Some of the many parallels between the Egyptian people’s pursuit of freedom, now so honored in our country, and the pursuit of freedom by their neighbors, the Palestinians, forever dishonored:
1. “Dignity.” In his fine speech today Barack Obama said the core principle of the Egyptian revolution was human dignity. “This is the power of human dignity, and it can never be denied.”
But Palestinian dignity has been repeatedly assaulted by the Israelis, as Judge Goldstone wrote in his landmark report on the Gaza conflict, a report Obama has sought to block at every turn. In Gaza:
[The blockade] has been described as a crisis of human dignity… The dignity of the people of Gaza had been severely eroded.
And the West Bank:
Where checkpoints become a site of humiliation of the protected population by military or civilian operators, this may entail a violation of article 75 (2) (b) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions … which outlaws “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment”.
2. Teargas.
In a hearing yesterday by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Howard Berman said that American teargas was being used in the suppression of demonstrations in Egypt, and the U.S. should not allow this to happen. I hear about American teargas all the time in news reports, and threats to American military aid.
As Adalah-NY has documented, American-made teargas is regularly used against nonviolent demonstrators in the West Bank. One Palestinian woman was lately killed by the gas. In 2009 her brother was also killed by a teargas canister fired at his chest. And earlier this year Cooper Union student Emily Henochowicz lost her left eye after Israeli forces fired a teargas canister that struck her in the head. A couple of years ago American Tristan Anderson was maimed by such a canister.
Where is Berman? Where are our media?
3. Nonviolent demonstrations. The beautiful throngs in Egypt were nonviolent. Salute them, yes! They have been honored for this around the world.
Well, in Palestine, the protest of the occupation is also nonviolent, the Palestinians have shown incredible restraint, there are Gandhis all over the West Bank protesting the confiscation of land, water, crops, and homes. The Popular Committees regularly hold demonstrations against occupation. And these demonstrations are routed and attacked by the Israelis without any recognition from the American government or media.
4. Prisoners.
Tonight on CNN, there were references to hundreds of political prisoners in Egypt. Israel has held thousands of Palestinians in prison, many for political “crimes.” Their cause is never championed. I urge all readers who are new to the double standards in this post to look at P.J. Crowley of the State Department saying NOTHING on behalf of imprisoned nonviolent protester Abdullah Abu Rahmah recently when AP’s Matt Lee valiantly asked why American government was doing nothing on his behalf.
5. Elections. Everyone is celebrating free and fair elections. And American leaders are even showing respect for the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood will participate.
Do I have to remind you that Hamas is little different from the Brothers– an Islamist party that rejects connections to Al-Qaeda? And the free and fair election by the Palestinians of Hamas in 2006 has been rejected by the U.S. and Israel and resulted in their fostering the division of Palestinian society and isolating Gaza from humanity. Furthermore, elections inside Israel proper routinely disfranchise Palestinians, inasmuch as Arab parties are never included in governing coalitions. No, Jewish parties get together, from right to left– Labor and the religious right– to build a majority coalition that will not include the Arab parties. (Think the Democratic Party 1964, when they refused to seat the black Mississippi Freedom Democrats in the presidential nominating process; that’s where Israel is).
6. Sticks. Great honor attaches to those demonstrators who attacked the thugs who thundered into their lines on horses and camels last week. They beat them with sticks, with anything they could grab, right? And journalists admire them and show their headwounds.
Well when the flotilla from Turkey tried to bring supplies to the blockaded people of Gaza last May, Israeli commandos descended on one of the boats in international waters and killed 9 people— and American media and Israeli media tried to make hay of the fact that some people on the boat, who were sworn to nonviolence, had attacked the marauding soldiers with sticks.
7. ‘N stones. When the thugs tried to take Tahrir Square back from the people, the people fought with stones. And the back lines brought stones to the front in blankets and crates. The front lines fought valiantly. These acts were honored around the world. Journalists did not criticize these fighters, they celebrated them.
Well, kids in occupied Silwan, a Palestinian village in illegally-annexed East Jerusalem, who object to the Israeli colonists moving into their neighborhoo sometimes throw stones at them and they are arrested and attacked for doing so, and they are treated in our media as miscreants. And during demonstrations in occupied Bil’in, kids often do the same thing, throw stones at soldiers who are firing teargas at them; and even this website has conducted long agonizing debates over whether they are not hurting the Palestinian movement. The idea that it might be justified? Not a word in our media.
8. Occupation. Last night Hosni Mubarak, trying to summon his countrymen to his side (and failing), stated that the proudest moment of his life was ending the occupation of the Sinai and raising the Egyptian flag over it once again. That occupation lasted 15 years. The Palestinians have lived with an occupation for 44 years; and they have no sovereignty at all. What about their pride?
9. Martyrs. How many times have you heard our reporters use this word? The media do not blink when Egyptians speak of the 300 victims of the Mubarak police and thugs as martyrs. They lifted the oppressor’s hand with their deaths, and we can honor that.
But when the word martyr is used in Palestine, it freezes the American blood. And comparing numbers, what about the 300 children of Gaza whose lives were extinguished in 22 days of overwhelming assault by the Israelis 2 years ago? Children. I’m not even counting the adults. Without a word of complaint from our president.
10. Arabic. Have you noticed all the reporters using Arabic words? Bless them. It is a great trend. America will fall in love with the Arab world, I tell you.
But when you hear them chant El horriya from deep in their throats, remember that at demonstrations, at prisons, at checkpoints and at walls, Palestinians also issue this cry, they want freedom too!
When will this ghastly double standard end?
