Filou on Nostr: I recently lived in Palestine (Ramallah) for three years. I have attended festivals ...
I recently lived in Palestine (Ramallah) for three years.
I have attended festivals in the Negev desert. Visited Gaza briefly. I have walked 200+ miles across the West Bank solo and encountered nothing but hospitality. I have walked the streets of Tel Aviv and Haifa with Israelis and Palestinians both. Have seen the brutal IDF raids on the refugee camps. Have watched Palestinian homes demolished in Jerusalem. Have seen the kids throwing stones, the Molotov cocktails. I have smelled the burning tires and suffered tear gas in Hebron. Had my car windows smashed, once by Israeli settlers and once by Palestinians who mistook me for a settler. Have harvested olives from a family’s 1000 year-old trees – and weeks later watched in horror as the entire grove was burned by Zionists under protection of soldiers. Cried when a group of Jews and Muslims replanted it together the following spring.
There is both truth and deceit, both kindness and horror on both sides.
Forget what you are seeing on TV, it is not reality. Forget what you are reading online, no one can explain what is happening – not even the ‘experts’. The situation is so nuanced and tangled, it can not be put into words. Even first-hand experience is not enough to comprehend.
There is no ‘right’ in this situation.
But remember: The warmongers and terrorists are NOT the majority. There are many people on both sides who do not condone what is happening. Many people who only want peace and to raise their children as neighbors.
Do not be fooled.
Zionism ≠ Judaism
Hamas ≠ Palestine
I have attended festivals in the Negev desert. Visited Gaza briefly. I have walked 200+ miles across the West Bank solo and encountered nothing but hospitality. I have walked the streets of Tel Aviv and Haifa with Israelis and Palestinians both. Have seen the brutal IDF raids on the refugee camps. Have watched Palestinian homes demolished in Jerusalem. Have seen the kids throwing stones, the Molotov cocktails. I have smelled the burning tires and suffered tear gas in Hebron. Had my car windows smashed, once by Israeli settlers and once by Palestinians who mistook me for a settler. Have harvested olives from a family’s 1000 year-old trees – and weeks later watched in horror as the entire grove was burned by Zionists under protection of soldiers. Cried when a group of Jews and Muslims replanted it together the following spring.
There is both truth and deceit, both kindness and horror on both sides.
Forget what you are seeing on TV, it is not reality. Forget what you are reading online, no one can explain what is happening – not even the ‘experts’. The situation is so nuanced and tangled, it can not be put into words. Even first-hand experience is not enough to comprehend.
There is no ‘right’ in this situation.
But remember: The warmongers and terrorists are NOT the majority. There are many people on both sides who do not condone what is happening. Many people who only want peace and to raise their children as neighbors.
Do not be fooled.
Zionism ≠ Judaism
Hamas ≠ Palestine