By Ranjan Solomon
Palestinians are compelled to cope with Israel’s bullying tactics day after day. Israel’s arrogant expansion of the occupation comes with an in-your-face approach to the rest of the world. At the UN, Israel unabashedly shows up and pretends it is the victim of Palestinian aggravation. Israel handily overlooks its colossal human rights violations, its settlement enterprises, its brutal killings and maiming of innocent women, children, youth, and elderly. It embezzles land unapologetically, and converts the heritage pieces of land into machines profit under the garb of heritage tourism.On the other hand, every day brings accounts of Palestinian resistance and growing international solidarity. The world remains unacquainted with accounts of courageous resistance and push backs from Palestine only because a pliant corporate media does not report Palestinian successes sufficiently, If we were to adopt the ‘glass is half-full’ narrative, it is possible to see a crisis in the evolution of Israel. It is constantly fending off criticisms and isolation from businesses, cultural icons, academics, and other dimensions of human encounter that can enrich it as a nation. But Israel has mistakenly chosen to make believe that all is well and that its recognition is universal. Sadly, the truth is poles apart.Israel has often to buy people-to-people exchanges at a huge price – a sort of corrupt inducement in order to make it look like a regular country. The burden of up keeping its image as ‘normal’ prompts Israel to indulge in huge investments in projects of normalization such as birthright tours. But even with the highest level of enticements that Israel offers to exchange scholars, academics, musicians, and just ordinary tourists, it is struggling to alter the narrative. Jewish Voice for Peace, a credible and widely supported/respected Jewish Movement of progressive Jews has urged Young Jews to boycott “Birthright Israel” tours arguing that the campaign “is fundamentally unjust that we are given a free trip to Israel while Palestinian refugees are barred from returning to their homes’. In much the same way, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) initiated in 2004 to steer the struggle for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality has made significant advances with many countries adopting its aims and purposes and collaborating to urge artists, academics, sports teams and others to shun Israeli relations which allow it to keep-up-appearances of normalcy. The boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions is geared to punish Israel for deep and persistent complicity in Israel’s denial of Palestinian rights that are stipulated in international law.The UN, academia, and various influential sources of public opinion are working intensively to change public perception and challenge Israel’s false claims to normalcy. Churches, and theological institutions are also re-interpreting versions of theology that allow Israel to pass off the occupation as a basic human right by falsely presenting Biblical Israel and the Modern State of Israel as one and the same thing. Many of these religious structures are reading the Bible from the eyes of the Palestinians and are emerging as catalysts to co-ordinate new and existing church advocacy for peace, aimed at ending the illegal occupation in accordance with UN resolutions.On the battle a nuclearised, and armed-to the teeth may seem to be marching to victory. On the moral front, Israel looks ailing and decrepit, unable to convince the civilized world that it has a claim to the land it has deceitfully plundered and occupied. Worse, it has, over the years, adopted laws and policies that have made it palpably racist and colonial. Is this tenable and sustainable? Sooner or later, internal dissent will set in with normal Israeli’s being discontented over being the constant antagonist and invader. Already, a small but influential cluster of Israelis reject Zionist-Israel’s ‘political normal’ narrative and are resisting with methods that advance alternative paradigm of Jewish Palestinian Arab relations based on equality and justice in every sphere of life. For them, there are no half-measures of compromises to be had. They are in the camp where they believe which believes that justice must occur even if the heavens fall.
Ranjan Solomon is a widely experienced civil society/human rights/GO leader with varied experiences in organizational transformation and creating social change through advocacy, communications, and issues of education.
14 December 2018
Source: palestineupdates.com