“Nightmare”

“Nightmare”

by Nabila Espanioly

Initial reflection:

“Death to the Arabs…death to the Arabs!!”, a voice shouted outside my window. Although I had been in a deep sleep after a very long day, instinct made me run to the window to see the dozens of cars, civilian cars, passing in the street below and shouting this slogan. I found my entire body began to shake, even more so, when two minutes later I saw the police passing by.

Another night of nightmares, which had become reality since the 28th of September. But this night, this nightmare was so real; it felt as if they were coming up to get me…it felt as if they were preparing a new attack on my town Nazareth, the way they did the night before. It felt like a new pogrom was being cooked up.

I, a Palestinian woman, am living in the Jewish city ‘Nazareth Illit’, even though I consider myself a Palestinian Nazarene who works, lives and was born in Nazareth. Nazareth I consider “my Town”, Nazareth Illit “my place of Residence” – somehow schizophrenic, but this is not the only symptom.

I am a Palestinian who was born after the Israeli State was founded. My family was able to stay in their hometown – Nazareth – unlike the thousands of Palestinians who had been thrown out of their homes and villages in 1948. They had been thrown out of their homes and into the neighboring Arab countries to become what are now known as “the Refugees”. 480 villages were totally destroyed…not centuries ago, but only 53 years ago.

The children of that time are the grown-ups of today. They are the living memory of our history. But who is not?

We are all living memories of the ‘Via Dolorosa’, that as individuals and as a people, we live through daily. We are the living oral history because most of the written history doesn’t tell our story, therefore I decided to write this paper to contribute to an event in the written history. What became to be known as the ‘Jerusalem Intifada’, or ‘Al-Aksa Intifada’ and the protest of the Palestinian citizens of Israel for that event.

Seeing Sharon (Israel’s current Prime Minister) enter Al-Aksa - the Mount Temple - with his rounds of protectors, injured not only the religious feelings of the Muslims among us Palestinians, but it injured ALL of us – Christians, Muslims and secular (like myself). The visit was intended to provoke, it was to deliver a political message “‘we are the power’ and here, we decide ‘what belongs to us’”. The Aksa is a symbol of Jerusalem, therefore it has political meaning, and not only religious meaning.

Following this, the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories of 1967 and in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) territories rose up against the Israeli occupation. They were mobilized by Sharon’s visit and long-standing negotiations for a place which is aimed to be shared with the Palestinians from the areas that were occupied in 1967. The Palestinians who lived in Palestine up until 1948 (the whole Palestine), and who are in the Diaspora today in Refugee Camps etc, perceive Palestine wholly as their own. Nevertheless they made a very brave compromise when they accepted the State of Israel as a reality and were ready to negotiate with the State of Israel on the terms of their own State. They have to face an Israeli negotiating policy which says ‘what we have (occupied in ‘48) we own, and what we occupied in ’67 we want to share with you’.

The negotiations are not on the division of Palestine into two States; the Palestine that was in 1946-7 and ended with the founding of the Jewish State with an enlarged border (more than the division plan of the UN in ’47). This was now Israel negotiating on the division of the Occupied Territories of ’67.

The political frustration of the Palestinians was increased by economical and social frustration under the PNA, who remain totally dependent on Israeli decisions. Even Arafat can’t leave Gaza if Israel decides not to let him.

The accumulated frustration was triggered by Sharon’s visit to Al-Aksa and broke out as outrage against the Israeli occupation.

We, the Palestinian citizens of Israel, witnessed the brutality of Israel’s reaction to the children and youth who were throwing stones. We witnessed Mahmoud Aldura killed in cold blood whilst lying in his father’s arms….we witnessed a 12-year-old child facing a tank, but in the opposite situation of the similar picture of a student in China which had caused a world-wide reaction. This child was even forgotten by the media. We went out to protest (by the way, we were joined by some Jewish women), and we were shot at, gassed and injured, with 13 dead and 540 injured and thousands more suffering from gas inhalation. The Jewish women were ignored and the killing and injuring continued.

In this situation, what remains for someone like me, a peace activist, feminist, politically involved woman and psychologist? What was my role? What could I do? Me, who was injured and furious, angry, frustrated and in pain. I participated in demonstrations, called journalists to raise our silenced voices, cried and wept with the mothers and sisters of the injured and the martyred, informed whoever wants to be informed….struggled for my place in the funeral of the Martyrs when some fundamentalists wanted to send me to the back, behind the men. Staying there, as if to keep my place under the sun, and shouted even more than before “Oh you Martyrs, rest in peace, we will continue the struggle”, “ya Shaheed, irtah irtah, ehna minkamel kifah”.

Coming back after days of strikes and police brutality in our streets and in our homes, to work…how could I continue? What should I be doing? Open a Hotline to support children, parents and teachers when there was no other psychological support available? Not enough. Write a guide for teachers on how to deal with the issue in their classrooms? Not enough. Write a guide for parents, work with parents and hear from weeping mothers in Nazareth how their houses were invaded by police and how their sons or daughters now can’t sleep…three months later…how their children still keep a knife under their pillow and can’t sleep without it.

All that, and thinking of my brothers and sisters who are living through all the days of October…all the days of November…December, January, February…until now, under curfew and experiencing daily violence and attacks. How would their children feel? Fear? Panic? What? And how does a child deal with fear?

Over the radio a Jewish mother tells how her child chose a Superman outfit to wear to a carnival, and she explained that her son deals with his fear in that way, he wants to feel powerful in order to deal with his fears. What about the Palestinian child? How does he deal with his fear? No, he does not have a mask to be Superman…but he does act like one. He goes out to throw stones…he deals with his fear by being a hero. He learns to solve problems with violence. He comes home and acts out his learning and a new circle of self-destruction begins, which again as women later on, I have to receive this back on my body as a wife or sister…..for how long?

Not to mention the effect which the militarization of the Israeli society is bringing upon the society, and especially the women. The racist attitude that is becoming a part of the daily life in Israeli society.

That morning, after the shaky night, I was going down in the elevator and I met a Jewish neighbor dressed in army uniform. I asked him if he had heard the shouting in the night? “No, what shouting?” he replied. Me: “Death to the Arabs”. He: “Oh no, I did not....” Why should he? I am the Arab here, and I am the one who felt that they were coming up to my apartment….

These initial thoughts, experiences and feelings touched on different issues which I would like to elaborate on:

• The Palestinians in Israel and their struggle

• The peace movement in Israel

• The women’s peace movement and working together (Jewish and Palestinian women citizens of Israel)

• Racism in Israeli society.

• Internal conservative forces in Palestinian society in Israel.

The Palestinians in Israel and their struggle

The Palestinian citizens of Israel now comprise 18% of the total population the state of Israel. These are the Palestinians who were able to remain within the borders of the state of Israel founded in 1948. They were able to stay in spite of the plan to exile them all to the neighboring Arab countries. Various wings of the Zionist armed forces at the time, which later became the Israeli armed forces, conducted several massacres (the first was Deir Yassin on the 9th of April, 1948, to be followed by others), demolished houses, destroyed 480 different villages all around the country, destroyed the infrastructure, and exiled the Palestinians, forcing them to become refugees in Arab countries.

We who were able to stay or were born after the state was founded had to live under military laws until 1966, and have continued to face further land confiscation and general discrimination policies over the years.

Today, for example, all the Palestinian citizens of Israel (18% of the general population) are living on only 2.5% of the land in Israel, a result of ongoing confiscation of land over the last 53 years. We receive only 4% of the development budget. 95% of us live in the poorest villages and cities and in the areas of highest unemployment.

Over the years we have had to struggle to maintain our existence as a national minority. Faced with an official education system controlled by the state and insensitive to our culture, we have had to learn and commemorate and honor our own history and identity, language, culture, etc. We have had to learn to accept our new status as citizens of a state built on the ruins of our people. We have had to learn to defend our rights as citizens without giving up our rights as a national minority in our own homeland. We have had to witness the Israeli military occupation of all Palestinians in the rest of Palestine. We have had to witness the ways in which this history of domination has repeated itself albeit with cosmetic changes.

Through all this, we have learned to struggle for our rights within the framework of the state, and to search constantly for new alliances within the Jewish population. We have had to struggle under the existing laws which are, for the most part, designed through “democratic” means to serve the interests of the Jewish majority. We have had to use all the means available to struggle for our people’s right to self determination. We were the first who suggested a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As an integral part of the Palestinian people we find ourselves in a unique situation, namely as citizens of a state which refuses to accept our people’s right to self determination.

We have had to continually strive as human beings to look for ways to improve the quality of our very existence. We continue to love, live, enjoy our lives, and our environment, make music, dance, write books, marry, divorce, raise families, etc

Throughout all these years and especially since the founding of the state we have learned to struggle using different means such as: to continue being, living and developing and learning, as well as demonstrating, lobbying in the parliament, advocating for our rights on a national and international level, striking, etc.

The events of October 2000: The first general strike was organized on the 30th of March 1976, which has since come to be known as Land Day. On that day, 6 Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed just for being in the demonstration which accompanied the strike. Since then the Palestinian citizens of Israel have organized different strikes and demonstrations. People were sometimes injured and jailed in these days but never again killed … until October 2000, when 13 Palestinians citizens of Israel were killed and hundreds were injured and jailed. It is important to mention that the Israeli police have never responded to demonstrations among the Jewish population in the same way, using live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas, etc. As a participant in these demonstrations, I can attest to the extreme brutality of the police.

When the Follow-up Committee for Arab Affairs (a body of all mayors and elected representatives of the Arabs in Israel) decided to call for a one-day strike to protest Sharon’s visit to Al-Aksa, and the killing of Palestinians in the occupied territories and the areas under the PNA (Palestinian National Authority), no one imagined that the Israeli police would react with such brutality. As citizens of the state we perceive the right to protest as a basic right, as human beings and as citizens. The first protester was killed in Umm El-Fahum. Than another and another….13…over the 4 to 6 days of protest. This was the first time that a protest activity lasted for more than one day. For several days, in the confrontation between protestors and police, the streets reaching the villages were closed and the protesters continued their activities.

In the first two weeks of the October events, the reaction of Israelis was very alarming. It seemed that the entire “democratic structure” was collapsing. Normally, democratic societies are protected by separation of different forms of authority (for instance, the army, the police, the government, the courts, the media) and by the presence of independent critical voices. In times of crisis, a truly independent and critical media plays an especially important role. In fact, in the first weeks in Israel, everything, including the media, collapsed. Most journalists (with the notable exception of two in the print media, Amira Hass and Gideon Levy) immediately sided with the police and the government and even used racist statements in speaking about the Palestinian citizens of Israel.

The Reaction of the peace movement in Israel

To understand the reaction of the peace movement in Israel in the first weeks after the events of October 2000, it is important to have a little background. The peace movement in Israel is divided into several groups. The biggest peace movement in Israel is “Peace Now” which was founded by several Army generals and traditionally has drawn its members from two political parties, Meretz and Labor. After the Oslo agreement and during Rabin’s government this peace movement became part of the government. Peace Now, reflecting its military and hierarchical roots, never was willing to work together with Palestinian citizens of Israel. It defined itself strictly as a Jewish and Zionist movement.

The other groups include Rabbis for Human Rights, Stop the Occupation, Women’s Coalition for Peace, Physicians for Human Rights, New Profile (a group working against militarization of Israelis society), etc. They are generally small groups and some of them are feminist and left-oriented, struggling not only against the occupation but also for social justice. They raise issues of ways in which the occupation is damaging the fabric of Israeli society. For instance, they speak out against the prioritizing of building in the settlements instead of developing poor neighborhoods inside Israel; they show how the militarization of Israeli society harms society as a whole and women in particular. They also protest against the discrimination which exists inside Israeli society. They analyze the effect of militarization from a feminist perspective demonstrating, for example, the connection between miltarization, chauvinist and racist attitudes, and violence against women.

In the days and weeks following the events of October, most of the mainstream “peace forces” expressed their “disappointment” with the Palestinian citizens of Israel, in a way that reminded me of a father or mother who is disappointed when a daughter or son doesn’t behave according to the parents’ expectations. I would summarize this reaction as paternalistic, condescending, and insulting. The majority of Israelis, including the mainstream peace movement, clearly took a side: they were part of the governing system.

Months after the events, the Palestinian cities and villages in Israel still suffer from the unofficial boycott imposed by the Jewish majority against these villages and cities. As a result of this many workers lost their jobs and this in turn has contributed to near-collapse of many families.

The only groups which acted immediately and voiced opposition to the policies of the government and to the growing racist attitudes and policies against Palestinians inside Israel and in the territories, were some of the women’s peace groups and other small peace groups. This was especially true in the first weeks. Later, as the Intifada has continued in the West Bank and Gaza, we are beginning to witness new activism from the larger groups. This activism has increased, especially in response to the election of Sharon and Sharon’s siege of Palestinian villages, towns and cities in the territories.

Women’s peace movement and working together

(Jewish and Palestinian women citizens of Israel)

Personally, as an activist in the peace movement in Israel, since a time which seems like forever, I am a member of the second part of the peace movement, the left-oriented feminist peace movement. Although over the years I have taken part in different coalitions which were not entirely leftist, my commitment has always been with those who have striven to create an alternative society which would enable Palestinians to actualize their dream for self-determination in their own land, in a state alongside Israel. This would mean the withdrawal of the Israeli forces to the ’67 borders and the creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. It would also mean granting the right of return to Palestinian refugees and the withdrawal of all the settlers from the occupied territories.

I deeply believe that having a Palestinian state or having in Israel a state for all its citizen will not solve all my problems, especially as woman, but it will create changes for a better society. My long-term vision is to be able to live in a state of all citizens, which is based not on national identity but rather on a humanist identity, a society which respects human rights and women’s rights and provides better living conditions for ALL, free of differences based on race, color, sex, religion, and the rights of people living in special circumstances, etc. This vision demands change within all Israeli society, Jews and Palestinians, towards a clear preference for a more democratic society for all its citizens. Redefining Israel from a Jewish state to a state of all its citizens.

Therefore I belong to a minority inside a minority inside a minority… We are few.

The first day after Sharon’s visit to Al-Aksa some of the women from the women’s peace movement called to ask what should we do? I have to admit I myself did not know what we could do. I also did not expect that that event would lead very soon to a policy of police “shooting to kill” in our cities and villages inside Israel.

When the first people were killed in the West Bank and Gaza, one woman peace activist from Haifa was able to mobilize three other women (Jewish) to go and demonstrate against the Army’s conduct; another small group of democratic front activists was able to organize another small demonstration in Tel Aviv.

When the first Palestinian citizen of Israel was killed, the number of women from Haifa, who now were seven, went to demonstrate beside Umm El-Fahum. The police prohibited them from reaching the town, and the television film crews in the area just ignored them.

Four days later when the Jewish citizens of Nazareth Illit (a Jewish town built in the 50s over the lands of Nazareth and surrounding Arab villages) were attacking one neighborhood in my town, Nazareth (the biggest Palestinian Arab city inside Israel) I called upon my friends in Haifa. “Do something! We called the police to protect us but instead they shot at the Palestinian demonstrators and protected the Jewish attackers.” The women activated their network and reached the minister responsible for the policy, “Professor” Shlomo Ben-Ami. He promised that he would order the police not to use weapons. The outcome … another two Arabs killed, and dozens of others wounded.

After these events, this part of the peace movement contributed to the creation of various new activities. Women for a Just Peace raised the following demands:

• An end to the occupation.

• The full involvement of women in negotiations for peace.

• Establishment of the state of Palestine side by side with the state of Israel based on the 1967 borders.

• Recognition of Jerusalem as capital of two states.

• Israeli recognition of its historical responsibility for the events of 1948.

• A just solution for the Palestinian refugees.

• Opposition to the militarism that permeates Israeli society.

• Equality, inclusion and justice for Palestinian citizens of Israel.

• Equal rights for women and for all residents of Israel.

• Social and economic justice for Israel's citizens, and integration in the region.

The coalition of Women for a Just Peace was formed jointly by Jewish women and Palestinian women citizens of Israel.

The coalition of Women for a Just Peace is a major player in the peace activities now taking place all around the country and influencing other sections of the peace movement. For example, for the first time, the Peace Now movement will take part in the Land Day activities alongside other peace groups, as well as all the different parties acting within the population of the Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Racism in Israeli society.

Racism does not grow on trees. It does not appear suddenly. You don’t wake up one day to find racism around you. It is a process which is created, supported and legitimized by society through official and unofficial structures and systems.

Racist ideas which attribute specific characteristics to a group based on race are very common in Israeli society. They find expression and legitimization in different aspects of Israeli society, even religion is used to justify racist attitudes, such as the misuse of the notion of Jews as “God’s Chosen People.”

Research which has reviewed children’s books and textbooks has dealt with this issue. One newly published study which analyzed the media a month after the Intifada also demonstrated the existence of racism.

But here I want to focus on my personal impressions.

I don’t exaggerate when I say here that almost every day I am confronted with some form of racist attitudes, behavior, statements, etc. On the street, in the media, everywhere. Not only against Palestinians but also against different segments of the Jewish society (Ethiopian Jews and Mizrahi Jews – Jews of Middle Eastern background). Against women, religious groups, etc.

These racist attitudes towards Palestinians are created and strengthened by demonization and dehumanization of the Palestinians. This long process makes people become insensitive and accepting of racist ideas which they would not accept when the same phenomenon happens within their own group.

When a Jewish child from the settlements is shown demonstrating no one refers to the fact that he is a child and that children are not supposed to be put in dangerous situations by their parents. Yet, on the same TV program when Palestinian children take part in the Intifada, the announcer will comment: “The Palestinian mothers send their children to be killed.” When a Jewish child acts out his fear and insecurity by wanting to be a hero and dress like a hero, that is accepted as a “normal psychological response to a stressful situation.” When the a Palestinian child does something similar and runs away from home to take part in the cat and mouse/“Tom and Jerry” show at the mahsum (the Israeli army check point) and to play the hero, then he is a “terrorist.” The killing of two Israeli soldiers by Palestinians in Ramallah is a “brutal lynching.” The beating almost to death of a Palestinian worker by Jews in Netanya is a “reaction of revenge from an angry public”. And so it goes.

This process of demonizing and dehumanizing Palestinians gives legitimization to government brutality and terror and creates and supports its picture of the “enemy.” Since “they” (the Palestinians) “understand only the language of power,” Israel has to bomb Ramallah. After all, they say, “we are not living in Switzerland.” When Palestinians kill Israeli Jews these are “terrorist attacks” and “murders.” When Israeli soldiers kill Palestinians, bomb Palestinian homes and destroy acres of Palestinian agricultural land and olive groves, they simply doing this in the name of “security.”

These are only some examples of an ongoing process. Almost every day I watch the morning program on Israeli television (a bad habit which I can’t stop since the October events, although the morning sleep is my dearest part of the night for me) and I can’t control my anger.

Internal conservative forces in Palestinian society in Israel.

Palestinian women living and struggling within this context must face not only the government discrimination but also the conservative and fundamentalist forces in Palestinian society. These forces have been trying to control and reverse women’s achievements. Palestinian women have demonstrated, over more than a century of activism, that they play an active and important role in the national struggle.

Having participated in all areas of political activity, women gained power and their role in the society began to change. Even the most conservative forces need women’s votes to win elections, and therefore they try to reach women.

In the history of the Palestinian struggle, we have witnessed women’s participation in every sphere, but whenever they stated gain enough power to be a force for real social change, they were forced to face the opposition of conservatives and fundamentalists. This happened in the first Intifada and it is happening now. In recent years it has been happening within Palestinian society inside Israel as well. It began when the fundamentalists tried to stop us, women, from taking part in demonstrations. This attempt was blocked by the “progressive” leftist forces in our society, and the famous slogan was introduced: “United struggle. Men and women.” “Wihada wihada wotania alshab behad alsabia.”

But the fundamentalists and the conservatives don’t give up. In recent years we have struggled harder to maintain the gains we have made, especially in the public sphere.

Conclusion

The complexity of the situation demands complex strategies for struggle. It is crucial not to leave out any important element of this struggle. Many people think that you must struggle step by step and prioritize your issues: according to this view, only after we have won the struggle against discrimination or for national rights or for peace can we struggle for social justice or women’s rights. These people are asking us to put our lives on the shelf. In fact, if the issues were important to them, they would not for a moment consider ignoring them. When people ask you to prioritize, they are actually setting priorities based on their own interests; they are imposing their priorities on you.

Those national liberation movements that followed a two-stage model - first national liberation, then women’s liberation – proved to be a myth, developed and legitimized and implemented by patriarchal forces. In the end of these movements there was no women’s liberation.

And in Israeli society when government policy places “national security” above everything, this is the other side of the same coin. The dominant patriarchal forces in Israeli society which use military might to maintain power over another people forget that a nation that occupies another nation can never be free itself.

Whether it is the Israeli government placing militarization for the sake of “national security” above all other interests … or conservative forces in Palestinian society placing the struggle for national liberation above women’s rights …. both of these approaches reflect the same patriarchal interests.

To me, life is holistic and you can’t divide it. Either you live it in all its aspects, positive and negative, or you’re not living. Therefore, struggle cannot be divided or prioritized.

Acting out of my deepest beliefs against racism of all kinds (including my own), whether it is coming from Jews, Arabs, Palestinians, Germans, or anyone else; acting against sexism in all its manifestations; and keeping track of all of that at the same time … all of this is one of the most difficult jobs for anyone who is struggling to transform society so it will be a better place for all to live in.