On Wednesday, Sept. 30, Fouzi Slisli, SCSU Associate Professor of Human Relations and Multicultural Education, Nasrin Jewell, Professor of Economics at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, and Amber Michel, fifth-year SCSU student majoring in sociology, made up a panel of delegates voicing concern and insight regarding the ongoing conflicts in Israel and Palestine.
The trio also shared their own personal experiences from their recent trip to Palestine.
Here is a brief explanation of what was taught during the presentation:
Before the current issues of fighting over Jerusalem and county-wide control, Palestinians and Israelis lived in peace for thousands of years. Problems with Palestine and Israel only date back to the late1800’s, when Zionism became popular.
Zionism, according to Michel, is the belief that it is the divine right of the Jewish peoples to have an established homeland state in the region of Palestine.
In 1917, the Zionist movement leapt forward. At the time, one of the great powers, Great Britain, issued a document called the Valpor declaration.
The Valpor declaration stated that the people of Great Britain want the Zionist Federation to know that they believe in the right to a Jewish state in Palestine.
The document also clearly states that the Zionist in no way were to hinder the rights of non-Jewish citizens already living there.
Nothing drastic was done until a few years after the Holocaust and World War II. In 1947 the UN resolution 181 came up with a plan for a place where many of the displaced Jewish refugees could go to be safe. The UN partitioned this place from Palestine.
The plan was to take the region and split it. 54 percent of the land would go to the minority group, the Jews, and the remaining 46 percent would go to the Palestinians.
Both groups were initially against the plan. Both sides wanted the holy city of Jerusalem, which was purposely left out in an attempt at fairness.
The Arab nation rejected the plan and a Jewish agency eventually accepted but war broke out. Somewhere around 750,000 Palestinians fled the country.
In May of 1948, Israel became an official state despite Palestinian objection.
Months after official statehood, the UN made resolution 194.
This resolution stated that the 750,000 displaced may return home, if the desired. The Jewish state must allow them to or provide compensation. Neither requirement was ever met.
Conflicts only seemed to escalate from there.
In 1967, the six-day war took place. During this war, Israel narrowed in on the West Bank, trying to get closer to Jerusalem. An additional 325,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes.
In order to rectify the situation, the UN stepped in once again, this time issuing a mandate stating that Israel must return to the initial set borders.
Israel has yet to comply with the mandate.
In 1994, parts of the American media portrayed a turn-a-round. The Oslo Accords seemed to offer a more promising solution for peace but nothing discussed in the Oslo Accords was ever carried out.
A wall was built to divide the people further. This wall, called the “Apartheid Wall,” is over 400 miles long. It decreases the amount of available water, cuts more land, health care, education and hampers the ability of Palestinians to visit family and friends.
Checkpoints and high levels of military control also hinder the Palestinian quality of life.
The most recent attack on Palestine happened almost a year ago in December 2008 in the war on Gaza.
The use of the chemical weapon White Phosphorous caused severe civilian casualties in the populated area of Gaza.
At this time, Michel was so horrified that she knew it was time for her to take action.
“When the war on Gaza happened it was stunning to me the loss of civilian life and in the grotesque way that is happened,” Michel said. “I felt that I really didn’t have an excuse anymore to not do anything.“
This is when she began getting more involved and ending up going to Palestine this summer, seeing everything firsthand.
“What is important to understand,” says Michel, “is that this is not just an issue of race. It is not Jews against Muslims; that is not heart of the matter. They have before lived in peace for thousands of years.”
The attitude of the Zionist Jew is what needs to be changed and is what is causing the problems.
“This country needs to unclutch itself from the grip of Zionism,” Slisli said.
When asked if it was fair to say that Zionist Jews are being hypocritical by torturing the Palestinian people in ways similar to those used on them during the Holocaust, Michel replied, “yes.”
She went on to say, “the Zionist Jews always say they have lived through a terrible genocide, however they always fail to comment on what they are doing to the Palestinians.”
When doing research on Warsaw, Poland, home of one of the many ghettos during World War II, Michel found striking similarities in the ways both groups were and are being treated today.
A few ways to help, Slisli said, is for people to boycott certain things such as L’Oreal products and Starbucks, academics such as scholarships taking place in Israel and otherwise to cut off American funding.
“I personally think Zionism is on its exit, this is the 21st century, you cannot treat people like that,” Slisli said.
All three members of panel seemed to agree a two state solution will not work.
They all said they also believe that the Palestinians and the Israelis can live in peace once again.
For more information, visit http://www.whoprofits.org or http://www.stopthewall.org
Be the first to comment on this article!
Log in to be able to post comments.