Violence
By Jonathan Kuttab
Three recent attacks in Israel in one week have left 11 Israelis dead. This led to a spate of public pronouncements condemning the violence, as terrorism, and expressing sympathy with the victims and their families. Condemnations came from foreign diplomats, including Secretary of State Blinken, and Jordan’s King Abdullah, as well as Arab members of the Knesset on down to ordinary citizens. Even President Abbas was reportedly pressured into issuing a public condemnation, at the risk of losing the gestures Israel was about to make in anticipation of Ramadan (about which I wrote last week). Most of those who made these condemnations have failed in the past to mention or condemn the horrible acts of violence committed against Palestinians, occurring on an almost daily basis, or to express any sympathy with innocent Palestinian victims.
Violence against anyone, particularly innocent civilians, must always be roundly condemned. Even legitimate armed resistance (by the standards of international humanitarian law) to an oppressive apartheid regime is unhelpful and does little more than perpetuate real suffering and prolong tragedy, deepening the hatred, anger, and frustration of all involved, and it fails to build any prospects for authentic peace. At FOSNA, we steadfastly work to promote peace and nonviolence, and we regret the loss of life of anyone, including Israeli soldiers, policemen, and settlers. Violence is never the answer, and we are called upon to be peacemakers.
The biggest problem, however, with those who decry Palestinian violence is not just their selectivity and the higher value they place on Jewish and Israeli lives, or even their failure to examine the socio-political context that led to violence in the first place. It is that their critique of violence is limited only to death and injury by individual actors who shoot, stab, or bomb their enemies.
For Palestinians the violence perpetrated against them is not limited to Israeli guns and shootings, albeit significant. It is often more subtle and pervasive and covers all areas of their lives. The symbol of Israeli violence for Palestinians is often not the gun, but the bulldozer.
In our condemnation of violence, therefore, we name and condemn:
Violence by Israeli settlers, destroying and defacing Palestinian property, cutting down trees, and ruining crops,
Violence by ongoing, state-sanctioned settler-colonial encroachment upon ever more Palestinian lands, homes, and properties,
Violence by the demolition of Palestinian homes as a means of collective punishment,
Violence by the demolition of homes for having been built without a license, after failing to provide licensing and planning schemes to enable licensed building by Arabs, particularly in Area C and East Jerusalem, as well as in the Negev and the Galilee,
Violence by walls and checkpoints, restricting movement and providing a forum for humiliation and oppression,
Violence by racist laws that prevent families from living together, deny family reunification, and reject visas for Palestinian families and their loved ones,
Violence that terrorizes Palestinian children and their families through midnight arrests and home invasions, as well as military court trials for children,
Violence by arbitrary administrative detention (without charges or trial) of hundreds of Palestinians, as well as the constant threat of such administrative measures hanging over an entire population,
Violence involved in the inhuman siege of Gaza, by land, air, and sea, that has been going on for 15 years,
Violence in the matrix of control and domination by Israel over Palestinians, and in the denial of basic human rights, including the right of self determination, and in keeping Palestinians in a state of permanent subjugation, described as an apartheid regime by multiple international organizations,
Violence in condemning all forms of Palestinian resistance (even nonviolent resistance) as “terrorism,” while funding and expanding state military budgets with billions of dollars and providing the latest lethal technologies,
Violence by all who would promote military solutions and provide military assistance, rather than work for peace.
“How long, Oh Lord?!” we cry with the psalmist for liberation, even as we remain firmly planted in the prophet's vision of peace:
And the Lord shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every one under their vine and under their fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it (Micah 4:3-4).
News & Announcements
FOSNA invites you to join us in the following events and activities:
April 2: Challenging Corporate Complicity in the Continued Colonization of Palestine: Means and Methods. Hosted by Just Peace Advocates and Al-Haq, this webinar will consider direct approaches to challenge corporate complicity in the continued colonization of Palestine. This will include judicial and non-judicial mechanisms in the Canadian-specific as well as broader international context. Featuring: Wesam Ahmad, James Yap, Jonathan Kuttab, Kathryn Ravey and Tara Alami.
April 3: The Other End of the Sea: An Interview with Author Allison Glick. Hosted by Friends of Sabeel North America, join Jonathan Kuttab in what promises to be a stirring conversation with Allison Glick, author of the acclaimed new novel, The Other End of the Sea. As reported by Mondoweiss, "The depth of understanding that this book demonstrates of the Palestinian experience over the last four decades is astounding." Register Today!
April 5: Israel-Palestine Task Force Book Discussion: Beyond the Two-State Solution, with Jonathan Kuttab. Hosted by the Western District Conference of the Mennonite Church USA. Finding a solution to the seemingly intractable violence between Israel and Palestine is a concern for many people. Jonathan Kuttab, a well-known international human rights attorney offers a new vision for bringing peace and justice to the region in his new book. To register, email: wdc@mennowdc.org.
Weekly
Kumi Now! Connecting activists around the world every Tuesday with the organizations working on the ground in Palestine and Israel to bring a just and lasting peace based on international law and nonviolence.
Week 13: Conditions in Gaza. On March 30, Palestinians celebrate Land Day, a commemoration of the first Palestinian general strike, in 1976, against land confiscation in Israel. On the same date in 2018, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip launched the Great March of Return to protest the blockade of Gaza and demand the right to return to their lands. This week, the Kumi Now community stands in solidarity with the citizens of Gaza as we focus on the blockade. Here’s what you need to know and what you can do so that together we can rise up.
Sabeel Prayer Service. Join Sabeel every Thursday (6pm Jerusalem) for online Bible Study, discussion, and prayer. Examine scripture in light of the ongoing realities confronting the Palestinian Church and the pursuit of Palestinian liberation.
Wave of Prayer. Subscribe to receive Sabeel's Wave of Prayer, enabling friends of Sabeel around the world to pray over issues of critical concern to the Holy Land on a weekly basis.
Make an impact for peace and contribute to the Sabeel movement for Palestinian liberation.
