Reflections on Day 265 of genocide
As you revive this I will be hiking in Eastern Yosemite from Tuolumne Meadows up to Vogulsong High Sierra Camp and back. My journey (if I don’t end it early due to the clouds of mosquitos) will be approximately 22 - 24 miles depending on the route, nearly the same distance as the height of the Gaza Strip.
I am looking forward to this time to be away from the overwhelm of digital communication, the bustle of the city and find some rest.
This newsletter is being drafted and schedule sent on Wednesday to arrive at noon tomorrow. Shout out to some friends who are letting me stay at their place in Merced, CA
In the car on the way up to Yosemite, I have been listening to the book “On Palestine” featuring conversations and essays from American cultural critic Noam Chomsky and Israeli Historian Ilan Pape. Their conversations took place during the 2014 assault on Gaza also known as operation “Protective Edge.”Â
During part of the book they talk about what solidarity with Palestine looks like when there is not a clear and unified Palestinian representative. Dispute some minor disagreements on tactics, they both agreed that solidarity with the Palestinians is not dependent on a unified Palestinian front, rather that it is rooted in resistance of oppression. Israel is a settler colonial state that seeks to expel or kill all of the indigenous inhabitants of the land. They are allowed to do so because of US funding and cover. As people of conscience it is our moral duty to stand in the way of such atrocities. In the United Stares requires dismantling the (in the language of Mitri Raheb) “software” (Zionist ideology/ American imperialist ideology) and “hardware” (weapons manufacturing & shipments). Tactically we should be asking, what are the impacts of our actions on the people of Palestine? How can we have material impacts that are lasting?Â
As the Police violently expelled the Columbia students from their own campus when they protested Columbias deep complicity in the ongoing genocide, students spoke clearly to the media: this is not about us, but about Palestine. Unfortunately, dispute their efforts and clear messaging, some of the mainstream discourse became about freedom of speech or other internal academia fights. As we (who consider ourselves organizers) continue to strategize and act from our place in civil society for a Free Palestine, we must think carefully about how our actions can directly affect the setter state.
This week, Sabeel asked for prayer as the Palestinian Authority is on the verge of collapse. What I did not know, but learned from the book was that the PA, Hamas, and other Palestinian factions had created a coalition government right before the 2014 war. In fact, Chomsky and Pappè show how the esclalation and provocation by Israel in 2014 was in part an effort to prevent a unified Palestinian movement/representative government. This is because the so-called “two state solution” is just a mechanism by which the United States provides cover for Israel to grab more and more land and further isolate and ghettoize the Palestinians. Remarkabky, at every single turn the Israeli state has stood steadfast in its commitment of an ethnostate from the Jordan river (an arbitrary boundary chosen by Zionists) to the medeteranian sea.
They also talked about the similarities and differences between the fall of South African Apartheid and the situation in Palestine. Chomsky was quick to point out that (although excluded from American memory) Cuban support of Black Liberation armies in defeating South African settler forces in Angola destroyed the sense of invincibility of the white settlers. They argued that there is not a clear historical corollary for Israel today. However, based on recent war reporting from the Electroinic Intifadas Jon Elmer, I wonder if Hezbollas systematic distraction of the “iron dome” in the North of “Israel” is now shattering the sense of incvincibility of Zionist settlers. It also forces the United Stares to weigh whether or not their investment in the settler project is worth it if it jealordozes their imperial ambitions in the region.
At times, my brain became overwhelmed listening to the two intelectual giants. Just as it has been overwhelming to follow the news and hear for drag massacres, bombing of Humanitarian sites and pure evil perpetrated by Israel day in and Day out.
I hope, and I act so that this hope becomes reality, that Gaza will not be turned into a national park. What I mean by this is that my next few days will be spent frolicking with bears and mosquitos in a empty and beautiful wilderness. Except it was not always empty. Yosemite was emptied by American settlers who were paid by the state to massacre the native inhabitants.
Thank yo u for reading this rambling mess. I don’t have a happy note to end on but I hope that you all are finding rest this summer.