7,065 are Palestinian and 1,101 Israeli. That means 87 percent of deaths have been Palestinian and only 13 percent Israeli. Regardless of how many lives lost, the loss of any number of innocent lives is unacceptable, especially children. So this comparison isn’t by any means to say that any loss of life is tolerable because the number is smaller — rather it is to demonstrate that Palestinians are very well aware of these stats and Israel’s military superiority that the vast majority don’t want to die or spend the rest of their lives in jail, which is another factor contributing to this discrepancy in the death toll.
That said violence employed by some Palestinians, though not institutionalized, has existed over the years and must be addressed. PAM denounces all types of violence employed by Palestinians, particularly the pre-2008 suicide bombings and guerilla militant group firing of rockets.
This separation wall was built in response to the 132 Palestinian suicide bombings between 2000 and 2004, which killed 502 Israelis. The construction of Israel’s separation wall has been effective at thwarting suicide bombings; since 2008, no Israelis have died from suicide bombings. Now whenever there is a military escalation, Hamas fires rockets from Gaza vs suicide bombers crossing the border. In response to these attacks, Israel built the iron dome, which has also been effective at thwarting damage from these attacks. But death continues on both sides, now with even greater disparity.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has been tracking deaths in the conflict since 2008 and its data shows that 5,600 Palestinians died up to 2020, while 250 Israelis died during the same period. This means that 96% of deaths are now Palestinian while Israelis continue to die too.
PAM aims to eliminate the root cause of violence employed Palestinian attacks. But are the wall and iron dome alleviating topical symptoms or are they solving the root cause of these attacks? PAM believes both structures are effective at thwarting damage from the attacks on one side, but neither is solving the root cause which is why the death toll continues on both sides.
To unbundle this, let’s look into the profile of a Palestinian who would commit acts violence. A pre-2008 suicide bomber and a guerilla militant rocket launcher both share similarities in personas but let’s pick the profile of a suicide bomber, to take the bigger extreme, and analyze how such a persona existed. The analysis below borrows from the work of Mohammad M Hafez from the University of Missoluri Jansas City Department of Political Science, which was funded by grants from the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).
Suicidal violence, Hafez outlines, involves three levels of analysis: individual motivations, organizational strategies, and societal conflicts. The case of suicide bombers demonstrates the interdependence of rationalist, culturalist, and structuralist approaches to explaining suicidal violence.
* Why do individuals become human bombs? Redemptive logic of suicide bombers
In reading the last will and testaments of suicide bombers, Hafez identifies themes that frame self-sacrifice as an opportunity for redemption and a test of one’s identity, courage, and faith.
For individuals, religious appeals that equate self-sacrifice with martyrdom are instrumental in motivating suicide attacks. Suicidal violence is fueled by indoctrination made possible due to existence of systemic oppression. For example, often insurgents have lost family members due to the occupation before they were recruited.
* Why do organizations promote suicide Bombings? Strategic logic of insurgent groups
The principal justification given by Palestinian right guerilla militant factions for adopting suicide violence is its effectiveness in relation to alternative strategies of resistance. The statements of organizational leaders repeatedly state that Palestinian insurgents stand little chance of victory if they take on directly the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Hafez claims that the religious framings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad go beyond mere manipulation of individual minds; it also combines symbolic narratives with ritual and ceremony to foster a culture of martyrdom that legitimate and venerate self-sacrifice.
Within organizations, the split among supporters and opponents of utilizing violence corresponds to the divergence between those who believe resistance is the only viable option versus those who believe negotiations are more effective. Thus, it would be a mistake to equate suicidal violence solely with Islamism or religious fundamentalism. The instrumental rationality of radical framings suggests that rational actor approaches to political violence can be leveraged to analyze why religious and secular groups have promoted suicide bombings in conflicts over the years (e.g. Japanese Kamakeze).
* Why do societies venerate suicide bombers? The logic of ethnic communities in conflict
For societies, the Palestinian case shows that communities embrace and venerate “martyrdom operations” when multiple conditions converge, one of which communities feel a deep sense of victimization and threat by an external group in the course of political conflict. The phenomenon of volunteerism for violence is intricately connected to the broader political and cultural contexts in a given society. Militant organizations, no matter how ideologically savvy and politically astute, cannot generate rates volunteerism for violent attacks or counter-attacks without the presence of cultural and political opportunity structures, as well as existential threats in embattled societies.
If Israeli authorities exerted a sustained effort to contain this phenomenon, by abolishing laws and systems that continue to polarize ethnic groups and position them as competing vs as one unified group, violent recruiting would decrease in legitimacy in the eyes of potential volunteers and recruiters. This is reinforced by the fact that Palestinian groups, including Hamas, have accepted coexistence with Israel if it withdraws from the West Bank (see section 2.2.).
The majority of Palestinian nationals do not engage in any type of violence and any violence is not institutionalized at the state level. In the previous 100 years, violence has led to loss of life or dictatorship and has never brought people together. Nonviolent education civil disobedience have been the center of all the unification movements for absolving the apartheid in South Africa to the success US civil rights movement to Ghandi’s win for the Indian people. Violence only leaves room for violence under the pretense of security.
3.5. Political corruption on both sides
Israel is the highest recipient of US foreign aid in history, and politicians drive its spend. Israel’s former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and there are plenty of examples of corruption in Israeli politics across several political parties. On the Palestinian side, there is wide corruption in both Hamas and the PA. Hamas isn’t a recipient of international aid, which mostly comes from the EU and — now that Biden has reinstated Palestinian aid — the US. So any corruption in the PA is more relevant. Foreign development aid plays a unique role in the lives of Palestinians, as aid is the “main driver” of growth in the Palestinian economy but Wasta introduces inefficiencies in aid spend. “Wasta’’ is an Arabic word that refers to a combination of nepotism, favoritism, and cronyism; it’s sometimes sarcastically referred to by the populace as “vitamin W.” Often high paying government officials have their job placement and paychecks secured by Wasta, and spend of aid is sometimes not optimized. This is why many donors now donate directly to humanitarian institutions or have the aid be managed directly through programs like the USAID.
Any corruption in Palestinian and Israeli politics should be identified and resolved, but entangling it into a conversation about the occupation is a form distraction. Foreign aid flows into both countries, yet there is no amount of Palestinian foreign aid that’s grant the Palestinians access to the natural resources beneath their floor, freedom of movement, equal rights, or ceasing the building of illegal Jewish-only settlements while excising those who lived there. For example, Israeli explicitly prohibits Palestinians from spending any money (aid or otherwise) on building homes and roads in nearly half of the West Bank, an area titled “Area C.”
Where do we go from here?
1. Two State Solution
The separation wall that turned a once-contiguous West Bank turned into a series of 167 enclaves controlled by checkpoints, the complete lack of control over borders and movement, the lack of control over natural resources, and the tiered Israeli-mandated ID system are some of the reasons that make this solution highly unfeasible at this point.
Even Israel’s current PM of Israel, Naftali Bennett agrees. In 2013, Bennett gave an address to the Judea and Samaria Council: “The attempt to establish a Palestinian state in our homeland is over; it has reached a dead end,” he remarked.
Within Israeli society, the “nation-state law,” which explicitly denies Palestinian national and cultural existence, is the latest iteration of dozens of laws enshrining the second-class status of Palestinians The Jewish race riots in Jerusalem this month, where Palestinians were ambushed and beaten in the streets by police and mobs of Jewish Israelis chanting “Death to Arabs,” is an example of how deeply rooted the dehumanization of Palestinians runs as well as Israel’s commitment to an ethno-nationalist state. A two-state solution could leave such a state intact.
Two-state negotiations deny millions of Palestinians, one of the world’s largest refugee populations, the internationally recognized right to return to land and homes from which many were forcibly expelled. While Israeli law offers Jews from anywhere in the world the right to immigrate, it denies the right to Palestinians born in Palestine and their descendants. Any sustainable solution cannot ignore the legitimate aspirations of seven million Palestinian refugees.
As a Palestinian coming from a family of forcibly excised refugees, I also do not believe that the best solution is excising the settlers who are illegally residing in the West Bank today and demolishing valuable infrastructure.
2. One Unified State
A truly free and democratic country for all its people is one in which, as Edward Said once put it, citizenship entitles all to the same privileges and resources. This is the measuring stick for all modern-day democracies.
Many believe that it is the only realistic long-term solution. Launched in 2018, the One Democratic State Campaign (ODSC) calls for “full civil equality” for both peoples and the right of return. Its manifesto calls for a constitutional democracy that will
protect collective rights and the freedom of association, whether national, ethnic, religious, class or gender… [and] ensure that all languages, arts and cultures can flourish and develop freely. No group or collectivity will have any privileges, nor will any group or collectivity have any control or domination over others. The Constitution will deny the Parliament the authority to enact any laws that discriminate against any community, be it ethnic, national, religious, cultural or class.
This resonates with the every tenet of the Palestinian Advocacy Movement detailed above.
Supporters of the two-state solution often cite the right of Jews to self-determination. However, a Jewish right to self-determination does not need to negate the rights of Palestinians or non-Jewish Israeli passport holders’ right to self-determination.
For decades, the idea of a single democratic state was a galvanizing point for the native inhabitants of the land and those who immigrated later. The call was for democracy and freedom throughout the entirety of the land for everyone, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
However, following the capitulation of the PLO, the Palestinian governing party that agreed to the restricted terms of the Oslo Accords, demoralization lowered the sights of many. A large majority of all Palestinians have since then agreed that the two-state solution is unrealistic. A growing number firmly believe in one democratic state, especially younger Palestinians and those living in the diaspora.
I’ve come to realize that we need to stop focusing on the identity politics that divide us, the history that frustrates us, and the institutions that do not represent us. We must come together as a people committed to a peaceful and equitable co-existence on our land, and starting with equity will bring peace.
I immigrated to America alone at the age of 16. Its constitution makes it illegal to discriminate based on skin color, race, ethnicity, mother language, religion, age, or gender. Yes, it takes a very long time to fully reverse the effects of systemic oppression and racism towards marginalized communities, but America remains an unparalleled land of opportunity that I’m grateful to be a part of. It started as a safe haven for European immigrants seeking refuge from religious persecution, and while its history is blood-stained, today it’s a nation for all. I immigrated here and I can buy a house anywhere–from Maine to Hawaii–without taking away from anyone else’s right to own a house. My family lived in Jaffa (the small old part of what is now Tel Aviv), but in 1948 they were forced out and now live in a house in Ramallah in the West Bank. I dream of a future where they can buy a home again in Jaffa and have a Jewish neighbor buy a home and move in next door in Ramallah.
These dreams are inspired by present-day Jewish-Muslim coexistence in North Africa as well as my own pluralistic experience as an immigrant in America. American is a place where I, as a Palestinian, can break bread with Jewish Israelis, Jewish Americans, and all 5 “castes” of Israeli-mandated Palestinian ID holders at the same table, while standing firm to my beliefs and the tenets of the Palestinian Advocacy Movement. I have lost two uncles at the hands of the Israeli occupation, both killed when they were children. But I know that those I call my friends do not represent those who killed my uncles.
There seems to be two prevalent experiences between Palestinians and Israelis:
- They don’t speak with each other and don’t mix. And when they do, it’s often vastly evident that there is no empathic listening present. Conversations are fueled by passion, emotion, and oftentimes anger. Rather each person is blindly defending the side it was “born” to. This is especially common for those in their teens and 20’s as this is when activist and nationalist ideals are formed. It is also common among the elderly.
- If given the chance to mix and form friendships by living in a country that promotes coexistence like America, they never speak about politics in front of each other. They eat hummus & falafel, and talk about every topic from philosophy to parties but never about the taboo topic of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
But there’s also a third option:
- Forming deep authentic civilian friendships that stand on love, while standing firm to one’s values by taking a stance for what is right and advocating for equity. That is the only way, and the Palestinian Advocacy Movement aims to normalize this.
The Israeli government often chooses to make public statements on behalf of all Jews, but if you’re Jewish this is not something you should accept. You are independent and can make your own decisions on laws and regulations without a blind allegiance to any side. Also “the Israeli government is not the Israeli people,’’ while true, is a misleading statement as it portrays Israeli civilians who have no interest in politics as helpless. You are not helpless, your voice and ability to vote is literally the only way out of realpolitik and the key to progress. If you were born Israeli or Jewish, your voice is 10x more impactful than other voices in the fight for equity for the Palestinians. We can resolve this conflict in our lifetime if you use your voice to take stances against actions, not people, but firm stances must be taken.
- By saying “I support the Palestinian Advocacy Movement” you are making a difference.
- By saying “I support the One Democratic State Campaign (ODSC)” you are making a difference.
- By saying “I, and the Palestinian Advocacy Movement, denounce antisemitism” you highlight the shared humanity we have that brings us together as one, because by blood we are all semites.
Hate = (Fear + Anger) x Time
“If people can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Nelson Mandela
Since the moment we’re born, Israelis and Palestinians — or sometimes even more broadly: Jews and Arabs in communities where coexistence is nonexistent — are taught to hate each other. This problem is rampant on both sides, but we do not talk about it publicly because we feel an obligation to be the “PR agents” of our people who can do no wrong. But this is too important of a problem to pretend that it does not exist as our single-most biggest obstacle for progress.
- Fear arises because we are taught that the other side is here to kill us all.
- Anger arises because:
- Anger from loss of innocent lives
- Anger from systemic oppression
Anger from loss of innocent lives will not go away for most. I forgave those who killed my uncles after decades of struggle, but it isn’t fair to ask anyone to forgive if they’ve lost an innocent life.
Anger from systemic oppression and fear, however, can be addressed. In fact, addressing these are our only way out of this conflict. PAM addresses anger from systemic oppression by shedding light on the reality of day-to-day lives of Palestinians. We can eliminate this systemic oppression in our lifetime if we make it a goal.
This leaves us with fear. You will always fear that you can’t see and that which oppresses you. Eradicating anger from systemic oppression will remove oppressive policies and create experiences for coexistence. Once fear and oppression are diminished, we will no longer have hatred.
Finally, we all have an obligation to teach these ways to our kids. A child’s brain is so malleable in its formative years and the indoctrination of children at an early age is a major issue on both sides. We need better education to prevent spreading hate; and yes, you can absolutely stand uncompromisingly true to your values without spreading hate.
Let’s come together and build a better, united future for all of us that share this special land — the land that gives and the land that has always given.
